Would I enjoy NYPD Blue?

[Goliath]

I have recently noticed that DVD season sets of NYPD Blue are available cheap--twenty five dollars for a full season of twenty-six episodes. I never watched this show when it was on the air, but it seems to have been well-reviewed, and I am thinking of giving it a try.

The thing is, I don't care for conventional police dramas. I prefer darker, grittier shows like Homicide: Life on the Street, The Wire, Oz, and The Shield.

How does NYPD Blue compare to these others? Is it something that I would likely enjoy, or should I save my money?

 

[Mr Light]

I love NYPDB but I don't usually care for cop or medical shows, the only other one I like is The Shield. The great thing about NYPDB is that in-between the drama and the tragedy it's hilarious as hell. Andy Sipowicz is one of the funniest characters on TV and there's so many funny little character bits thrown in. The other nice thing is it's very fast-paced and there's 3-4 stories in each episode so they cut around a lot. And the shakey-cam (which I believe the show invented) always makes things visually interesting. Only the first four years are available on DVD, so I figure that's before the show got a little boring. The first season is probably the best one.

 

[Goliath]

Okay--that sounds promising. Thanks.

Anyone else?

 

[Captaindemotion]

While not as gritty as The Shield or The Wire, it's arguable that neither of these shows would exist without NYPD Blue. It pushed the envelope for its time, in terms of language, nudity and violence. It showed that cops are fallible, even corrupt and that even crims are normal human beings sometimes. Sipiwicz is one of the great tv characters, IMHO.

It's a conventional cop show in that the main storylines were usually wrapped up in the course of one episode but there were other underlying longer-lasting arc stories.

You could view it as the missing link between the likes of Hill St Blues and the HBO generation of cop shows. I'd say $25 is good value for money for the first season anyway. Go for it!

 

[Aragorn]

A problem you'll run into is that only the first four seasons have been released on DVD, and nothing has come out since 2006. I think sales were low to the point where seasons 3-4 almost didn't come out.

 

[JustAFriend]

You really want to see Dennis Franz's hairy butt??

Naw, seriously its a good show.

(but do keep the eyedrops handy for the scenes of naked Franz....)

 

[Tomato]

It was an okay show. I personally love the grittiness of the shield and the wire. But NYPD just didn't have it and fell short IMO.

 

[Captaindemotion]

Thinking again of NYPD Blue as an innovator, I recalled that the show did an episode on the theme of torture and the 'ticking bomb' scenario long before ever 24 did. A paedophile had kidnapped a child and while the kidnapper had been caught, he wouldn't say where the child was. I can't remember the precise details, but I think he may have hinted that he had buried him or her alive and that time would run out soon. Andy beat his whereabouts out of him, without recourse to the cocktail of drugs that CTU used or any of Jack Bauer's repertoire of eye-gouging, finger chopping, electrocution etc. tactics.

Myself and a friend, both dyed in the wool impeccable lefty-liberal types, completely opposed to police brutality, watched it and agreed he did the right thing!

 

[Kail]

I love NYPD Blue. I think it's very different from the run of the mill cop shows. A bit more realistic.

 

[Aragorn]

I don't know if I would call NYPD Blue realistic. They often solved two murder cases during one shift. And almost always relied on perps confessing without a lawyer.

It was more about the characters, how the cases affected them.

It was groundbreaking for its time, though it would be considered awfully tame now, sort of like The Simpsons and every other show considered "edgy" when it first came out.

It's also funny to think that it's the show that made David Caruso famous, and he left it after one year to make... Jade. Of course, now he's making mega $$$ hamming it up really badly and saying really crappy dialogue. Oh well.

The Show did give us naked Charlotte Ross and Amy Brenneman. But it also gave us Dennis Franz's bare ass.

It might also be the only show where you'd see women that look like Gail O'Grady and Debra Messing fighting over Gordon Clapp.

 

[Goliath]

Dennis Franz's bare ass!

How can I resist?

But seriously--I think I will give it a try. Thanks for all the responses.

 

[TEH BABA]

Great show no new bsg without nydp blue.

