News > LL Cool J is The Man
September 18, 2006
Content taken from TV.com:
The creator of the hugely successful CSI franchise has joined forces with LL Cool J to develop The Man, a CBS drama in which the veteran rapper-actor will play a cop with a busy domestic life.
The undercover LAPD officer spends his nights running sting operations to break criminal rings, and his days raising his three adopted kids--an abused boy with an aggression problem, a former streetwalker girl he puts through community college, and a skateboarder boy who is a recovering drug addict.
The cop's cover is being "the man"--he is the go-to guy in the upper echelon of Los Angeles, a high-octane hustler who can do anything, from getting into the hottest nightclub in town to scoring tickets for a Lakers game.
"He is the only honest man on the wrong side of the law," said Anthony Zuiker, the one-time Las Vegas tram operator who helped pull CBS out of the ratings cellar seven years ago when he created CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. The show has since yielded two spinoffs.
The Man marks Zuiker's first foray out of the CSI realm, but he will remain executive producer of all three series and corunner of CSI: NY.
He envisages the new show as a mix of procedural crime drama and character-driven drama.
"We're going to have a different sting every week, while the children's stories will be serialized," he said.
To create the main character, Zuiker said he was inspired by LL Cool J's real story of a man with a double life--a famous performing artist and family man with four children.
"He can be a talented multiplatinum rapper and an amazing father," Zuiker said of LL Cool J. "He has such an amazing spirit and has a great connection with the audience."
For Zuiker, working with LL Cool J is a "childhood dream come true," he said. "I remember going to his concert when I was 14 years old, wanting to be as famous as him."
Fast-forward 24 years to August, when Zuiker received a call from CBS Entertainment president Nina Tassler asking him if he would be interested in creating a show for LL Cool J, whom the network had just signed in a talent deal.
That same night, Zuiker came up with the concept for The Man. He soon got to meet his childhood idol and pitch him his idea for the show.
"He loved it, and we're now officially in business," Zuiker said.
After making Las Vegas, Miami, and New York strong characters on the three CSI series, Zuiker plans to do the same with Los Angeles on The Man. Music--mostly a mix of Motown classics and contemporary tunes--will also have a strong presence on the show.
Zuiker is writing The Man and will executive-produce the project. LL Cool J and his manager, Jason Barrett, will serve as producers.
LL Cool J, whose real name is James Todd Smith, has kept busy with film and TV projects during the past decade, including such recent features as this year's Last Holiday and 2003's S.W.A.T. He did an episode of Fox's House last year, and from 1995-99 he costarred on the sitcom In the House, which aired on NBC and later on UPN. Earlier this year, he released his 12th album, Todd Smith, on Def Jam Records.
