Fox picks up procedural that sounds like Batman crossed with Backstrom

By Sam Barsanti | October 1, 2015 | 7:14pm

Aux Features TV

Remember Backstrom? It was a police procedural with dramatic and comedic elements on Fox that starred Rainn Wilson as a guy who would be a great detective if he weren’t a terrible jackass, and it was canceled earlier this year after 13 episodes. Well, apparently something about the idea stuck with the network, because it has just picked up a new untitled comedic crime drama that was co-created by Hart Hanson, the guy behind Backstrom (and Bones, but we’re going for a theme here).

That comes from Deadline, which reports that this show will be about “a socially inept billionaire who helps the LAPD solve crimes.” So, in other words, it’s like if Bruce Wayne fought crime as Rainn Wilson’s terrible jackass instead of as Batman. He probably won’t have Backstrom’s iconic rain poncho, but on TV “socially inept” usually means “asshole” and not “awkwardly shy,” so we bet there’ll still be plenty of similarities. As for why the LAPD would ask a socially inept billionaire to help them solve crimes, we assume the answer is “because that’s how TV works.”