It’s been more than a year since Titus Welliver shot the taut pilot for the new crime series “Bosch” (Amazon Prime, starting today) that has just unleashed its entire 10-episode first season.
Put up against a lot of other potential pilots for the streaming conern, Bosch got a lot of votes – primarily because so many knew the hardbitten detective character from Michael Connnelly’s popular series of novels..
“This is Amazon’s business model,” Welliver told me over the phone from Hollywood. “Then they watch and rate it and there’s a little report card and they share it. And the numbers are reflective of the interest and the comments I’m sure in some way are helpful to them as to what people liked and what they didn’t like. And that being said, things are not going to be changed or written to satiate that part of the audience. You put it out there and find out if people like it, and they clearly seem to enjoy it. “
“Bosch” certainly is a strong addition to the detective genre, with the man who adapted it for TV, Eric Overmyer, and two of the cast members – Jamie Hector and Lance Reddick – are all from from one of TV’s greatest police dramas ever, “The Wire.”
Shot in Los Angeles, where it picks up a noir that seems fresh, “Bosch” also includes Scott Wilson of “The Walking Dead” and Annie Werchling of “24.”
Welliver himself is familiar from a number of roles including the Man in Black from “Lost” and Silas Adams in “Deadwood,” Jimmy O’Phelan in “Sons of Anarchy” and Glenn Childs in “The Good Wife,” not to mention all those Comcast Business ads currently.
But he’s never been used so well or dominated so strongly a project.
Welliver, for his part, credits the Connelly, an executive producer on the project, who even had a hand in helping write some scripts.
“You also have to consider the fact that Michael sells a lot of books on Amazon,” Welliver says. “He has an enormous global following of the Bosch books, so for years people have been wanting a Harry Bosch film or a Harry Bosch TV series, and now it’s there. I think it’s long awaited and the response has been really positive, so I think they’re going to be really, really pleased with what they see.”
It will only bring more viewers to an online service that has already benefitted from its first original series, “Transparent” winning two Golden Globes.
“How great is that for Jeffrey Tambor and deservedly so,” Welliver says. “His work on ‘Transparent’ is exceptional, and I was absolutely thrilled to see him acknowledged, and the show itself.
“It’s an extremely brave show and that makes me happy not only for Jeffrey and Amazon, but there’s a new sheriff in town. There are other opportunities. We’re not limited in the way we were at one time.”