text: 17th precinct 17th precinct is a police procedural television program created by ronald d. moore . in a modern world where magic supplanted science , the unaired pilot featured two non - intersecting stories : the death of a city executive at the hands of a wrongful convict , and the introduction of terrorists who are devoted to the destruction of magic . moore developed the series with sony pictures television for nbcuniversal , bringing with him several of the stars of his reimagined battlestar galactica franchise as cast members . the series was pitched in september 2010 , the pilot was ordered january 2011 , nbc passed on the series in may 2011 , and the unaired pilot was leaked in december 2011 . reviewers mostly liked 17th precinct , commenting on its innovativeness despite its police procedural roots . plot the series takes place in the american city of excelsior ( shot in vancouver , modeled on san francisco ) , in a world where science was never " invented " , and instead of using " oil , electricity , [ and ] coal " , mankind relies on and fire - powered magic to run society . the police of excelsior 's 17th precinct use spells to collect evidence and information , they defend themselves with " magic discs " , and they psychically access " the stream " ( a smokey light beam ) for information , printouts , and newspapers . unaired pilot donald pynchon , excelsior 's executive prophet ( a city government official concerned with making and interpreting city - wide prophesies ) , is murdered in a north beach back alley on september 23 , 2011 . detectives longstreet and bosson ( bamber & callis ) are tasked with the case and determine that his murder was intentionally brutal , and it was unobserved due to a magical charm which deadened sound in the alley . it turns out that fifteen years previously , pynchon was in mendocino , california when , relying on a prophetic vision , testified against lionel dixon on charges of rape and murder . dixon received a life sentence of magically reliving his victim 's final experiences . after dixon was acquitted thirteen years later , he was magically given a new life as a child ( quinn lord ) in an effort to make up for the mistaken identity ; dixon instead was driven to murder both pynchon and the acquitting judge . unconnected with the pynchon case , dci wilder blanks ( walker ) begins seeing visions related to the stoics , " a group dedicated to the destruction of magic " in favor of " reason , rationality , and [ ... ] science " — a laughable prospect , but one about which they are deadly serious . twelve years previously ( 1999 ) , the stoics committed a series of murders to further their cause , but have neither been seen nor heard of since . blanks retrieves ds mira barkley ( channing ) from her dissatisfying work in another precinct to help with the stoics ; barkley was his partner during the previous stoics case . blanks partners barkley with rookie detective jimmy travers ( long ) due to the latter 's potential as an intuitive savant . investigating a nuisance case in an apartment building , barkley and travers unwittingly allow the stoics access to murder an otherwise protected tenant , a college professor of " advanced magical engineering and biology with an emphasis on power plant design . " in the dénouement , it is revealed that the stoics use " mechanical , rather than ' true ' magic " which nothing in their world can defend against ; the professor was killed using the stoics ' means , something called a bullet . production 17th precinct was created by ronald d. moore and produced by sony pictures television . moore 's development of 17th precinct was part of a two - year deal with sony pictures television to " create and executive produce series projects for broadcast and cable through his production company tall ship . " when moore pitched the show to nbcuniversal in september 2010 , it carried with it an approximate $ 2 million price tag for the pilot and penalties . in january 2011 , nbc ordered a pilot for the series from moore and sony . cast moore brought several actors with whom he 'd worked before into 17th precinct , particularly from the reimagined battlestar galactica franchise . jamie bamber as longstreet : a detective with the excelsior police department ( ex.p.d. ) , longstreet is described as determined to succeed and be promoted ; his skills allow him great forensic insight into a crime scene . longstreet is married to susan and has two children . bamber foregoes his native british accent for an american one . james callis as jeff bosson : longstreet 's partner on the ex.p.d. , bosson is the counterpart to longstreet 's straight man and family man persona . in pre - release information on the series , it was said that bosson is keeping a " big secret " from his partner . callis retains his native british accent for 17th precinct . tricia helfer as doctor morgana kurlansky : as the precinct 's " public necromancer " , kurlansky communes with dead victims at crime scenes to gain their testimony , and coordinates with the police on other forensic evidence derived from the corpse . she has a personal relationship with dci blanks which is not elaborated upon either in the leaked episode or the pre - release information . eamonn walker as detective chief inspector wilder blanks : blanks is chief inspector at the ex.p.d. 12 years prior to the series ' time , he was partnered with ds barkley during the stoics ' previous series of murders . as an " intuitive savant " , blanks experiences visions and feelings which have tangible connections to events . morales as detective inspector liam butterfield : working at the ex.p.d. , butterfield has an antagonistic relationship with ds barkley from her previous stint working in the homicide division . the character also was apparently a woman ( lisa ) when last associated with barkley , a change about which he is defensive when she needles him — " i 'm not lisa anymore , inside or out . " ; io9 described butterfield as " [ o ] , he 's pretty much a total hard - ass . " stockard channing as detective sergeant mira barkley : after dissatisfied years working in the robbery division , barkley is brought back at the request of dci blanks because of her expertise from working the stoics ' murders in alameda 12 years previously . she was partnered with blanks when he was just a rookie . matt long as detective james " jimmy " travers : as a rookie officer , travers is partnered with barkley because of his potential as a " intuitive savant " . kristin kreuk as susan : longstreet 's wife did not appear in the unaired pilot , but was said to run a declining antiques store and have a " huge dark secret . " release on may 12 , 2011 , nbc announced that they had passed on 17th precinct for their fall 2011 season of shows . nbc instead ordered a full season of another program featuring a supernatural angle on the traditional police procedural genre , universal television 's grimm . the unnamed pilot episode of 17th precinct was leaked online at vimeo in the last days of december 2011 . reception science fiction blog io9 called moore a " master of world - building " , describing excelsior as a richly described setting . they lauded its freshness in spite of its police procedural genre , saying that it was " bursting with new ideas " and " [ r ] a whole new genre " . airlock alpha also commended 17th precinct for incorporating a fresh take on the police procedural genre , though also felt the pilot introduced too many characters and concepts . tg daily thought the concept was cool , though they felt " the execution could use a little polish " . they also specifically lauded bamber , helfer , and callis , while not being overly impressed by the supporting cast . in the end , they would have preferred 17th precinct over grimm .