Fox’s latest procedural Rosewood is about a private pathologist named, you guessed it, Rosewood. He’s played by the handsome and charming Morris Chestnut from Nurse Jackie. Rosewood teams up with detective Annalise Villa, played by Jaina Lee Ortiz from The Shop. This means that even though he’s technically a pathologist, this is still essentially a typical police procedural.
The real twist of Rosewood is the protagonist’s personality. Yes, he’s still a brilliant womanizer, but he’s defined by how much he loves people and believes in making the most of life. The departure from morose and cynical procedural leads is a real breath of fresh air that definitely caught my interest.
The diversity of the cast is also refreshing. It focuses on the partnership between a black man and a Latina woman and Rosewood’s sister Pippy and her female fiance Kathy are also main characters. So far, they’re pretty adorable together. I’m a sucker for seeing couples do science together and I like that they’re diving right into making two of the people on the forensics team a steady couple rather than a will-they-won’t-they.
Rosewood also has an interesting backstory. He’s chronically ill and expected to die within the decade. Instead of this making him a negative person, he’s trying to embrace life and help as many people as possible. It’s an interesting character design and didn’t feel derivative of any procedurals I’d seen previously. In fact, it’s probably a direct response to people feeling like the curmudgeonly but brilliant detective was played out when Fox was trying to push Backstrom.
However, the actual writing quality of Rosewood isn’t particularly an improvement on your average procedural. It’s a good choice for people looking for a new light and fun cop show, especially if you’re a fan of old USA Network shows. It’s a show that is best described as “pleasant,” take that as you will.