Allow The Shield creator Shawn Ryan — whose mid-season Fox drama Ride-Along is now going by The Chicago Code — to explain.
Alan Sepinwall at HitFix wondered if this had to do with the somewhat misleading title of Ryan’s other new show, FX’s Terriers. No, says Ryan:
This isn’t tied to the ‘Terriers’ experience at all. The network and I have been discussing a name change since before ‘Terriers’ premiered. Ultimately, we wanted something with Chicago in the title and something that implied an experience of more than just another typical cop show. Hopefully this will work. I think the title works well in the ads that Fox has ready to run. Don’t know why titles never come easy on my show (’The Shield’ was a very late choice after ‘The Barn’ and ‘Rampart,’ ‘The Unit’ was forever debated by CBS, ‘Terriers,’ and now this).
Ryan explained himself further to Deadline:
Changing the title from Ride-Along to The Chicago Code reflects our belief that this is more than just a cop show. It’s about the not just the police but politics, the Midwest, history, Government corruption and the city’s code. Plus adding ‘Chicago’ to anything is always a good idea.
The original executives of popular casual-dining chain Uno Chicago Grill are nodding sagely right now.
Shawn Ryan on how ‘Ride-Along’ became ‘The Chicago Code’ [HitFix]
Midseason Show News: New Name For Fox’s ‘Ride-Along’, More Scripts For ABC’s ‘Map’ [Deadline]