NEW YORK (AP) \u2014 New York City has ended its legal fight with producer Jordan McGraw, the son of TV\u2019s \u201cDr. Phil\u201d McGraw, reaching a settlement Friday that clears the way for the release of a reality show he\u2019s making about the New York Police Department.<\/p>\n
Under the agreement, the city will retain editorial control over the show, titled \u201cBehind the Badge,” after accusing Jordan McGraw and his production company, McGraw Media, of trying to wrest it away. McGraw Media will provide \u201crough cuts\u201d of episodes to the NYPD and will incorporate its edits into the finished version for the show, hosted by \u201cDr. Phil,\u201d a clinical psychologist turned TV personality.<\/p>\n
McGraw Media agreed to remove all content from the documentary-style series that the department designates as inaccurate or confidential, that the NYPD is legally prohibited from releasing, that reveals investigatory techniques or that would otherwise compromise public safety or the public trust. <\/p>\n
It also agreed to remove any content that the NYPD flags as portraying the city or the department in a negative light. <\/p>\n
A message seeking comment was left for a lawyer for Jordan McGraw and McGraw Media.<\/p>\n
The lawyer, Chip Babcock, has previously said that the city’s lawsuit had come as a surprise \u201cas publication of any programming was not imminent\u201d and that McGraw Media \u201chad worked with the city to address the edits requested\u201d and was willing to continue to do so.<\/p>\n
The city sued Jordan McGraw and McGraw Media in January, accusing them of violating an agreement that had allowed them special behind-the-scenes access to the nation\u2019s largest police force and \u201crisking immediate and irreparable harm\u201d to the city. The city obtained a court order blocking them from selling or disseminating any footage from “Behind the Badge.\u201d<\/p>\n
Episode \u201crough cuts\u201d provided to the city by McGraw\u2019s company, McGraw Media, were mostly \u201cunedited footage\u201d dumps and included material not allowed under McGraw\u2019s production agreement with the city, such as discussions of sensitive operations and the identities of undercover officers, crime victims and witnesses, the lawsuit said.<\/p>\n
Among other things, the lawsuit said, the show contained footage of an officer inputting a security code at a police station entrance, discussions of encrypted police communications and the unblurred faces of people who were arrested by police but who have not yet been tried or convicted of crimes.<\/p>\n
New York City inked a three-year contract with McGraw Media on \u201cBehind the Badge\u201d in April 2025. It called for McGraw Media to produce up to 17 episodes per year, but gave the city the right to opt out.<\/p>\n
The city abandoned \u201cBehind the Badge\u201d late last year, hours before Mayor Zohran Mamdani took office, after saying that it had expressed concerns to McGraw about the show\u2019s quality and content. According to the lawsuit, McGraw Media indicated that it would not accept any of the city\u2019s edits and that it intended to distribute the flagged material and was looking for a buyer to air the show.<\/p>\n
Episodes were slated to air on Phil McGraw\u2019s MeritTV cable and streaming channels, where he\u2019d previously done segments featuring the police department.<\/p>\n
A lawyer for the city had told a judge in a letter Thursday that the city and McGraw Media had \u201cagreed to a framework” to attempt to resolve the matter “through a collaborative effort to review rough cuts of nine episodes.\u201d<\/p>\n
According to the settlement agreement, McGraw Media has already edited the first four episodes to the city’s specifications. The city expects to provide feedback on the fifth and sixth episodes by next week and the last three episodes by April 16, the agreement said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NEW YORK (AP) \u2014 New York City has ended its legal fight with producer Jordan McGraw, the son…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":686749,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5122],"tags":[5229,185392,175168,1578,405,403,5226,5225,5228,5227,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-686748","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-ap-entertainment","10":"tag-ap-u-s-news","11":"tag-associated-press","12":"tag-new-york","13":"tag-new-york-city","14":"tag-newyork","15":"tag-newyorkcity","16":"tag-ny","17":"tag-nyc","18":"tag-united-states","19":"tag-united-states-of-america","20":"tag-unitedstates","21":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","22":"tag-us","23":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116304107723548590","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/686748","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=686748"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/686748\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/686749"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=686748"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=686748"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=686748"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}