''Backstrom'' is an American

crime In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a State (polity), state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definiti ...

comedy-drama Comedy drama (also known by the portmanteau dramedy) is a hybrid genre of works that combine elements of comedy and Drama (film and television), drama. In film, as well as scripted television series, serious dramatic subjects (such as death, il ...

television series that aired from January 22 through April 30, 2015. It was developed by

Hart Hanson Hart Hanson (born July 26, 1957) is an American-born television writer and producer, as well as an author. He is best known as the creator, executive producer, and writer of the TV series '' Bones''. Biography Hanson's family moved to Canada whe ...

based on the Swedish book series by Leif G. W. Persson. The series is set in

Portland, Oregon Portland ( ) is the List of cities in Oregon, most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon, located in the Pacific Northwest region. Situated close to northwest Oregon at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, ...

and filmed in

Vancouver, British Columbia Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...

. On May 8, 2015, Fox cancelled the series after one season.

Premise

''Backstrom'' centers on Everett Backstrom ( Rainn Wilson), an "overweight, offensive, irascible" police officer who is engaged in a constant struggle with his "self-destructive" tendencies, and is part of a team of eccentric criminologists.

Cast and characters

Main cast

* Rainn Wilson as Detective Lieutenant Everett Backstrom, head of the Special Crimes Unit. Prior to the beginning of the series Backstrom was demoted to Traffic following his racially insensitive outburst after he caught the murderer of six Native Americans. * Genevieve Angelson as Detective Sergeant Nicole Gravely, Backstrom's second in command. Gravely is a young, idealistic detective who works with Backstrom even though she finds him to be lazy and cynical. Originally played by Mamie Gummer in the CBS pilot. * Page Kennedy as Officer Frank Moto, member of the Special Crimes Unit, and a former

MMA Mixed martial arts (MMA) is a full-contact fighting sport based on striking and grappling; incorporating techniques from various combat sports from around the world. In the early 20th century, various inter-stylistic contests took place t ...

fighter. *

Kristoffer Polaha Kristoffer Polaha is an American actor. He is best known for his starring roles on television as Jason Matthews in ''North Shore (2004 TV series), North Shore'', Nate Bazile, Nathaniel "Baze" Bazile in ''Life Unexpected'', and Henry Butler in '' ...

as Sergeant Peter Niedermayer, the unit's Forensics Liaison. Backstrom frequently mocks him for his

New Age New Age is a range of Spirituality, spiritual or Religion, religious practices and beliefs that rapidly grew in Western world, Western society during the early 1970s. Its highly eclecticism, eclectic and unsystematic structure makes a precise d ...

beliefs. * Dennis Haysbert as Detective Sergeant John Almond, a nondenominational minister who has been married for 30 years. In an offhand remark, Gravely mentions to Backstrom that Almond has the highest conviction rate out of any detective in the history of the Portland Police Bureau. * Beatrice Rosen as Nadia Paquet, a foreign-born civilian who supports the detectives in the Special Crimes Group as a cyberspace expert. * Thomas Dekker as Gregory Valentine, a former

male prostitute Male prostitution is a form of sex work consisting of the act or practice of men providing sexual services in return for payment. Although clients can be of any gender, the vast majority are older males looking to fulfill their sexual needs. M ...

who is Backstrom's tenant, decorator and "underworld connection" due to his being a

fence A fence is a structure that encloses an area, typically outdoors, and is usually constructed from posts that are connected by boards, wire, rails or net (textile), netting. A fence differs from a wall in not having a solid foundation along its ...

for stolen merchandise. Backstrom had previously met Valentine's mother, a prostitute. It is later revealed that Valentine is Backstrom's half-brother.

