'Boston's Finest' puts spotlight on the Hub

(NECN: Alysha Palumbo, Boston) - It’s a fast-paced and, at times, heart-pounding peek into the lives of Boston police officers.

But TNT’s new show, "Boston’s Finest," isn’t an overly-scripted “reality show” – it’s a docudrama showing what really happens on the streets of Boston and looks at the officers’ lives beyond the badge.

“We always joke around about 'Cops' and 'Miami Vice,' it seems like it’s just, for it to come true, it’s amazing," said officer Manny Canuto.

Canuto and his Gang Unit partner Diamantino Araujo say while they had fun being featured on the series, it was certainly not all fun and games.

Araujo said, “There was one scene that we pulled up on, there was like three people shot and it was like a chaos.”

“At that point honestly, you tend to the victims," said Canuto, "you forget the cameras are there, at that moment you just do your job.”

The show is the pet project of Dorchester native Donnie Wahlberg.

"We forget when we see those lights flashing at night and zipping past us they’re going into harm’s way," Wahlberg said.

Wahlberg wanted to be involved in something that represented his city in “the right way.” He said he learned to respect the Boston Police from an early age.

"The Boston Police, when I was a kid, they were typically chasing some of my brothers. I was the good kid by the way, rarely saw the inside of a police cruiser in my childhood, but they were also very good to us," Wahlberg said.

And while many of these officers don’t consider themselves heroes – or celebrities for that matter – they hope Boston’s Finest can show the human side of a profession that often gets a bad rap.

Former Gang Unit member Sgt. Robert Twitchell said, “I’m a police officer, this whole stuff - I’m not used to this stuff, but I’m just proud that I hope we make the city proud.”