Dark Side of the 90's S3 Episode 3 - NYPD Blue
Category
🎥
Short filmTranscript
00:00In the 90s, a new cop show flips the script on network television dramas.
00:13NYPD Blue leaves audiences exhilarated, and ABC censors uneasy.
00:19It was pushing the envelope because there was profanity, and there was clear out nudity.
00:27It became a gigantic hit.
00:29The show popularizes using stories ripped from the headlines.
00:32It felt very honest based on real life.
00:35Where it's hard to tell the good guys from the bad guys.
00:39They were real, and they were vulnerable, and they were flawed.
00:43You like this so far, huh?
00:45You like this story?
00:46No.
00:47Then get the hell out of here.
00:48Controversy arises before the first episode even airs.
00:51We have too much violence, too much profanity, and nudity, and sex.
00:55Then get out of here!
00:56But what happens on screen can't compete with the real life drama playing out behind
01:01the scenes.
01:02From my understanding, he was using heroin, he was using prescription pills.
01:06It was horrible.
01:07He just gambled away so much money.
01:26Did I do that?
01:33Darlene, put out the forks and stick one in your tongue.
01:37Preach, I can't go with you.
01:39I got married during third period.
01:41In the early 90s, the first commandment for most network television shows can be stated
01:46in four words, do not offend anyone.
01:50America is watching ABC.
01:56And cop shows play it by the book.
01:58Say hi to Elvis.
02:00But in 1993, NYPD Blue decides to commit heresy.
02:04Are you going to charge me or release me?
02:06I may smack you in your face, you little turd.
02:08And sinning against TV gospel pays off.
02:11With hundreds of episodes over a dozen seasons, the show wins 20 Emmys and rewrites the good
02:17book on producing a hit police procedural.
02:20What was great about NYPD Blue is it was new and it was fresh.
02:24What it represented was a more realistic, grounded, organic experience of watching a
02:30cop show.
02:31Let her go.
02:32Let her go.
02:33It brought an emotional honesty.
02:35NYPD Blue was a very different beast.
02:40The show was created by Stephen Bochco and David Milch.
02:43The two meet back in the 80s when Bochco hires Milch to write on another rule-bending
02:48cop series, NBC's Hill Street Blues.
02:54That show is best remembered for its roll call scenes.
02:57A velcro collar the other day turned out not to be the rapists.
03:00Which all end with one of TV's great catchphrases.
03:03And hey, let's be careful out there.
03:06Hill Street Blues helps make Bochco one of Hollywood's most sought after TV producers.
03:11And the co-creator of Hill Street Blues, Stephen Bochco.
03:16When I first moved out to LA, I just wanted to be a part of a Stephen Bochco show.
03:21He was so great.
03:24Stephen Bochco was the ultimate producer in that he was very kind.
03:28He was very inclusive.
03:30Perhaps too inclusive.
03:32He's allegedly kicked off Hill Street Blues for including too many actors with high salaries.
03:39David Milch takes over in 1985 while Bochco goes off and creates the legal drama, L.A. Law.
03:45Should I take it to mean that you remain unwilling to comply with our subpoenas?
03:48Yeah, you can take it to mean exactly that.
03:50But when Hill Street Blues is cancelled two years later, Bochco and Milch reunite.
03:55Later, in a 1994 TV special about the creation of NYPD Blue,
04:00the two describe how the television landscape was undergoing an upheaval
04:04right when they were shopping around their new idea.
04:07There had been no new hour hits since L.A. Law, which was in 1986.
04:13The prevailing wisdom at that point was that the hour drama was dead.
04:19What helps kill the network drama is premium cable channels
04:23that don't need to comply with FCC rules regarding language and nudity.
04:27Network shows start to seem juvenile when compared to HBO or Cinemax.
04:32Oh my goodness, there's two of them!
04:36Bochco and Milch decide the only way to compete with cable
04:39is to make an adult-friendly cop show that includes profanities,
04:43real-world violence and racy sex scenes,
04:46adding a double meaning to the Blue and NYPD Blue.
04:50So it didn't feel as much like comfort food as previous generations of cop shows.
04:55There was PG-13 nudity and there was PG-13 language.
05:02You asshole Kelly, you're the one jammed me up!
05:05Which was unheard of on network television.
05:09Hi, I'm Gail O'Grady and I played Donna Abandando on NYPD Blue.
05:15Abandando. Donna.
05:17Right.