 

[cardinal biggles]

NYPD Blue is my all-time favorite TV show, so I'm glad to see someone else interested in getting into it. As mentioned above, it helped pave the way for far grittier shows like The Shield, The Wire, and 24. It's definitely worth watching for the performances. Dennis Franz owns every scene he's in, and after about fifteen minutes of Jimmy Smits in the fifth episode of the second season, you'll be saying "David who?" (Seriously, Caruso is playing the same character today on CSI: Miami that he played 16 years ago on NYPD Blue. The only difference is he's a little older, and he's surrounded by palm trees instead of lampposts and tall buildings.)

The lack of any further DVD releases is only compounded by the fact that the syndicated reruns are off the air, so you can't even catch the other eight seasons on TV anymore. (I assume there are "other means," though I've never looked into them.) It's a big bummer, too, because Season 4 ends on a cliffhanger.

 

[Mr Light]

Oh yeah, Greg is the funniest sad-sack comic-relief character ever Thank god he never left the show!

 

[Captaindemotion]

Seriously, Caruso is playing the same character today on CSI: Miami that he played 16 years ago on NYPD Blue. The only difference is he's a little older, and he's surrounded by palm trees instead of lampposts and tall buildings.

No way! Kelly was a decent, compassionate and selfless cop and a convincing tough guy when he needed to be.

Horatio Caine, OTOH, is an annoying twat.

 

[J.T.B.]

I came of age devoted to "Hill Street Blues" and was not enthusiastic about "NYPD Blue" when it came out, I regarded it as something of a wannabee knock-off of the earlier series. As it happened, my school and work secedule didn't allow me to follow the show very well in its original run. But I did manage to see it in re-runs later, and found out it was a really fine show.

I still don't think it was as innovative as HSB. The shaky camera, the sometimes confusing, overlapping dialogue in busy scenes, the intercutting of several different characters' plot lines, the often dreary settings and bleak outlook, all were hallmarks of HSB that were carried over into "Blue." Sipowicz was basically the same character Dennis Franz played on HSB, Norman Buntz. Buntz was sort of the pet character of Davd Milch, so it wasn't surprising that he brought Franz to "Blue" in much the same role.

"NYPD Blue" had a smaller ensemble, so it has more time for character development of the main cast. A big theme of the show was personal growth, responsibility and redemption, and they dealt with it wonderfully through some very well written and well performed characters. The show was also very good at inserting comedy into all the seriousness, on the level of HSB, "St. Elsewhere," and "Deadwood," IMO.

Four seasons are available on DVD? Well, I'd say it did show signs of running out of steam after four seasons, but was still pretty good. Same goes for "Hill Street," but there are only two seasons available.

--Justin

 

[Mr Light]

There's comedy in Deadwood?! I have to watch that show one of these days. We actually bought the series set on a super duper sale but haven't cracked it open yet.

 

[Mordock]

The lack of any further DVD releases is only compounded by the fact that the syndicated reruns are off the air, so you can't even catch the other eight seasons on TV anymore. (I assume there are "other means," though I've never looked into them.) It's a big bummer, too, because Season 4 ends on a cliffhanger.

I've always found that fascinating. NYPD Blue is almost the antithesis of a cult show: an immediate hit that maintained a healthy audience for more than a decade and which has almost no fan following. It's a shame the fifth season isn't out, because it's the last full season with Smits and, after the meandering fourth season, a nice return to form (especially the harrowing two-parter "Lost Israel", arguably the series' finest hour).

 

[darthraidr]

i was going to watch this show via netflix, but all the dvds weren't out, so i went wtih the west wing instead. (i want a show that i can watch from start to finish).

the fact that david milch worked on this was the main reason (same with why i want to check out HSB).

 

[warriorsfan]

The thing is, I don't care for conventional police dramas. I prefer darker, grittier shows like Homicide: Life on the Street, The Wire, Oz, and The Shield.

How does NYPD Blue compare to these others? Is it something that I would likely enjoy, or should I save my money?

It's conventional police drama. It may have been "cutting edge" back in 1994, but it just doesn't cut it by 2009 standards.

-Murder cases are all solved within a single 8-hour shift
-The case is ALWAYS cracked by having the cops sweat out a confession from some hapless criminal, it's funny how lawyers are never there
-The main character, a fat balding old racist sexist jerk, is somehow magically irresistible to women


NYPD Blue will stretch your believability limits to their max...and then break them. Either NYC has thousands of murders per year, or every murder in the city is investigated (and solved) by the same six-person detective squad.