Undocumented Private Eye Causes Firestorm

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Published January 10, 2017

In the beginning, it was just an inside-baseball industry story about the greenlighting of a future, yet-nameless TV drama: Last Thursday, Deadline Hollywood reported that the FX Network had put into production the first major series centered on an undocumented main character, a Mexican private eye working on cases in modern-day Los Angeles.

The series’ pedigree is top-notch: Written by “Changing Lanes” screenwriter Chap Taylor, it will be directed by Rodrigo García, who directed episodes of “In Treatment” and “Six Feet Under” (and coincidentally, is son of Gabriel García Márquez).

But none of that mattered at all after the Drudge Report linked to the story, and all border-wall-loving hell broke loose.

The 487 comments that followed (at press time) were littered with racial slurs and threats to boycott FX. One commenter wrote, “How about they … have a rogue INS agent who beats the hell outta some [Latinos].” Another said, “I hope it’s a hunting show.”

Other conservative blogs picked up the story, and Taylor was moved to respond—even pointing out he’s a former paratrooper and “about as American as American gets.”

“If we’re lucky enough to get on the air, I would respectfully request you watch the first episode before you decide [about it] one way or the other,” he wrote. “If you then decide that you want to express your disapproval by boycotting the show, that is your right. I know, because I spent three years of my life defending it.”

At least today, no one was talking about whether the brouhaha will affect the future of the series.

“There’s nothing to comment on, because there’s not even a script. It hasn’t been written,” said John Solberg, head of Media Relations at FX and Fox Cable Channels.

We put in calls to Julie Lynn and William Morris Endeavor (which represents Taylor and García), but so far no calls back.

Meanwhile, the best note may have come from a Deadline commenter named Pete: “You realize that television is pretend, don’t you?”

URL

https://www.foxnews.com/lifestyle/undocumented-private-eye-causes-firestorm