05:19Milch oversees the writing while Bochco mostly handles the network suits,
05:23who don't seem especially comfortable with making a cop show for grown-ups.
05:28They needed each other and Milch knew that he needed Bochco
05:31and Bochco knew that he needed Milch.
05:33Bochco's a good writer but he's not the writer that David Milch was
05:37and David Milch is that strong writer but not a producer at all.
05:41Hi, I'm Paris Barclay. I'm the director, producer and writer.
05:45Part of what I was doing in the 90s was starting my career in television,
05:49doing my first feature and trying to stay off drugs,
05:52just like so many people, including David Milch.
05:56Barclay's not speaking out of school.
05:58Milch admits to drinking alcohol as an eight-year-old,
06:01using heroin in high school, losing his virginity to a sex worker
06:06and spending his university years not only taking LSD but manufacturing it in a lab.
06:12David never seemed to be hiding anything.
06:14He was pretty open about who he was and what his journey had been.
06:20And those experiences help inform Milch's writing.
06:25Since his time in the 70s teaching at Yale and working on a novel,
06:30Milch has been described as talented, temperamental and even...
06:34Genius!
06:36That was his name.
06:37Genius!
06:39David Milch, definitely.
06:42His first NYPD Blues script with its renegade cops,
06:45swearing and steamy sex scenes seems to live up to the hype.
06:49I held this script and I went, this is special, this is different.
06:53David was a true artist and a poet who was writing literature
06:57and using the network's money to turn it into a television show.
07:01The executives at ABC don't see it that way.
07:04They reject Milch's script and pressure Bochco to rework the show.
07:09Bochco says no, so ABC drops NYPD Blue from its 1992 lineup.
07:15But David Milch isn't ready to call it quits.
07:18Instead, he makes a research trip to New York City
07:22with veteran homicide detective Bill Clark.
07:25Bill Clark, who had been one of the cops in Son of Sam in New York
07:28and was a really real guy, was the perfect person.
07:31Milch and Clark pal around the city,
07:33with Milch writing down all the tales of being a New York City cop
07:37Clark is willing to tell.
07:39Bill Clark was, I mean, to this day,
07:41is the secret weapon of NYPD Blue actually working
07:45because he was the story engine.
07:47Okay, my name is Bill Clark
07:49and I got a call one day from a guy,
07:53Steven Bochco's office,
07:55and he said he would like to talk to me about police work.
07:59It was David Milch.
08:01And I just started telling him cases I had worked on
08:05because, you know, I had a lot of years as a detective,
08:08had a very busy time in the Bureau,
08:10so he liked the details I put in every story.
08:13Back in Hollywood, ABC remains stuck in third place
08:17in its ratings battle with CBS and NBC.
08:20So perhaps out of desperation,
08:22ABC changes its mind and greelights NYPD Blue
08:26for the 1993 season.
08:28NYPD Blue, coming this fall to ABC.
08:32Bochco immediately knows who he wants to cast
08:35as Detective John Kelly, NYPD Blue's lead character.
08:39Your imagination doesn't exactly establish proof
08:41beyond a reasonable doubt.
08:43Jeremy Smith has just wrapped the series finale
08:45of Bochco's L.A. Law.
08:47You know, they sent me this script
08:50that they were thinking about doing,
08:52and, you know, if I was wowed by the L.A. Law pilot,
08:57the NYPD Blue pilot blew me away
09:00in terms of the reality of the show,
09:03the textures of the characterizations.
09:06Still, Smith turns Bochco down.
09:09It's too soon for him to jump into another series.
09:12I mean, phobia sets in.
09:14It's been a recurring thing in my life, supposedly.
09:20So Bochco and Milch begin auditioning actor after actor
09:23for the John Kelly role
09:25until David Caruso comes in and nails it.
09:28But Milch wants to keep looking.
09:31David said, oh, no.
09:34Because Milch remembers Caruso being extremely difficult
09:37on the set of Hill Street Blues,
09:39playing Irish gang leader Tommy Mann.
09:41No tour, no treaty.
09:43I think David Caruso wasn't a sweetheart.
09:46He wasn't that well liked.
09:48So this is a very difficult situation.
09:51Until Stephen Bochco overrules Milch
09:53and gives Caruso the gig.
09:55Stephen was the boss.
09:57You know, he gave a lot of power to Milch.
10:01When all was said and done, Stephen could put his foot down.
10:05Bochco then goes after James McDaniel,
10:08who had a small part on Hill Street Blues.
10:10And we know about the hidden racism in the department.
