Ballard
There aren’t all that many high profile new shows on Amazon Prime Video at the moment, but a new one has entered the race, premiered at no. 1 and has racked up a perfect 100% Rotten Tomatoes critic score to boot.
That would be Ballard, the new police series that is only kind of new. Rather, it’s a spin-off of the very popular Bosch, one of the OG Amazon series that ran for seven seasons before ending in 2021. Now, it’s back in the form of Ballard, where Maggie Q reprises the character from her recent Bosch: Legacy appearance. Renée Ballard was first introduced in Michael Connelly’s 2017 novel, The Last Show. Here’s the description of her new series:
“Detective Renée Ballard plunges into a web of murder and corruption as she hunts a ruthless serial killer and uncovers a sinister police conspiracy that threatens everything she stands for. With her own demons nipping at her heels, Ballard must outwit both criminals and colleagues to bring long-overdue justice to the victims and their families.”
Top 10
Good news; Amazon really wants you to watch Ballard, so it’s released it as a binge drop. All ten episodes are available right now, which has probably helped cement its place on the top 10 list.
As it stands, Ballard also boasts a 100% on Rotten Tomatoes, albeit from a limited number of critics so far. That may seem high until you realize that Bosch itself had a stunning 97% critic score (and 94% audience score) as an average for its seven seasons. That includes a 100% score for every season except the first one. So, if Ballard follows a similar path with similar talent working on it, you may in fact expect that high figure to stay in place. As for audiences, it already has a quite high (in context) 7.8/10 on IMDB.
The series is not exactly full of big names besides Q. Michael Mosley, Rebecca Field, Victoria Moroles and Amy Hill also star. I recognize John Carroll Lynch (Zodiac), Michael Cassidy (The OC) and Courtney Taylor (Abbott Elementary).
Amazon is continually looking for shows like this. Not Bosch spin-offs, specifically, but shows in this range that combine a good but not overpaid cast, relatively cheap location filming, high viewership scores and in this case, a lot of source material. I am mainly describing Reacher, but that’s the model that Amazon wants to replicate (Reacher is so far the #2 most-watched show in 2025, with no other Amazon production even on the list at all).
There are no indications that Ballard is supposed to be a miniseries, and surely the goal is renewal and a string of seasons like Bosch itself (or Reacher!). A premiere at no.1 is as solid a start as you’re going to get, and I’d be surprised if it left that post any time soon. I’ll watch it this week and report back.
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