Recurring

* Ben Hollingsworth as Steve Kines, who previously allowed Gravely to be blamed for a failed undercover operation *

Sarah Chalke Sarah Louise Christine Chalke (; born August 27, 1976) is a Canadian actress. She is known for her starring roles as the second Becky Conner in the ABC sitcom ''Roseanne'' (1993–1997), Elliot Reid in the NBC/ABC medical comedy series '' Sc ...

as Amy Gazanian, Chair of the Civilian Oversight Committee and Backstrom's ex-fiancée *

Inga Cadranel Inga Cadranel (born April 30, 1978) is a Canadian film and television actress. She is best known for playing the roles of Brooke Fairburn on '' The Eleventh Hour'', Liz Santerra on '' Jeff Ltd.'', Francesca on '' Rent-a-Goalie'', Aife on '' Lost ...

as Police Chief Anna Cervantes, Backstrom's former (police) partner *

Rizwan Manji Rizwan Manji (born October 17, 1974) is a Canadian actor. He is known best for his portrayals of Ray Butani on ''Schitt's Creek'', Tick Pickwick on '' The Magicians'', Rajiv Gidwani in the NBC sitcom '' Outsourced'', and Jamil in the DC Extended ...

as Doctor Deb, a doctor working for the Portland Police Bureau who provisionally clears Backstrom for duty with the caveat that he change his self-destructive lifestyle *

Robert Forster Robert Wallace Foster Jr. (July 13, 1941 – October 11, 2019), known professionally as Robert Forster, was an American actor. He made his screen debut as Private L.G. Williams in John Huston's '' Reflections in a Golden Eye'' (1967), followed ...

as Sheriff Blue Backstrom, Everett Backstrom's estranged father, who pistol-whipped Everett at a young age. He is Sheriff of Cooch County *

Adam Beach Adam Beach (born November 11, 1972) is a Canadian actor. He is best known for his roles as Victor Joseph in '' Smoke Signals''; Frank Fencepost in '' Dance Me Outside''; Tommy on ''Walker, Texas Ranger''; Kickin' Wing in '' Joe Dirt''; U.S. Marin ...

as Tribal Police Captain Jesse Rocha, one of Backstrom's rivals who begins dating Amy Gazanian

Episodes

Production

In July 2012,

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...

greenlit a pilot episode to be produced for ''Backstrom''. The pilot for the series was filmed in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. When CBS passed on the pilot,

20th Century Fox Television 20th Television, Inc. (formerly known as TCF Television Productions, Inc., 20th Century-Fox Television and 20th Century Fox Television) is the television studio arm of 20th Century Studios, owned by Disney Television Studios, a division of the Di ...

shopped it around to other networks before landing a 13-episode series order with their own network, Fox. For the pilot episode, the producers contacted

Minor League Baseball Minor League Baseball (MiLB) is a professional baseball organization below Major League Baseball (MLB), constituted of teams affiliated with MLB clubs. It was founded on September 5, 1901, in response to the growing dominance of the National Le ...

team

Portland Sea Dogs The Portland Sea Dogs are a Minor League Baseball team based in Portland, Maine, playing in the Eastern League (1938–present), Eastern League. Established in 1994, the Sea Dogs are the Double-A (baseball), Double-A affiliate of the Boston Red ...

to use their hat with their logo for the family fishing boat business.

Reception

''Backstrom'' has been met with mixed reviews from critics. On

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

, the show holds a rating of 37%, based on 41 reviews, with an average rating of 4.78/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "''Backstrom''s humor is a cop-out, availed little by the talented cast's attempt to make good of sloppy schtick." On

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

, the show has a score of 51 out of 100, based on 31 critics, indicating "Mixed or average reviews".

Other adaptations

A Swedish-language version was created in 2020 and currently (2024) has 3 seasons.https://www.imdb.com/title/tt10068932/

References

External links

* * {{Leif G. W. Persson 2010s American comedy-drama television series 2010s American crime drama television series 2010s American LGBTQ-related comedy television series 2010s American LGBTQ-related drama television series 2010s American police comedy television series 2015 American television series debuts 2015 American television series endings Fictional portrayals of the Portland Police Bureau Fox Broadcasting Company comedy-dramas Television shows based on Swedish novels Television series by 20th Century Fox Television Television shows set in Oregon Television shows set in Portland, Oregon Television shows filmed in Vancouver