For decades, series creators have been tripping over “The Wire” and its first wave of imitators, trying to recapture a strand or two of that inspired Baltimore mosaic’s scope and impact. “61st Street,” which premiered Sunday on AMC+, is merely the latest.
But it’s also one of the good ones — limited on one hand by familiar storytelling zigs and zags, but humanized on the other by terrific performances, led by Courtney B. Vance, doing some of his finest work in his trademark, paradoxical sweet spot: spectacular understatement.
Vance plays public defender Franklin Roberts, facing a grim cancer diagnosis he keeps largely to himself. He’s taking on the case of a lifetime. The series, for which Vance also receives producer credit, follows familiar narrative contours and criss-crosses. Everyone harbors a secret that must come out. Yet the show comes also with distinct ripples of moral ambiguity amid the ingrained racism, deep-seeded tribalism and pervasive civic corruption. That’s code for “set in Chicago.”
