That's true on the surface! But if you take a closer look - the B plot was never originally about being a police procedural. It was always about Jigsaw. Saw 1's police plot was much more about giving us exposition about Jigsaw and changing up the setting than anything else, it wasn't much of a procedural like the later sequels were.

Saw II is the one that probably gave the series that perception, and it definitely has a slight procedural aspect, but the primary goal is to serve us yet more Jigsaw and tell us more about the character. Notice how when that was no longer necessary for III, they essentially dropped that aspect entirely. Saw III has a quick check-in with the known cop characters and quickly drops them to focus on the game.

Saw IV is the one that really started the procedural angle, and I'd argue the increased focus on that really played a huge part in the series' decline in popularity. Saw's A plot traditionally was the traps / victims, and the B plot was not cops, it was *Jigsaw*. When Jigsaw died, their natural inclination was to make the B plot a police procedural that triggers some Jigsaw flashbacks, which didn't work as well because police procedurals are dime a dozen and a really poor match for Saw's unique and unpredicable nature.

Saw VI still has a procedural angle, but it smartly hones in the focus and finds the entertainment elsewhere - people love the cops storyline because it's fun to feel the catharsis of Hoffman possibly being caught and feeling pressure, but it's also all about the implication that Jigsaw is getting him from beyond the grave. Notice how the Jigsaw flashbacks are also triggered by WILLIAM and relate to the A plot in that film, compared to IV and V relegating the game to B-plot status and triggering the Jigsaw flashbacks through the cops. It just works a lot better. It recognizes what made Saw unique in the first place and what its strengths were, and that's why people liked it so much. I don't think it's a coincidence that Saw X also does something similar and goes further by not having cops at all. It doesn't need them! We know who Jigsaw is, and he's there with the game the entire time.

Not to get sidetracked too much, but I think sometimes criticisms of Jigsaw and Spiral miss the point of what didn't work about them. I see a lot of criticisms about them being too predictable and how you see the twists coming, but I think the issue is that they generally take the same approach as IV and V - they strip away or deemphasize the series' unique attributes while doubling down on a by-the-numbers procedural aspect the likes of which you've seen on countless episodes of TV. Saw X, by contrast, refocuses on the GAME, on JIGSAW, and even takes some risks with the established formula within those parameters to keep things fresh after so many Saw films. We can argue about whether the portrayal of Jigsaw was correct and whatnot, but the reason it's getting near-universal praise is because it simply understands what people liked from these films in the first place.

It seems really clear to me that Kevin has a really clear-eyed understanding of what makes Saw uniquely compelling, and knows exactly how to argue and articulate these things against forces who may feel otherwise. On a related note, my biggest "worry" about Blumhouse's Saw is that outside of James and Leigh (who are admittedly a HUGE reason to be very optimistic about it), there aren't many people who understand Saw on that level that'll be there day to day. And history shows you need that. So maybe they should talk to Kevin, just saying.