TV

A fun summer buddy cop story, ‘Taxi’ deserves a hail

NBC’s new summer series, “Taxi Brooklyn,” has the bona fides of a pleasant summer diversion starting with its title, which isn’t just Hollywood window-dressing. The show really was filmed in New York’s hippest borough — and not in Toronto (so often the case with TV shows trying to replicate NYC on the cheap).

And while “Taxi Brooklyn,” adapted from Luc Besson’s big-screen movie “Taxi,” is your standard TV cop drama, it does offer plenty of Brooklyn scenery — borough residents will surely recognize some neighborhoods — and nice chemistry between co-stars Chyler Leigh (late of “Grey’s Anatomy”) and Jacky Ido (from “Inglourious Basterds”).

The setup here finds tough-talkin’ Brooklyn-based Detective Caitlyn “Cat” Sullivan (Leigh) desperately trying to nab her father’s killer. Her dad, also a cop, was gunned down on a deserted Brooklyn street the year before, and now Caitlyn is being taunted by text messages from a mysterious guy, in disguise, claiming to know the killer’s identity.

We know Caitlyn is tough because it’s telegraphed through early exposition; she uses words like “d—–bag” (twice) and has gone through five partners in a year. She’s also totaled three cop cars and isn’t supposed to be driving — but, in the opening scene, jumps behind the wheel of an NYPD cruiser and careens through busy Brooklyn streets (magically not hitting anyone) in high-speed pursuit of a bad guy who’s stolen a cache of diamonds and commandeered a cab in his desperate getaway attempt. (This chase sequence isn’t quite Steve McQueen in “Bullitt,” but it’s well-done and frenetically edited.)

The cab is driven by Leo Romba (Ido). Caitlyn suspects Romba of being the bad guy’s accomplice, but he’s really innocent — of this particular crime. Turns out he’s here illegally after serving four years in a French prison for driving a getaway car during a bank robbery (and dropping a dime on the bad guys to shorten his sentence).

In true buddy-show fashion, Caitlyn and Romba hit it off (sort of) and he agrees to drive her around the city in his cab — and help solve her father’s murder — if she keeps the FBI (in the guise of her oily ex-husband) from sniffing around his case.

I found myself rooting for the Caitlyn-Romba team at the end of the premiere episode, and I like the chemistry between Leigh and Ido. She’s a bit stand-offish, as scripted, but I sense she’ll loosen up a bit; Ido plays Romba as a charming rogue with a twinkle in his eye and a hint of vulnerability.

“Taxi Brooklyn” isn’t a game-changer, but it’s a well-written, solid summer offering that’s worth checking out.