10:13McDaniel is cast as Lt. Arthur Fancy.
10:16They also want Dennis Franz.
10:18Like Jimmy Smiths, Franz is reluctant to sign on
10:21to a police drama, but for slightly different reasons.
10:25He already has 27 cop roles on his resume,
10:28from films like Die Hard 2...
10:30Hey, hey, don't lecture me, hot shot.
10:32I know what I'm doing.
10:34...to, yep, Hill Street Blues.
10:36Oh, hey, hey, you're under arrest.
10:38Milch promises Franz his NYPD Blue character
10:41gets shot and dies in the first episode.
10:44So Franz agrees to make Detective Andy Sipowicz,
10:47a bitter, bigoted alcoholic
10:49who seeks comfort from sex workers,
10:52his 28th cop role.
10:54Come on, let's go.
10:55Everyone always asks about Dennis.
10:57Is he really like that in real life?
10:59Are you crazy?
11:00Shut up!
11:01Just shut your mouth!
11:02Dennis Franz could not be more different than Sipowicz.
11:06Dennis was, you know, lovely and just, you know,
11:09much more of an antiquer than Sipowicz would ever be.
11:12He lived near Santa Barbara.
11:14He wore these little half-glasses.
11:16He came in and read the New York Times in the morning.
11:19He loved to golf.
11:20Andy apparently loves playing Sipowicz,
11:22enough to stick with the part after learning Milch lied to him,
11:26and Sipowicz is an ongoing character in the series.
11:29He put on the short-sleeved shirt of Sipowicz
11:32and became Sipowicz, but it truly was a character.
11:35With the cast locked,
11:37Boczko turns to a more complicated negotiation.
11:40In a documentary about the making of season one,
11:43he recalls his meeting with ABC president Bob Iger
11:46to haggle over what NYPD Blue can say and show.
11:50Bob and I sat in his office like nine-year-olds
11:54with little pads and pencils,
11:58drawing pictures of naked girls, you know,
12:01to see what could you see.
12:03Could you see this? Could you see that?
12:05You know, and so we literally negotiated
12:08every single aspect of it.
12:10As for what the show can say,
12:12Boczko and Iger settle on 37 swear words per episode.
12:16But when the network screens the first one
12:19for their nationwide affiliates,
12:2137 is too goddamn many.
12:24Hey! Ips or dis, you pissy little bitch?
12:29They also complain you can almost
12:31sort of kind of see a nipple in a sex scene.
12:34It was nudity for television,
12:37PG-13, nothing pink or fuzzy.
12:40By standards of today,
12:42I mean, it's very kind of like tame.
12:45Boczko agrees to recut the romantic interlude,
12:48but that's not enough for some stations.
12:51We were hearing a lot of noise about a lot of affiliates
12:55that weren't going to carry the show.
12:57In that news fires up 90s Christian crusader
13:00Reverend Donald Wildman.
13:02His media watchdog group,
13:04the American Family Association,
13:06starts a campaign to ban the show as softcore porn.
13:09Stephen Boczko and David Milch loved it.
13:13The more controversy there was,
13:16the more people screaming and yelling
13:19about not carrying this smut and this garbage,
13:23the more excited it made the producers.
13:26Reverend Wildman will prove remarkably successful
13:31at promoting the show.
13:33It hurts our society, it hurts women,
13:35and it hurts our children and our families,
13:37so that's why we're out here.
13:41Cop shows have been around longer than TV.
13:44In 1951, Dragnet makes the jump from radio to television,
13:49with Jack, just the fax man web,
13:52continuing as Sergeant Joe Friday.
13:55Living kind of high, aren't you?
13:57No more unusual.
13:58For 40 years, TV's police as hero storyline remains the same,
14:03even as cops' mannerisms change.
14:06Lieutenant Columbo.
14:07From Columbo's wrinkled overcoat.
14:09Have you come up with any leads, any clues?
14:11Ah, it's a little early for that.
14:14To Kojak's lollipop and Beretta's white cockatoo.
14:18Come on, you.
14:20But in the 90s, NYPD blue cops can be heroes or villains.
14:24Get your hands off me!
14:25With complicated human behaviors.
14:28They curse.
14:29Kiss my ass, you smart-mouthed little punk.
14:31Abuse alcohol, have gratuitous sex,
14:34and struggle with right and wrong.
14:36Right now, I'm going to start bouncing your ass
14:38up against these walls.
14:39We did that shit. We did it.
14:41It wasn't Kojak.
