NYPD Blue


NYPD Blue is an American police procedural television series set in New York City, exploring the struggles of the fictional 15th Precinct detective squad in Manhattan. Each episode typically intertwines several plots involving an ensemble cast. The show was created by Steven Bochco and David Milch, and was inspired by Milch's relationship with Bill Clark, a former member of the New York City Police Department, who eventually became one of the show's producers. The series was produced by Steven Bochco Productions and 20th Century Fox Television and originally broadcast by ABC from September 21, 1993‚ to March 1, 2005. It was ABC's longest-running primetime one-hour drama series until Grey's Anatomy surpassed it in 2016.
NYPD Blue was met with critical acclaim, praised for its grittiness and realistic portrayal of the cast's personal and professional lives. However, the show garnered controversy for its depictions of nudity and alcoholism. In 1997, "True Confessions", written by Art Monterastelli and directed by Charles Haid, was ranked number 36 on "TV Guides 100 Greatest Episodes of All Time". In 1998, "Hearts and Souls", Jimmy Smits' final episode as a main cast member, ranked 30th on TV Guides "100 Greatest Episodes of All Time".

Main cast

Production and crew

Produced by 20th Century Fox and Steven Bochco Productions, film production primarily took place in the greater Los Angeles area. The show did film in New York, but only for exterior shots that used New York landmarks. In the final season, the show was filmed only in Los Angeles to save money.
The series was shot on film and framed for a 16:9 ratio from the first episode, though it was not natively broadcast in HD until season 9. In 2016, the first eight seasons were remastered into a 2K resolution HD image for use in future syndication and streaming releases. The 90-minute versions of "Lost Israel, Part 2", "Honeymoon at Viagra Falls", and "Hearts and Souls" were not included in this project and are available only on the DVD releases, as standard definition 4:3 episodes. The streaming remastered editions use the 60-minute versions of those episodes.
Exterior shots of the 15th Precinct used the 9th Precinct building on East 5th Street in New York City, also used for Kojak.
The show was initially a vehicle for David Caruso. John Kelly was the main character, and the first season revolved around him and his professional and personal lives. Promotional shots for the show depicted Caruso in the foreground and other first-season characters set off behind him. Season two had the departure of John Kelly, and the show was thereafter built around an ensemble cast.
Dennis Franz, as Andy Sipowicz, a veteran New York City Police detective, evolved into the show's lead character, who increasingly assumed a mentorship role to other characters as the series progressed. His co-stars included Jimmy Smits as Det. Bobby Simone, Rick Schroder as Det. Danny Sorenson, and Mark-Paul Gosselaar as Det. John Clark, Jr..

Music

The show used an instrumental theme by prolific TV composer Mike Post, which did not change throughout the run of the series. The theme begins with a percussion arrangement reminiscent of the sound of a New York City subway train departing a station and then proceeds to an oboe-dominated melody influenced by the Irish-American music used at NYPD ceremonies. Each episode had a cold open scene followed by the full-length theme song over the opening credits. The cold open and scene transitions used short instrumental breaks reminiscent of the main theme. As the series progressed, the musical start of the cold opens grew longer. By season seven, each episode began with a fast-paced montage of typical Manhattan street scenes unrelated to the show's characters, scored with an increasingly complex combination of scat singing and instrumental music riffing on the main theme. The specific variations were original to each episode and were not reused. Some especially dramatic or dialogue-free scenes were scored during particular episodes, but otherwise the main body of scenes used only limited diegetic music. A section of the main theme played again over the closing credits.

Plot

Season 1

and Andy Sipowicz are detectives in the 15th squad. Sipowicz is the elder partner, but is an alcoholic who drinks on the job, as well as off duty, and his behavior causes doubt that the partnership will last much longer. Kelly has a genuine affection for his partner, but becomes increasingly exasperated by Sipowicz's behavior. In addition to his alcoholism, Sipowicz is a deeply negative, misogynist, homophobic man. In the pilot, Sipowicz is shot by a suspect he had attacked and humiliated earlier. This leads to his decision to sober up and save his job. While Sipowicz is recuperating, the squad's lieutenant, Arthur Fancy, teams Kelly with a young cop from Anticrime, James Martinez.
Kelly's personal life is as frenetic as his professional life. He is reluctantly going through a divorce from his wife, Laura, and is embarking on an affair with a uniformed cop, Janice Licalsi. To complicate matters further, Licalsi's police-officer father is on the payroll of mob boss Angelo Marino. Licalsi, in an attempt to protect her father, has been ordered to do a "hit" on Kelly. Instead, Licalsi murders Marino, and the repercussions come back to haunt both Kelly and her.
Sipowicz, meanwhile, sobers up and begins a relationship with ADA Sylvia Costas. The other detective in the squad, Greg Medavoy, a married man, embarks on an affair with the squad's new administrative aide, Donna Abandando.

