Donnie Wahlberg, who plays a tough, big city detective on the CBS drama "Blue Bloods," has co-executive produced a new reality show about cops that debuts Wednesday night on TNT.

"Boston's Finest" (9 p.m.) follows the professional and personal lives of a small group of Boston police officers. Wahlberg, a Boston native, also narrates the series.

I've seen a few reality cop shows in my day (like "Cops," of course, and A&E's "SWAT" franchise, which has had spinoffs for Dallas, Detroit and Kansas City), and I've seen the first episode of "Boston's Finest."

I can't put my finger on what's missing in this TNT offering, but it didn't have the element of suspense or excitement I've seen in some other documentary-style true crime programming. A thumping "Bad boys, bad boys, whatcha gonna do" theme song isn't necessary, or even desirable, but some level of tension is.

The first episode of "Boston's Finest" focused on two main incidences. The second one offered slightly more action than the first, but mostly, it felt like 35 minutes or so of cops riding around in cars. The glimpses into their personal lives wasn't any more rewarding.

"Boston's Finest" isn't bad, it's just nothing special. It's a lead-in for "Southland," an excellent excellent police drama that not enough people watch, and frankly, you're better off spending your time on that.

I don't mean to sound harsh (maybe it's too late) because I like Wahlberg a lot and really thought this was going to be better. But the fact that I had a "Life is too short" conversation with myself before queuing up the second episode they sent probably tells you what you need to know. And maybe it improves in future episodes, but I'll likely never know. Roger and out.