Boomtown

Image credit: Boomtown photograph by Jacqueline Bohnert

ON THE 'TOWN Wahlberg and Gedrick lower the Boom on L.A. crime

Like an American ''Rashomon,'' ''Boomtown'' boldly examines a single story every week from multiple points of view, including those of beat cops (Jason Gedrick and Gary Basaraba), detectives (Mykelti Williamson and Donnie Wahlberg), and an assistant district attorney (Neal McDonough). ''It's a brain tease to see it from the other perspectives,'' says exec producer Jon Avnet. ''I'm hoping to really push the envelope.'' But not too far: ''My joking rule in the writers' room is no dog's point of view before the third season and no blind person's point of view until the fourth,'' says creator Graham Yost. ''But in the third episode, we've got a guy who's drunk.''

With its self-contained stories and shifting POVs, ''Boomtown'' should flow more easily out of ''Law & Order: Criminal Intent'' (which looks at one case from both cops' and perps' perspectives) than last season's ''UC: Undercover'' did. ''At times, we're like an L.A. version of 'Law & Order,''' confirms Gedrick. But can these Angelenos take down the Beantown lawyers of ABC rival ''The Practice''? ''We're gonna kick their ass!'' says Yost. ''No, it's a great show, [but] it's been on a while, so maybe we've got a shot.'' That may pose a problem for feature-film vet Avnet. ''I made a good living off of David E. Kelley's wife with 'Up Close & Personal,' so God forbid I should do anything bad to that family, because I might want to work with Michelle Pfeiffer again.''

As for Wahlberg, ''Boomtown'''s success would mean long-sought stability. ''I've been traveling since I was 18,'' says the ex-New Kid on the Block, who shot a Yost-penned episode of ''Band of Brothers'' in England. But while the series will keep him close to his home and family, ''I'm not the type of person to do a TV show just to make some money,'' Wahlberg says. ''It's important to me that if it goes down, it's gonna go down swinging.''