When you want to describe a new series, it is easiest to compare it to another.
For example, "The Sopranos" meets "Grey's Anatomy", or let's say, a "black mirror" with touches of "The Kardashians" - because no one invents wheels today, and we're already seen it all.
Therefore, if one says about a crime series that it is "just like 'The Undercover'", it will be the most flattering label that can be attached to it.
"This City of Ours," a six-episode police-criminal drama aired yesterday in Israel, is just like "The Undercover," but that's not wisdom.
Everything in it, inside and out, screams "The Undertaker" - the two series take place on the bleeding streets of Baltimore, are built on powerful characters, and both were created by David Simon.
And yet, there is one difference, and it is significant.
"This City of Ours" tells a true story, about cops sitting in jail today.
It is based on a book written by a criminal journalist about an elite unit in the Baltimore Police Department, which received a free hand from its commanders and acted like a gang of gangsters - robbing drug dealers, planting weapons at innocents and more.
When the affair exploded in 2017, and in light of the eye-closing of senior officials, there were those who defined the corruption scandal as the most dangerous in Baltimore history.
Simon's series recreates the events, and through them reminds us that there is a public awareness of police violence, and as a result we hear about every brutal encounter that ended in injury or death.
But the many day-to-day interactions in which police officers go out of their way to steal, lie, incriminate and gossip about the weak remain under the public radar.
In one of the "Undercover" episodes, the legendary detective, Lester Freemason, explained: "If you follow the drugs, you get to the addicts or the dealers. But if you start tracking the money, you will not know where it will take you."
"This City of Ours" does indeed depict an American reality, but a lot can be learned from it about people, cops and thieves.
"This is our city", yes, HOT and Cellcom tv
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