In 2007 Graham Yost created Raines (2007), an LAPD detective show starring Jeff Goldblum. Mykelti Williamson made a cameo as Bobby 'Fearless' Smith in the pilot.
Some items on Fearless's list of things to do before dying are:
- Learn to speak a foreign language
- See a launch of the Space Shuttle
- Send a message in a bottle (done)
- Ride a camel into the desert
- Plant a tree (done)
- Sleep with a hooker (done during pilot episode)
- Go deep sea fishing and eat oysters
- Sit on a jury (done)
- Shower in a waterfall
- Drive the Autobahn
- Make love on a kitchen table
- Pick up a bad habit (done- smoking)
- Quit that bad habit (done)
- See the northern lights
The episode "Insured by Smith and Wesson" features Joe Penny as a former actor on a fictional TV series of that name. The clips shown from that fictional series are actually from Penny's old show Riptide (1984).
After NBC renewed the show for a second season, they cut the show's first season episode order from 22 to 18 episodes. Season 2 only got to film 6 episodes before being canceled.
The beginning credits feature actual footage of controversial Los Angeles events: The Watts riots, a shot of Robert Kennedy moments before he was assassinated at the L.A. Ambassador Hotel, and footage of the O.J. Simpson Bronco "slow chase".