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NYPD reality show caused rift between Tisch and Adams allies, records and officials say
By
Charles Lane
Published Feb 2, 2026
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Selcuk Acar/Anadolu via Getty Images
By
Charles Lane
Published Feb 2, 2026
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Former Mayor Eric Adams and his longtime allies in the NYPD said cameras could start rolling on a behind-the-scenes police reality show before any official contract was in place — and despite opposition by Commissioner Jessica Tisch, according to court records and interviews with current and former police officials.
The show, titled “Behind the Badge,” was to be produced by “Dr. Phil” McGraw’s son, Jordan McGraw, until a judge stopped production last month after the city filed suit to block the release of footage that camera crews had already gathered.
A Gothamist review of court records and interviews with current and former officials involved in the show exposed a longstanding rift over the production between Tisch and two of Adams’ most public allies: former Chief of Department John Chell and former Deputy Mayor for Public Safety Kaz Daughtry.
It also shows another instance of Adams and his inner circle making an end run around a police commissioner, as reported under Keechant Sewell, the first woman to lead the department.
Chell and Daughtry said they were approached by McGraw to do the show in 2024 and saw a chance to boost the image of the Community Response Team, a widely criticized NYPD unit they created under Adams to deal with quality of life issues like illegal dirt bikes and smoke shops.
”They wanted to show the compassionate side of CRT," Daughtry said in a phone interview. "They wanted to show that these cops are not just going out there and beating people up on scooters.”
Two city officials familiar with the discussions around the show said Tisch opposed the idea from the outset, after taking over the department in Nov. 2024. They requested anonymity to speak about an ongoing legal case and declined to provide specific details about conversations between Tisch and the mayor’s office.
In the final hours of the Adams administration, the mayor’s office sent a letter to “Behind the Badge” saying it was voiding parts of the contract. The Dec. 31 letter, which was included in the city’s lawsuit, was signed by Adams’ chief of staff, Camille Varlack, according to records. But it’s unclear who authorized it, as Adams has publicly praised the show.
The move was a win for Tisch, whose objections to the show were well known.
"I don't think the commissioner was too keen on it,” Chell said of the show in a recent interview. He also suggested it was blocked behind Adams’ back.
“I don’t think the mayor was aware of it,” he said of the letter.
Adams declined to comment through a spokesperson and Varlack did not respond to phone calls and messages.
Weeks after the letter went out, Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s Law Department sued to block the footage from being used and a judge temporarily shut down the production. The suit lays out a series of concerns expressed by NYPD leadership about the show’s potential threat to undercover officers’ safety and effectiveness.
Lawyers for McGraw's production company have moved the case to federal court and say the injunction is unconstitutional.
Tisch declined to comment on this story through a spokesperson.
A reality show for a 'performative' unit
"Behind the Badge" followed members of the Community Response Team.
Gothamist hasn’t viewed the embargoed footage, but Chell and Daughtry said the show’s premise was to humanize officers. They said McGraw’s team was given access to their own homes and personal lives.
Daughtry said crews followed officers in the unit to their own neighborhoods and interviewed their spouses about “why they liked the job, what they didn't like about it, the overtime, just all the time spent away from home."
But high-level critics in the department said the unit the officers were working for was mismanaged from the start.
A November 2024 Department of Investigation report found the Community Response Team had no system to track if it was actually reducing community complaints. A 2025 lawsuit filed by a high-ranking NYPD chief claims the unit engaged in a “pattern of unconstitutional stops and searches.”
Assistant Commissioner Kevin O'Connor, a 35-year veteran of the NYPD, said a reality show wouldn’t solve the unit’s PR problems.
"Why would you have to rehabilitate a unit if you did it correctly in the first place?" O’Connor said. He retired in 2023, before negotiations for the show were underway, but said the response team’s work was already “performative.”
"Everything they claimed to fix would get fixed for the photo op, and it's right back to square one," O’Connor said of the unit’s work. "It's dangerous. It's self-serving. It doesn't serve the community."
Still, the unit and the show had the mayor's support. Adams had collaborated with Dr. Phil in multiple interviews on the TV personality’s podcast. The mayor’s unsuccessful re-election campaign also reportedly paid McGraw’s son $500,000 for social media ads.
Varlack, Adams’ chief of staff, signed off on a contract reviewed by Gothamist in April 2025, greenlighting a project that, according to Chell, had already begun filming in October of the previous year.
The two city officials said Tisch’s top aides were required to participate in planning meetings for the show, despite her opposition.
Lights, camera, injunction
The footage shot by McGraw’s film crew included unblurred faces, a precinct security code and images of juvenile arrests, according to the city’s lawsuit filed on Jan. 21. It also featured Dr. Phil himself.
Luis Martinez, a top aide to Tisch, wrote an affidavit in the suit saying portions of the program "would be detrimental to NYPD's ability to reduce violent crime and narcotics trafficking."
"The harm to the public would be enormous if the NYPD undercover program is threatened because the identities of undercovers could no longer be protected," Martinez wrote.
A Manhattan civil court judge granted an emergency restraining order the same day.
McGraw Media has since moved the case to federal court in order to challenge the restraining order on First Amendment grounds, according to Charles "Chip" Babcock, an attorney for the company, as well as court records.
Babcock said the company had always planned to blur faces and conceal sensitive information, but acknowledged in an interview that the city was not given those promises in writing.
"The city was assured that the steps would be taken, appropriate steps would be taken to protect the identities, and that was done verbally," Babcock said.
He declined later to say who in the NYPD or City Hall was given these assurances.
Daughtry and Chell said the project was never going to be focused on arrests, like the TV show “Cops,” and that no one’s face would be shown unless they agreed to it in writing.
Now, as the city tries to block the existing footage from being used, Chell said he and the production crew are looking to recreate the model elsewhere, but haven’t made any firm decisions.
When asked, Chell said that since he's retired, he can get paid as a consultant on future projects.
This story has been updated with additional information.
Tagged
new york city
public safety
Charles Lane
Charles is a Day-of reporter focused on breaking news and enterprise. He’s very friendly and can be reached at [email protected], or more securely on whatsapp/signal 631-295-6715
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