I'm sure that this is a major part of it, but if they're drawing inspiration from "The Walking Dead," "Breaking Bad," and "Game of Thrones," rather than "COPS," they're going to be needing a central cast. Station personnel seem like a natural match-- pretty much anything in New Eden can happen at least partially at a sufficiently busy port of call, and Jita 4-4 really has become New Eden's B5 (lack of neutrality notwithstanding).
I disagree on this, Yulai is New Eden's B5: the main point of connection among the races, a neutral place, and the main place for people to debate and do diplomacy. Jita would be the B5 of pod-pilots, yes, but pod-pilots aren't that important in EVE's story: the Minmatarr attacked Yulai, not Jita, before invading the Amarr.
[spoiler]In fact, Yulai is B5 at the end of fourth season, when there already is a unified and centralized force to act as the UN but with it's own strength: Babylon 5 in that series, CONCORD in EVE.[/quote]
