To say that ABC’s new drama series “R.J. Decker” opens with a bang would be an understatement.
Within minutes of the March 3 series premiere, the titular character (Scott Speedman) is getting down and dirty in the backseat of his car while he awaits his sentencing in an assault trial. The catch? The woman R.J. is sleeping with (Jaina Lee Ortiz) happens to be a relative of the man he attacked, who also happens to be the son of a senator. The odds were already stacked against R.J., but this woman’s questionable testimony seals his safe, getting him locked up for two years.
When we pick back up with R.J., the former photojournalist has been released from prison and is now working as a private investigator in Florida. And when a dead body is found in a trunk — a crime with eerie similarities to the murder of R.J.’s friend several years earlier — he makes it his personal mission to expose Clay, the man he believes is behind it.
Not even TV detectives can work alone, however, so R.J. gets help along the way from journalist Catherine (Adelaide Clemens), his ex-wife whose pool house he’s now crashing in after accidentally knocking his trailer into a sinkhole, and detective Mel (Bevin Bru), Catherine’s new wife who is considerably less thrilled about R.J. crashing in their pool house.
But the most surprisingly “ally” R.J. gains in his investigation is Emi Ochoa, the same woman whose questionable testimony sent him to prison. She uses her family connections to help R.J. connect the dots, which he does, successfully exposing Clay for the murderer that he is.
Below, TVLine speaks with “R.J. Decker” showrunner Rob Doherty about what to expect from this new crime dramedy, including what’s really going on with Emi. Read on for our full Q&A, then grade the premiere in our poll and drop a comment with your full review.
R.J. Decker is ‘a love letter to Floridian weirdness’
TVLine | I love how much this show leans into the “Florida Man” of it all. Would you say it’s more of a love letter to Florida, or more of a parody?
It’s a beautiful and weird place, you know? The first time somebody talked to me about Carl Hiaasen, [the real-life journalist who wrote the book upon which this show is based], and what the show should be like, she said it’s a love letter to Floridian weirdness. That’s what we’re trying to be. Something we care about is embracing the weirdness of the place without speaking down to it.
TVLINE | And something I care about is having Scott Speedman back on TV in a leading role. Is this the kind of character that’s going to have us looking at him in a new way?
I absolutely had familiarity with Scott and his work going into this. I wasn’t sure what to expect with respect to the comedy side of the show. We’re not broad and we’re not silly, but you need somebody with a good sense of humor, and it’s been terrific to watch Scott handle that. It is absolutely in his repertoire, and it’s such a crucial part of the show.
Has R.J. Decker really put this Clay situation behind him?
TVLine | That Clay storyline is something you could have stretched out across an entire season. Will we see him again, or is that situation resolved?
I suspect that Clay was one and done, but it was a lot of fun. We like to have our twists and turns and surprises and complexities. We always want people to be able to follow the show, but we also like having puzzles with lots of pieces.
TVLINE | Is there a through line to the season, or is it more about the cases of the week?
A requirement of the show is to deliver complex, satisfying mysteries week in and week out. But when you look at the characters, what each person has going on in his or her life, those things will carry us over this season — and into a second season, God willing. R.J. especially has got a lot to catch up on and adjust to. He really bottomed out, and he’s in this time of self-repair when we meet him. He’s pursuing new work, he’s repairing some old relationships. Those are the things that matter to us when we look at a season as opposed to an episode.
One of the things R.J. has to figure out over the course of this year will be his relationship with Emi Ochoa. She’s very complicated, and she’s also starting to make meaningful changes in her own life. Their stories dovetail in that one respect, but they also have to figure out what they are to each other.
Emi will keep viewers (and R.J. Decker) ‘guessing for a little bit’
TVLINE | Yeah, let’s talk about R.J. and Emi. I feel like her willingness to jump into the backseat with him says a lot about how far she’s willing to go to get information she needs, much like R.J.
I would say she didn’t go in with an agenda, per se. She’s wrestling with a lot of guilt. She’s the only one in the first few minutes of the show that knows all of the truths. I think she and R.J. are both people who, despite having high IQs and big hearts, can crash into bad decisions with more regularity than someone else might. His day is fraught because he’s going on trial and might go to prison, and her day is fraught because she knows she’s about to go in there and seal his fate.
TVLINE | So what is keeping her close to him now? Is it really just guilt, or is she genuinely into him? Or is there a third option?
[Laughs] I think it’s a combination of things. There is a genuine physical attraction, and there’s also this guilt that she’s been carrying for the 18 months that he was away. But because she’s a member of her family, there may also be other agendas that require him being pulled closer. The hope is that, at least for a while, the audience will wonder exactly what she may or may not have up her sleeve. She as a character will keep us guessing for a little bit.
Inside R.J. Decker’s unconventional living situation
TVLINE | I love R.J.’s relationship with his ex and her new wife. It feels refreshing, a dynamic you don’t see very often on TV. With all of their respective jobs, I imagine that this living arrangement could be beneficial — or complicated.
R.J. is hanging a shingle. He’s taking on work that he’s never really done before. He has a skill set for having been a spot photographer that he can bring to that work. Mel is very professional. She’s someone on the rise, and she takes very little crap. And there’s Catherine, who is an excellent journalist and columnist for the Broward County Herald. Each of them, certainly this season and moving forward, have jobs that won’t just be challenging but sometimes dangerous. It’s going to end up being a very good thing to have a P.I. in the family, if not under the roof.
