Denis Leary is reuniting with some previous co-workers to make the USA Network pilot for Erase. First announced in April, the show has slowly been adding leading cast members as a filming date approaches. The basis of the show is that Leary is a bad cop named Donal O’Neal, the slimiest of the slimy, but after a life-changing experience, he is ready to mend his ways. On it’s own that was good enough to get a green light for the pilot, but then add in that Leary wants to take down all of his corrupt superiors, and you have a show that sounds like a classic Leary project. Some of the early gossip around the show is that it has a hint of Rescue Me , with a dash of Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll thrown in for good measure.
Elaine Hendrix, who played Leary’s forever lover in Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll, will be playing Bella Tanne, a role Leary specifically wrote for her. Tanne is described as a problem-solving, fun-loving gal that has a checkered history with O’Neal that may have included a one-night stand or two. She is now trying to help him get righteous again. The reason he needs her help is because even though he was a dirty cop, he was a great detective with a photographic memory which is now slowly fading away due to early onset Alzheimer’s.
Elaine Hendrix & Denis Leary Reunite For USA Network Cop Thriller Pilot https://t.co/WqYHTJxnLV pic.twitter.com/zXx1B0A7Kr
— Deadline Hollywood (@DEADLINE) July 13, 2018
Christine Evangelista will also be joining the cast, according to Deadline Hollywood , to play Noreen Rodriguez, the daughter of O’Neal, whom he largely ignored most of the time because he wasn’t just a bad guy, he was a bad father. Rodriguez is a mixture of her parents, with her mother’s moral compass and her father’s memory and job. To make life even more complicated for O’Neal, his daughter hates him, and wants nothing to do with him or his hopes to reconcile and get the “family” together again as per TV Line .
Callie Thorne, another Rescue Me alum, will play Leary’s ex-wife Donna O’Neal, the mother of his children and his first love. She knows her ex is a bad guy, but her compassion keeps her wanting to help him, and her sense of right and wrong and desire to see justice done means she will support him cleaning up his life and department.
USA Network Orders Denis Leary Drama, Plus 3 Other Pilots https://t.co/pcgXL2fipw
— TV Insider (@TVInsider) April 13, 2018
Leary also brought in Alex Cary to executive produce alongside him, as well as Jim Serpico and Tom Sellitti. No concrete air date has been released for the show yet, but it is rumored that it will air in the spring of 2019.
