‘On Patrol: Live’ Renewed for 90 Episodes at Reelz, Adds Las Vegas Police Department

Variety
Michael Schneider
January 28, 2025

“On Patrol: Live,” the weekly live series that follows police officers in action around the country, has been ordered for another season by Reelz — keeping the show going on Friday and Saturday nights through the start of 2026. The deal calls for 90 new episodes of the series, which airs three hours live on both nights — bringing it to another 270 hours total.

The deal also includes another 90 one-hour episodes of “On Patrol: First Shift,” the spin-off show that airs as a lead-in to “On Patrol: Live.” “On Patrol: Live” airs live on Friday and Saturday nights from 9 p.m. to Midnight ET, while “On Patrol: First Shift,” which features updates on previous episodes, airs at 8 p.m. ET. The shows air on the Reelz cable channel, and are also available to stream live or view on demand on Peacock (which added Reelz to its Peacock Premium and Peacock Premium Plus subscribers in 2023).

“It’s a tremendous amount of programming,” Reelz CEO Stan E. Hubbard told Variety. “But it’s working for us, at a time when cable networks are generally under a lot of pressure. It’s a source of pride… we’re all about ‘On Patrol: Live’ now, that’s what this network is.”

Reelz has seen its ratings shoot up since “On Patrol: Live” launched in July 2022; that year, the network’s viewership lept 107%, followed by another 34% in 2023. Reelz dipped a bit in 2024, but on balance the network’s audience is still way up, and now a top 40 rated cabler, since adding “OPL.” According to Reelz, its primetime audience is up 292% since the launch of “On Patrol: Live” in July 2022.

“My Friday and Saturday nights are now committed for the next year,” said host and executive producer Dan Abrams. “I am hopeful and optimistic that there’s no real end in sight for this show. I think it’s a good show from a TV perspective, but I also think it’s an important one for people to get a little glimpse at what law enforcement does every day.”

The renewal comes following the settlement of A+E Networks’ copyright lawsuit against Reelz and Amazon-owned Big Fish Entertainment over the show. Big Fish had produced “Live PD” for A&E, which then pulled the show in summer 2020, following the killing of George Floyd in Minnesota.

Big Fish revived the show’s live police format on Reelz, but under the title: “On Patrol: Live.” Abrams, who hosted “Live PD,” returned to anchor the new show as well. That led A+E to file a lawsuit seeking to block Reelz from airing “On Patrol: Live,” which it claimed is a blatant ripoff of “Live PD,” and that A+E owned the intellectual property. All sides settled in November, allowing “On Patrol: Live” to continue on Reelz.

“It was a distraction, that distraction’s behind us,” Hubbard said of moving on from the legal skirmish. “I don’t think you’ll see the show look any different. We’ve been full speed ahead with with the producers and the hosts from the time we started. But it’s nice to have it behind us and just not have to worry about it anymore.”

Added Abrams: “I think that everyone on both sides of this is is relieved that that’s behind us, and I think that everyone is pleased that there isn’t that lawsuit. I don’t think, as a practical matter, it’s going to have a huge impact on on the show itself… I wasn’t the defendant in the lawsuit. So from my perspective, I’m pleased that A&E and Big Fish have resolved it. Resolution is a good thing.”

As “On Patrol: Live” returns for its new season on Jan. 31, the show has added the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department to the list of police departments and sheriff’s offices that have allowed the show to embed with live cameras. That includes the Berkeley County Sheriff’s Office (S.C.); Brookford Police Department (N.C.); Clayton County Sheriff’s Office (Ga.); Daytona Beach Police Department (Fla.); Hazen Police Department (Ark.); Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office (Calif.); Knox County Sheriff’s Office (Tenn.); Monroe Police Department (La.); and Richland County Sheriff’s Department (S.C.).

Also new this season, Howell Township Police Dept. (N.J.) captain Tom Rizzo has joined “On Patrol: Live” as a full-time analyst. He’ll join Abrams, Richland County Sheriff’s Department (Columbia, S.C.) deputy sheriff Curtis Wilson and retired Tulsa Police Dept. Sgt. Sean “Sticks” Larkin on the show, along with a rotating panel of experts.

“Before this kind of show, the only real view that folks had in the law enforcement was either in the purely entertainment space, or something like ‘Cops,’ which is highlighted moments of policing,” Abrams said. “And it doesn’t really give you the true sense of what it’s like to be a police officer. What this show provides is it allows you to see as the officer gets the call, as they respond to the call, and in many cases, as they approach a vehicle without knowing exactly who’s in the vehicle. It’s a mix of more mundane moments, because a lot of policing is mundane, and very high octane moments, because some of policing is high octane as well. And I think the fact that the show reflects both of those allows it to reflect policing in America.”

Abrams also pointed out the complexity of the broadcast, which includes 50 cameras across the country following law enforcement, as well as field producers and video loggers, as well as producers in the studio keeping tabs on what’s going on. “I’ve worked on a lot of of shows,” he said. “I’ve never worked on a show that is as complex as as this one.”

“On Patrol: Live” also features segments about missing persons, in conjunction with the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) and the Black and Missing Foundation (BAMFI). The show said it has helped find 35 missing people so far.

Big Fish subsidiary Half Moon Pictures produces “On Patrol: Live” for Reelz; Dan Cesareo, John Zito, Lucilla D’Agostino, Paul Gordon, Joe Venafro and Abrams are exec producers.

Photo credit: Reelz