- Nasty Boys (TV series)
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The Nasty Boys was a television action drama series based on the real life Narcotics Officers of the North Las vegas Police Department.
Contents
Background
The innovative cops were known locally as the NTNB which stood for the North Town Narcotics Bureau but quickly were nicknamed the North Town "Nasty Boys" by the local drug dealers because of the unit's all black hooded raid uniforms and their quick breeching methods for serving search warrants. The unit caught the attention of the producers of "The Reporters" while they were in Las Vegas for an unrelated show. It was the practice of the unit at the time to allow the local press to ride with them and tape their raids and "Reversals", that's where the cops take over a drug sales location and then pretend to be the drug sellers busting the arriving buyers one by one. Then with the help of the local NBC affiliate would air the bust on the 11:00 p.m. news with the opening, "The Nasty Boys shut down another drug sales location at ..." The Reporters aired a segment showcasing the Nasty Boys serving warrants and speaking their "Say No To Drugs" presentation to local adult and children's organizations. Two of the undercover narcotics officers began the anti drug presentations with a rap song, BUSTED, written by one of the officers and sung by three of them, this was followed by t-shirts that read, "BUSTED by the Nasty Boys" and another showing a photo of the hooded team with the caption "We Make House Calls!" the NBC affiliate KVBC produced several award winning anti drug Public Service Announcements that featured real life footage of the Nasty Boys making busts and one featured the North Las Vegas Chief of Police looking into the camera, with the heavily armed team behind him, saying, "If you sell drugs in North Las Vegas, we'll be knocking at your door."
Synopsis and broadcast history
Producer Dick Wolf, of Miami Vice fame, noticed the Nasty Boys and proposed to the two North Las Vegas Narcotics Officers who had produced the anti-drug song that a television show to be released by Universal Studios, and broadcast on the NBC network. The two officers agreed and provided stories to the writers, were technical advisors and acted in the pilot and several episodes. A pilot episode was aired as a TV movie September 21, 1989 , and 13 episodes aired as a mid season replacement show. The show was very popular with a small cult following but the Universal Studios produced Nasty Boys was not renewed because that same year, NBC had begun producing many of their own television productions and only renewed one non NBC production that year. [1].
The Nasty Boys featured a North Las Vegas Police narcotics unit consisting of six undercover police officers who fought crime in drug-ridden neighborhoods using “unorthodox” methods. The show starred Benjamin Bratt, Don Franklin, Craig Hurley, Jeff Kaake, James Pax, and Dennis Franz, who played Lieutenant Stan Krieger[2]. William Russ played Lieutenant Farlow in the pilot movie and was killed off unexpectedly.
The theme song was "Nasty" by Janet Jackson, though the song was performed by Lisa Keith and the lyrics were changed to fit the TV series.
Cast
- Don Franklin as Alex Wheeler
- Benjamin Bratt as Eduardo Cruz
- Craig Hurley as Danny Larsen
- James Pax as Jimmy Lee
- Jeff Kaake as Paul Morrissey
- Dennis Franz as Lt. Stan Krieger
- Nia Peeples as Serena Cruz
- Sandy McPeak as Chief Bradley
Jimmy Jackson and Larry Bradley were technical advisors/actors
References
External links
Categories:- 1990 American television series debuts
- 1990 American television series endings
- NBC network shows
- Television series by NBC Universal Television
- Television shows set in the Las Vegas metropolitan area
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