Edie Falco takes charge of the LAPD in new CBS drama ‘Tommy’
Edie Falco, star of the CBS series "Tommy," appears at the TCA Winter Press Tour 2020 on Sunday, Jan. 12 at the Langham Huntington Hotel in Pasadena, California.
Edie Falco stars in "Tommy," a new CBS drama.
Edie Falco stars in "Tommy," a new CBS drama.
Edie Falco takes on the LAPD in her new CBS drama “Tommy.”
In this series, Falco plays Tommy, the first female chief of the Los Angeles Police Department. She is a New Yorker transplanted to L.A. and the LAPD.
Falco herself is a New Yorker. She admitted to the media that the show is actually filmed in New York. After all, she has kids and didn’t want to transplant them to L.A.
As for her character, Falco said, “She knows how to do this job. She knows she’s qualified. She knows she’s more qualified than a lot of people who have come before her. And so I think she steps into that job with that pretty stable knowledge. And her job really is to do her job. And the people around her will eventually come to see that that’s what she does. And she’s going to get pushback, and she can react to that any way she wants. But if she continues to do the job and to do it well, people tend to come around, is what I’ve found.”
In the series, Tommy is a lesbian and when asked why the character needed to be a lesbian, the actor replied, “Because I think it’s important that every single person — large, small, different colors — gets represented in our television. I think everybody in the world wants to look at television and be able to find themselves somewhere. And I think we’ve been leaving huge swaths of the population out of that experience. I could always find myself on television as a kid. You know, the world is changing. We’ve got to change with it.”
The series is a mid-season replacement and Falco is obviously happy with the show and her character.
“I have to say, because, I mean, who doesn’t want to play a character that’s complicated? And I’ve been lucky enough to have some real complicated ones. And it’s not that Tommy’s not, but we’re focusing less on that than on the fact that she’s got a very solid moral compass,” Falco said. “I think she really wants to do the right thing. She really wants to do her job and to do it well. And she has a feeling of wanting to serve the people she works for. It’s easier said than done, because there are so many variables and stuff. I won’t get too far into this, but in the time that we’re living in now, to have someone at the helm who really is guided by something larger than them, it’s a huge relief. And it’s amazing how many people she can draw toward her because of that and that ultimately people quiet down on all their questions. ‘What about this?’ and ‘She’s a woman’ or ‘She’s … ‘ all that stuff falls away when you realize she just wants to do a good job. She knows right from wrong, and she’s trying to head toward right as much as she can.”
Falco co-starred on the TV Mini-Series “Law & Order True Crime” playing Leslie Abramson in “The Menendez Murders” serial. She also starred in the hit series “Nurse Jackie” and was part of the beloved cast of “The Sopranos.” So, yes, the actor has played many intricate characters and this new show will definitely add to the list of dramatic roles in her resume.
“Tommy” airs Thursdays on CBS.