'City On A Hill' Portrays A Seedy '90s Era Boston With Racism, Crime And Corruption

16:37

June 21, 2019

Kevin Bacon as Jackie Rohr, Aldis Hodge as Decourcy Ward, Mark O'Brien as Jimmy Ryan and Jonathan Tucker as Frankie Ryan in "City On A Hill" (Courtesy of Eric Ogden/Showtime)

Showtime's “City On A Hill" portrays a crime-ridden Boston before the "Boston Miracle." The first season focuses on an FBI agent, played by Kevin Bacon, and an assistant district attorney, portrayed by Aldis Hodge, who team up to take down a Charlestown family of armored car robbers.

Right up top, the pilot acknowledges the cultural backdrop of the time: the Charles Stuart case in 1989, where a white man shot his pregnant wife and then blamed a black man for the crime.

We hear from a former Boston police chief and former NAACP president about what they make of the portrayal and what lessons they take away from the show.

Guests

Daniel Linskey, former Boston police chief. He’s now managing director for Kroll Security Risk Management practice and a fellow at the Duff & Phelps Institute. He tweets @ChiefLinskey.

Michael Curry, the former president of the Boston branch of the NAACP and a member of the National NAACP's Board of Directors.

This segment aired on June 21, 2019.