New York Cops: NYPD Blue

Great acting, excellent character development, etc. I particularly liked the Jimmy Smits years, but all of them were great.

One of the bet shows ever on TV---lasted 12 seasons---but only the first 5 are available on DVD.

Does anyone know why? Is there some sort of contract problem or lawsuit? Are they scheduled to be released at some time in the future? I would like to know----the first 5 seasons came out quite some time ago (8 years?) and then nothing! You would think that a show with the kind of legs this one had and the audience to keep it on the air for 12 seasons would represent excellent potential for the DVD sales. SO---what's up with that? Anybody know?

Show itself has its ups and downs... still is a great show. But the one thing that is constant is Andy Sipowitz. For me, the best character ever created in any tv show. So human and well acted. Only that is worth watching. His partners are not always great but some are prefect. Old school cop show that is well worth your time. Rating is way lower then it should be. One of the most underrated shows of all time i think. Its not modern, one case trough entire season kinda show but more of one episode one case. Ofcourse some cases go troguh entire season or even show and characters are build upon them perfectly. Hope u enjoy it.

Three things that keep this show in my top 5 of all time. One, is the language. The way the people talk is Shakespearean poetry. They re-invent the English language every episode. Magnificent.

Two, how emotionally real the show can get. The relationships between the people, between the races, between the sexes, between the cops, is beautifully done. Top drawer. Andy's speech about Bobby, how he never thought he'd ever have a friend again, just the best you'll ever see.

Three, the single best piece of film I've ever seen is the scene in the last season where Bobby's ghost comes back and has a short conversation with Sipowicz in the bathroom. Stunningly good scene, best ever.

But every minute of every episode is spectacular. No bad moments ever. How you keep a series on such a consistently high level is beyond me.

Consider that in the first 50 years of ABC television, NYPD Blue was on for 12 of them. Was it better, more edgy the first couple of seasons? Yes. Was it at the end? Not so much. Yet, it was still appointment television. It was ground-breaking, and if you missed it from Day One, sure you can buy the DVD's as they come out, but it was so different than anything on TV then, and it changed what we expect out of television dramas.

The character of Andy Sipowicz, played by 4 time Emmy winner Dennis Franz, was the most realistic character ever created on television, faults and all. He was a modern-day everyman, and that was why we rooted for him, even when he was in one of those moods. It was why we continued to watch right up until it's triumphant end.

It came along when the one-hour drama on network television was all but dead; it re-defined the look of prime time drama with language and wardrobe (or lack their of), as well as how it was filmed; and when you speak with anyone that is or ever has served in law enforcement in this country, they'll tell you it was the best show at capturing "The Job" from a realism and accuracy standpoint.

Thank God for re-runs.

I started watching NYPD Blue when I was in Year Eight at high school after my legal studies teacher said it was a good show. Turns out, I tuned in just when Danny Sorensen (Rick Schroeder) joined the show, and I had no idea about John Kelly or Bobby Simone.

No doubt, Dennis Franz as Detective Andy Sipowicz is the star of NYPD Blue, and the heart of the ensemble show. His journey from a season one racist, homophobic drunk through to a stationhouse commander by the time the twelfth and final season is over was highly believable, and Sipowicz, who saw more tragedy than most, is now an iconic television character.

That said, Jimmy Smits as Bobby Simone was brilliant: the final episodes of Smits' run, where Detective Simone was dying were some of the best episodes of any TV show I have ever watched. Wish we'd seen more of David Caruso's John Kelly. Marc-Paul Goesselaar as the more youthful John Clark did a solid job after Rick Schroeder left the show.

And what of the supporting cast? All brilliant - particularly Kim Delaney as Diane Russell, Gordon Clapp as the delightfully awkward Greg Medavoy, Bill Brochtrup as PAA John Irvin, Nicholas Turturro as the youthful James Martinez, Jacqueline Obradors as Rita Ortiz and the two squad leaders, James McDaniel as Arthur Fancy and Esai Morales as Tong Rodrigues. Who else? Charlotte Ross as Connie McDowell, Sharon Lawrence as Sylvia Costas and Andrea Thompson as Jill Kirkendall. All great characters, all with so much (often tragic) depth.

Violent, brash, at times highly emotional and very controversial given the content and the era in which it aired (though definitely not by today's 'anything goes' standards!), we will never see the likes of NYPD Blue again.