If you weren’t a fan of police procedural Bosch or its subsequent spinoff Bosch: Legacy, there’s a good chance you’re ready to write off Prime Video’s latest installment, Ballard. Despite only being released on July 9, the new TV show has already got an astonishing 100% critical rating on Rotten Tomatoes…and that’s excellent news for the franchise as a whole.
But it isn’t just the smashing review score that’s responsible for Ballard’s success. If you’ve not already spotted it on our everything new coming to Prime Video in July 2025 list, the series follows LAPD detective Renée Ballard (Maggie Q) as she oversees a cold case in a new department. As you might imagine, it’s all not as straightforward as that.
Don’t let Bosch: Legacy dissuade you from trying Ballard as it hasn’t set an amazing example for crime fans wanting to tune in. Sure, the critic’s score still stacks up (it also had 100% on Rotten Tomatoes), but Harry Bosch’s (Titus Welliver) retirement was more of the same, and that got tired and stale as the years passed. Even though we drove a cop car head-first into a snooze fest, don’t tarnish Ballard with the same brush.
