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2 TV ENCORE By Shona Dustan TV Media I t's been decades since "Cheers" begat "Frasier," "Beverly Hills, 90210" pro- duced "Melrose Place" and "Happy Days" sired "Laverne and Shirley." Television spinoff series are relatively rare, suc- cessful spinoffs rarer still, and the last 20 years or so have produced some of the worst spinoffs in television history ("Joey," "The Lone Gunmen," "Baywatch Nights" to name a few). But NBC isn't letting a few sad statistics get them down — execs and viewers alike have high hopes for this year's new spinoff series, and it looks like they won't be dis- appointed. The peacock network rolled out "Chicago PD" in January, and it's already off to a prom- ising start. Winning its 10 p.m. time-slot with 8.6 million viewers for its premiere epi- sode, the "Chicago Fire" spinoff hasn't slowed down. Check out the newest episode when it airs Wednesday, Feb. 5, on NBC. Like any good spinoff, "Chicago PD" has a back story, one that largely revolves around Sgt. Hank Voight. Voight has figured prominently in the new program's parent Graybeals Carpet 2 x 3" Young's Culligan 3 x 3" Harrison- Merzger 2 x 2" On the Cover show, "Chicago Fire" — ini- tially introduced as a dirty cop, he served as one of the big baddies of the first season, causing some major problems for firefighter Matthew Casey (Jesse Spencer of "House" fame) and paramedic Gabriela Dawson (Monica Raymund, "Lie to Me"). Temporarily incarcerated for his nefarious activities, the end of Season 1 of "Chicago Fire" finds Voight out and heading up his very own intelligence unit for the Chicago Police Department. Played by veteran film and television actor Jason Beghe ("Thelma & Louise" (1991), Showtime's "Californication"), Sgt. Hank Voight is a complex character. Since his introduc- tion as a villain in "Chicago Fire," he hasn't stopped break- ing the rules or cutting the corners that made him seem so corrupt. Far from it. In fact, "Chicago PD" fleshes out Voight's shady exploits and illustrates the deals and com- promises he makes in gritty detail. At the same time, though, the show takes view- ers inside Voight's complicated world, and while it never excuses the choices he makes, this perspective goes a long way to explaining why the ser- geant is the way he is. Good cop and bad cop all rolled into one, fans of the show can look forward to a lot of shades of grey when it comes to Sgt. Voight — a welcome change from the standard good-guys- hunting-bad-guys police proce- dural template. Voight's hand-picked intelli- gence squad boasts another face that will be familiar to any "Chicago Fire" fans out there. Jon Seda ("12 Monkeys" (1995), HBO's "Treme") plays Antonio Dawson, brother to the aforementioned paramed- ic, Gabriela Dawson. Det. Dawson also made his first appearances on the mother show, generally characterized as a cop who will sacrifice anything but his morals to put bad guys behind bars. He's an interesting choice for Voight, who's Dawson's moral oppo- site. It seems, though, that the freshman cop-drama will put Dawson's moral fiber to the test — the man's son was Shades of Grey: NBC gets gritty with new cop drama 'Chicago PD' abducted in the premiere epi- sode, a plot line seemingly designed to test the limits of his character. Dawson, Voight and the rest of the team work tirelessly to retrieve the boy, an experience that will no doubt both test and solidify relationships within the team. Created and produced by television powerhouse Dick Wolf, this new series holds lots of promise. Wolf is best known as the father of the "Law & Order" series, and rumor has it there are "Law & Order"/"Chicago PD" cross- over episodes scheduled for the near future. Tune in to NBC Wednesday, Feb. 5, to catch a new episode of the cop-drama. Jon Seda stars in "Chicago PD" D&J Liquors 3 x 2" MAROCCO-RANS FUNERAL CHAPEL 119 E. 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