Season 2

Licalsi is found guilty of the manslaughter of Marino and his driver, and is given a two-year sentence. Because of Kelly's involvement with Licalsi, and the widely held belief that he withheld evidence that could have given her a longer sentence, he is transferred out of the 15th to working as a dispatcher and subsequently chooses to leave the department altogether. He is replaced by Bobby Simone, a widower whose previous job was that of driver for the police commissioner. This does not sit well with Sipowicz, but after learning that Simone took the assignment to be present for his wife, who was suffering from cancer, Sipowicz learns to accept his new partner, and eventually builds a strong friendship with him. When Sipowicz's relationship with Sylvia leads to marriage, he asks Simone to be his best man.
After an affair with a journalist whom he suspects has used information that he disclosed to her after an intimate moment to boost her career, Simone begins a relationship with another new member of the squad, Diane Russell. Sipowicz, as a recovering alcoholic, recognizes from Russell's behavior that she also has a drinking problem. After much prompting, she begins attending Alcoholics Anonymous. In another storyline, due to his low self-esteem and disbelief that a woman like Donna could love him, Medavoy's relationship with her breaks down, due in no small part to Donna's visiting sister.

Season 3

At the beginning of the season, Sylvia becomes pregnant with Andy's child. A baby boy, Theo, is born towards the end of the season. This is contrasted with the fate that awaits Sipowicz's older son, Andy Jr., who announces that he plans to join the police force in nearby Hackensack, New Jersey, after being discharged from the Air Force due to an injury. Sipowicz is finally bonding with his long-estranged son when Andy Jr. is gunned down trying to help people in a bar holdup. This causes the elder Sipowicz to fall off the wagon. Simone kills Andy Jr.'s murderers in an act of self-defense while attempting to arrest them.
Bobby and Diane, who had placed their relationship on hold while she attended AA, resume seeing each other. Diane begins drinking again when her abusive father beats her mother. Her father is eventually killed, and her mother becomes the prime suspect.
James Martinez and new detective Adrienne Lesniak begin an affair, but Lesniak later breaks it off, because her last relationship with a fellow cop ended disastrously, and tells Medavoy that she is gay. After James is shot, recovers, and returns to work, and Lesniak and he get to know each other, she admits that the story she told Medavoy was a lie. Martinez later breaks up with her due to her controlling and unpleasant behavior, and Lesniak eventually leaves the squad. Medavoy leaves his wife, recognizing that she is holding him back, but it is too late to save his relationship with Donna, who leaves to take a job with Apple in California.

Seasons 4–5

During the next two seasons, a few minor cast changes are made; Donna is replaced by several PAAs, most notably by Gina Colon, who eventually marries Martinez and is written out, and Det. Jill Kirkendall is partnered with Russell. Sipowicz's battle with prostate cancer and the up-and-down Simone/Russell relationship, which includes Russell's revelation that she had been sexually abused by her father, are prominent storylines. Also, during this time, Franz won four Emmy Awards, and both Delaney and Clapp won an Emmy for supporting roles.

Seasons 6–8

is a major turning point for the series, as Smits decided not to renew his contract and left the show. In episode five, "Heart and Souls", just episodes after marrying Russell, Simone dies due to an enlarged heart and a subsequent infection caused by complications from a heart transplant. Smits was replaced by Rick Schroder, as Det. Danny Sorenson.
Two additional critical incidents occur during season six, the heroin overdose death of PAA Dolores Mayo, and the death of Costas, who is accidentally gunned down by Mayo's distraught father at the trial of the suspect accused in Mayo's death. Costas's final words to Sipowicz, "Take care of the baby", led to his initial withdrawal from the squad. Yet, his keen perceptiveness allows him to gain a confession from the suspect in Mayo's death, who had tried to buy his way out of trouble. Furthermore, Sipowicz reaches a level of understanding with PAA John Irvin, whose homosexuality had been a stumbling block for Sipowicz in their interactions to that point.
The next two seasons had the continuation of Sipowicz's relationship with Sorenson, along with more changes in the squad. Departing during this time were Kirkendall, Martinez, Fancy as squad leader, and Russell. Arriving to replace them are Det. Baldwin Jones, Det. Connie McDowell, and Lt. Tony Rodriguez. Also arriving in season eight was new full-time ADA Valerie Haywood.
At the end of season eight, Sorenson is approached by the owners of a strip club to work for them providing information. Still reeling from Russell's abruptly ending their brief affair, he accepts the offer. After reporting to Lt. Rodriguez, Sorenson goes undercover, but then goes missing, after a stripper he was seeing turns up dead in his apartment. The Sorenson character was written out at the start of season nine, at Schroder's request; he wanted to spend more time with his family.