In Spike TV's new eight-part series "The Kill Point," Donnie Wahlberg portrays a cop who barks at his co-workers, negotiates with killers, and can tell when someone has dangled a participle.

"The character for me was a real draw," Wahlberg said during a telephone interview. "He's a cop and I've played cops before, but throughout the eight episodes, we get to see several colors in the character."

Wahlberg co-stars in the series as Horst Cali, a police negotiator who is called in to negotiate with a bank robber (John Leguizamo) when a heist goes wrong and hostages are taken. Wahlberg said he liked the script and the thought of working with Leguizamo.

"I've worked with John Leguizamo before and we did well together, so that was part of it also," Wahlberg said.

His character, Cali, is patient while he negotiates with Mr. Wolf (Leguizamo), but quick to scream at the police and SWAT team members that surround him.

"He has to be so patient, he has to be in control," Wahlberg said. "What I tried to do was use that as part of the character. He needs to have the people around him put up with his abuse because he needs to be patient with the hostage-taker, so that's tied into the English language thing."

The "English language thing" is Cali's peculiar habit of correcting other people's grammar. Wahlberg said the script mentioned the trait, but he worked to emphasize it more.

"There was one mention of it in the first two scripts, and I kind of pushed for me to do more of it. He doesn't use correct grammar all the time, but he's still the grammar police with others; that's what makes it work so well."

Wahlberg, older brother to Mark, has appeared in two dozen films and TV shows since he began acting a decade ago, including "Path to 9/11," "Boomtown," "The Sixth Sense," "Ransom" and as the quiet real-life hero Lt. C. Carwood Lipton in "Band of Brothers." This past season he starred in the CW series "Runaway," which lasted only a few episodes.

"I am always disappointed when things don't work, and I have tremendous respect for (show creator) Dan Star," Wahlberg said. "But I'm not sure that that's (CW network) the place for me ---- I have too many opinions. I don't know if I'm a CW person. And I'm not cute enough."

Wahlberg said he likes playing a range of characters.

"I'm comfortable playing any character as long as I'm prepared and people trust me. With 'Band of Brothers,' I felt trusted and the same with 'Kill Point.' They trusted me and let me go."

With a strong resemblance to "Dog Day Afternoon," Spike TV's "The Kill Point" is bound to become "appointment television" this summer ---- viewers are not going to want to miss any of the eight episodes.

A Pittsburgh bank is taken over by five robbers, led by Mr. Wolf (Leguizamo) in an operation that eventually shows that the men have served together in military operations. Trying to negotiate with the robbers and save the hostages is Capt. Cali (Wahlberg), a veteran hostage negotiator who has successfully negotiated 17 hostage situations before this one. Mudding the waters is Deputy Chief Abrami (Mike McGlone), who is giving orders based on politics and not the best police operations.

In the first hour of the series, the robbery goes bad and Wolf and Cali begin a negotiation process that quickly turns into a business transaction. While the two men try to remain cool about the events taking place around them, their associates become hotheaded and there's little doubt the eight hours of this series are going to heat up quickly.

"The Kill Point" premieres at 9 p.m. Sunday.

Originally appeared at: North County Times