TV: Line of Fire (2026- )

Family/crime drama; NBC Monday nights, then streaming on Peacock. Three episodes have aired so far.

Meet the Hollingsworth family, a DC area clan devoted to federal law enforcement. Father Mike (Peter Krause) is a senior Secret Service agent; as the show opens, he's about to hit mandatory retirement age. His junior officers look forward to his departure, because they think he's a relic who hasn't quite kept up with 21st-century tactics and techniques. His estranged (but not yet divorced) wife, Jane (Hope Davis), is with the US Marshals Service.

There are three kids. Claire (Kat Cunning) is an FBI agent; Mike Jr. ("Micah" to his friends; played by Tommy O'Brien) is also in the Secret Service, assigned to the protection team of the president's daughter; and Russ (Taylor Bloom) is a former Marine who's just starting work in the national security division of the Justice Department.

The pilot finds the family caught up in various aspects of the case that will dominate (at least) the first season of the show: Someone is killing federal agents, and there is reason to think that the Hollingsworths might be particular targets. What we in the audience know is that the killer is Jack (Charlie Barnett), Mike's son from his first marriage. When asked about Jack, the family tells people that he is dead; it remains unclear which members of the family actually believe that, or (if any of them do) who's lying to them about it.

With that overarching serialized element of in the background, we also get procedural-style cases of the week, with each Hollingworth relying on the connections of their relatives in other departments to get hold of information that will help solve the case. Much of that assistance is not strictly legal, and it would be nice if the family and the show were more troubled by their willingness to cross departmental/legal boundaries in the name of family.

The show has a better sense of humor than crime procedurals are generally allowed; scenes in which the entire family is gathered have a touch of farce to them, especially when A wants B's help, but doesn't want C to know about it. The complexities of cross-agency negotiation over jurisdiction and secrecy are also somewhat novel, and add an interesting layer to the sometimes routine case-of-the-week narratives.

The cast is solid, and they're supported by interesting people in recurring roles: Campbell Scott as a US Senator on the Judiciary Committee who is Jane's boyfriend; Chris Chalk and Savannah Lee Smith as the President and his daughter; Antoinette Crowe-Legacy as the Homeland Security agent in charge of finding out who's killing all those agents. (It is no accident, I think, that when elected politicians make appearances, they are never identified by party; don't want to instantly alienate half your audience.)

At heart, this is a fairly familiar crime-of-the-week story, but the cast and writing are a cut above the standard, and the serialized elements are integrated into the story more smoothly than usual. I'm not a huge fan of most American police shows, but I'm enjoying this one.