We interviewed Ernie Hudson about his new show APB, and a tech-filled future

Legendary actor Ernie Hudson sat down with us to talk about his new show ‘APB’ and what a future filled with tech might mean for policing in the real world.

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Ernie Hudson is best known for his role as Winston in the original Ghostbusters, but if you think this science fiction and comedy legend can’t conquer a dramatic role you’re mistaken. In Hudson’s new show APB he plays Captain Ed Conrad, an officer whose devotion to his precinct defines him.

In APB Conrad has an eccentric tech billionaire named Gideon Reeves to come in and offer his high-tech assistance to the police force. Although Conrad isn’t keen on what he sees as interference at first, he will do anything for the people he serves.

We sat down with Ernie Hudson to talk about APB and the issues of technology in policing that it covers.

Show Snob – Thanks for talking to us Ernie. We know you’re excited about the success of APB. What do you think it is that sets APB apart from the other cop dramas out there?

Ernie Hudson – Well it’s probably the most popular genre, you know policing and catching bad guys. What I liked about APB, is that it’s sort of bringing in the new technology that exists right now and applying it to how we deal with law enforcement. That to me is very different.

I think we all, or most of us, realize that doing things the old way isn’t as effective as we’d like and maybe technology can help us. A lot of the cops shows out there are still dealing with it as if it was fifty years ago; where a guy just uses force or outsmarts everybody. Honestly, though I think it’s a little more complicated than that right now though.

Show Snob – Absolutely, and your character Ed Conrad is kind of coming around to that himself in the show right?

Ernie Hudson – Yeah I play Conrad, who in the beginning he’s a sergeant who gets promoted to captain. Conrad doesn’t like the technology any more than anyone else, but I think he knows it’s necessary. He’s a guy who’s a career police officer, but he lives in the neighborhood that is least served. He recognizes the problems from the position of the community as well as the police force so he wants to see the policing be effective. So as reluctant as he is and as much as he respects protocol he knows he has to make way for the new. He realizes he’s on the way out and these new people coming in and their ideas and the technology that’s the future.

Show Snob – One of the great things about APB is that it has really been open to the idea that maybe things aren’t quite as black and white, good guys and bad guys, as they are portrayed on other cop shows. Has that opened up new areas for you to explore as an actor?

Ernie Hudson – Yeah, the simplistic way is to say these are the good guys and these are the bad guys. Everybody who lives across that street, in that neighborhood, they’re bad, they deserve all the bad things that happen to them. If they get out of line we can lock them up, and they deserve it. We make these quick judgments, even though as we are making these judgments we know that’s not true. It helps us to live with ourselves I think and what’s going on in certain places.

The reality though is that we need to connect with each other. One of the things the character I play talks about is how this is my district, these are my people, my neighborhood. I think we need to claim out cities and realize that they’re ours. We should all be allowed to walk in any neighborhood in out cities and feel safe.

I think one of the things the show does well, it shows that the bad guys, depending on where they’re coming from aren’t that bad; and the good guys aren’t necessarily that great, but we’re all in this mix. I think it’s great when shows address it from that perspective.

Show Snob – Does the technology of APB help to address those difficult issues?

Ernie Hudson – Yeah I think the technology helps us get to the truth of things sometimes. You know we can talk about policing, but when you have a video showing exactly what happened that changes the dynamic. That I think is a good thing.

Also, I think the show deals with what goes wrong when technology is used for the wrong purposes, and that’s scary too. We’re at a point in our evolution that’s very exciting, but carries with it a lot of responsibility.

Show Snob – Leading into these last two episodes of the first season of APB, what can we expect from Conrad?

Ernie Hudson – When we started out I think we didn’t know where Conrad was coming from, but now he accepts his responsibility. I think it took him a minute to recognize that now I’m the captain; I’m the guy where the buck stops. He’s just not willing to sit back and let things go a certain way anymore. Like he’s done for most of his career.

We also see that even for Gideon Reeves, the billionaire who takes over, that technology in the wrong hands even he can’t control. In our real world, I think we saw that in terms of the elections and collusion in the Russians. We’re kind of left realizing that if these guys can hack that then what else can they do?

So we don’t want to be vulnerable to technology, but I think the show, in a very entertaining way, that there is a whole other level of police concerns that we are about to step into and how do we address that.

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A brand new episode of APB airs on Monday, April 17th at 9 PM ET with the final episode of season 1 set for Monday, April 24 also at 9 PM ET.

Be sure to check out the second part of our interview with Ernie Hudson on Monday.

What do you think? Are you enjoying this season of APB? Let us know in the comments below.