Peter Krause's New Crime Drama Steals 9-1-1's Biggest Hook

Published Oct 18, 2026, 10:00 AM EDT

Casey Duby is an avid TV writer, watcher, and reviewer. She graduated from Emerson College in 2021 with a focus in Writing for Film and Television, where she wrote several pilots and watched countless more. She's been working in television ever since.

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Peter Krause led Ryan Murphy's 9-1-1 for eight seasons as Fire Station 118's captain Bobby Nash. The 118 featured firefighters and EMTs alike, while the team's interpersonal relationships brought police officers and 9-1-1 call operators into the fold as major characters as well. In fact, police officer Athena Grant became even more integral to the show when she began a relationship with Krause's Bobby.

The 118, Angela Bassett's Athena, and the familiar call operators are seen working as a unit throughout 9-1-1, allowing the show to depict the network of first response teams that all work together to respond to all kinds of emergencies. This sets 9-1-1 apart from other crime first response procedurals, as the genre often focuses on just one team that works within a comparably narrower focus.

While the 118 have experienced their fair share of hardship throughout the series, loss didn't strike the team directly until season 8, when Bobby himself was exposed to a mysterious and deadly virus. Now in its tenth season, 9-1-1 has had to go on without Bobby or Krause.

A year and a half after his 9-1-1 exit, Krause is leading Line of Fire, NBC's new crime series that shares some of the structural DNA that has made 9-1-1 a massive success.

Line Of Fire Focuses On Different Government Agencies (Like 9-1-1)

Peter Krause now plays Secret Service Agent Mike Hollingsworth, the patriarch of Line of Fire's enmeshed, government-employed family. He's surrounded by his estranged wife, a U.S. Marshal, and three children, who work for the FBI, Secret Service, and Department of Justice, respectively.

Like 9-1-1, the family's professional and personal lives are intertwined, allowing the show to peel back the curtain on how these agencies all work together, while simultaneously indulging in more personal, character-driven family drama. Though Line of Fire focuses on different institutions, the show follows 9-1-1's lead in appealing to a mass audience.

What Separates Line Of Fire From The Traditional Network TV Procedural

NBC

People interested in detective mysteries, crime action, government hierarchy, or family drama will all have something to like about Line of Fire. This approach also gives the show a sense of behind-the-scenes realism, as it depicts the nuanced ways all of these agencies work together and where one's responsibility ends and another's begins.

While shows like Chicago Fire have been able to build an entire franchise with spinoffs Chicago P.D., Chicago Med, and Chicago Justice, this approach continues the traditional procedural format of focusing primarily on one branch at a time. By taking four agencies all worthy of their own series and putting them together, Line of Fire elevates the procedural format to a new level of depth and complexity.

Line of Fire also dives into its characters' personal lives more smoothly than 9-1-1. Beyond Bobby and Athena's relationship, 9-1-1 makes a point to pursue character-driven plot lines, particularly with the relationship with firefighter Chimney and call operator Maddie.

However, the show is primarily a workplace procedural, which often means that character-driven stories involve the responders themselves getting pulled into an emergency, an approach that requires an increasing suspension of disbelief as 9-1-1 enters its tenth season.

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By focusing on a single family, Line of Fire feels like it is truly equal parts workplace procedural and family drama. The Hollingsworth family home is arguably the show's central setting, especially as each character's job takes them to a different office.

Rather than having a personal case draw out their backstory, like 9-1-1, Line of Fire sees the Hollingsworths take their family drama baggage to work with them and shows how it impacts their day-to-day.

On top of all of this, Line of Fire has both an overarching mystery and episodic, case-of-the-week plotlines. The Hollingsworth family is interesting not only because of their overlapping government jobs, but because Krause's Mike and wife Jane have a fourth son whom they presumed dead, but who the show has revealed to be alive and, for some reason, killing other government agents.

While going about their day-to-day lives, Mike and Jane are working to preserve the secret of Jack's existence from the rest of their children, who are still grieving him and navigating the mysterious killings of which they themselves could be the next target.

Line of Fire has a lot going on, but its central family unit keeps it grounded, while strong performances from Peter Krause and Hope Davis elevate the story beyond the typical network procedural.