14:43My name is Jimmy Smits,
14:44and I play Detective Bobby Simone on NYPD Blue.
14:49But the Christian right doesn't see anti-heroes
14:52on ABC's NYPD Blue.
14:54It sees the antichrist.
14:56And we don't like to see it come into our community.
14:59We'd like to do what we can to stop it.
15:01Actually, they haven't seen anything
15:03since their crusading to keep NYPD Blue from ever airing.
15:07What I've heard is it's going to have too much violence,
15:09too much profanity and nudity and sex.
15:12But the same things they're protesting,
15:14ABC is promoting.
15:16The press says ABC has earned a reputation
15:19as the most daring network
15:20and can lay claim to the most talked-about news series
15:23on any network's fall schedule.
15:25Viewer discretion advised.
15:27Translating viewer discretion advised to you must watch.
15:31NYPD Blue was ahead of its time.
15:35You know, this was a show where shit gets messy.
15:38Emotions get messy.
15:39It's more than entertainment.
15:41I'm Aaron Rossan-Thomas.
15:43I've written cop shows such as Numbers, CSI New York, Southland.
15:48I created my own series called SWAT.
15:52And I was a teenager in the 90s watching NYPD Blue.
15:56Shut up! You're going in!
15:58It felt very honest based on real life.
16:00And Boczko has former police detective Bill Clark on set
16:04to make sure it looks and sounds real.
16:07He told the directors,
16:09he said in the production meetings to them,
16:12if Bill Clark says that's the way it is, that's the way it is.
16:16So he gave me a lot of power.
16:18Clark also teaches the cast and crew how to make it look authentic
16:22as seen in this behind-the-scenes TV special for ABC.
16:26You know, actors had a tendency of overdoing a fight scene
16:29or a gunshot, you know, a shootout.
16:33Clark even brings his real-world experience in front of the camera.
16:37He talks procedural with Lieutenant Fancy,
16:40arrests a bunch of mobsters and performs alongside David Caruso,
16:44doing a pretty decent job acting like he doesn't think Caruso is a diva.
16:49He was...
16:51Well, I'm going to wind up in trouble here,
16:53but he was well despised by the crew and a lot of the other actors.
17:00But in September 1993, Caruso joins the entire cast and crew
17:04to celebrate the show's premiere and its record-breaking 23 million viewers.
17:09It became a gigantic hit, and NYPD Blue remains controversial.
17:14Phil Donahue brings the cast on his show
17:17and plays clips for an audience of mostly self-professed religious conservatives.
17:22I don't like the show because it's got too much nudity.
17:25That's correct.
17:26I don't like the show because there's too much profanity.
17:28That is correct.
17:29And you're a blue-nose, so sit down, you're old-fashioned.
17:32I'm just so disappointed with this show.
17:34But there's also a real-life NYPD officer in the audience who's a fan.
17:39Do you guys use that dirty language like that and stuff like that?
17:41No.
17:42You haven't scratched the surface of the language.
17:44That cop saying the show gets it right is a compliment Bill Clark takes personally.
17:49He got me ready to start crying here, thinking about it.
17:53You know, for a guy that was a cop and had been in the Army for so many years before that,
17:57to be so proud of what he's doing, you know.
18:00Because the other technical advisors on other cop shows didn't have any power, really, you know.
18:05If you've ever been in a real precinct or, you know, or spoken with cops,
18:10you're going to get a little salty language.
18:12You're going to get some dams and some shits and some f***.
18:15That's what it is.
18:16Maybe a few cocksuckers, depending on what generation, but that's what it is.
18:21At the end of Season 1, NYPD Blue earns 26 Emmy nominations.
18:27The ABC affiliates that refused to air it are now singing its praises.
18:33But not everybody has joined the choir.
18:35When we were pulling up to the Emmy Awards to get out,
18:39there were people picketing on the side of the roads.
18:44Like, you're going to burn in hell.
18:46You know, just signs about NYPD Blue and how sinful it is.
18:53The show wins six Emmys, including Best Lead Actor,
18:56but not for the temperamental David Caruso.
18:59Instead, it's the beloved Dennis Franz who's holding the Emmy
19:02and graciously thanking the show's creators.
19:05I was very touched when Stephen and David Milch came over
19:10and gave me a big smack on the lips after I got this.
19:13Caruso does win a People's Choice Award, but he proves less humble than Franz
19:18when instead of focusing his backstage remarks on his TV show,
19:22he feels the need to remind the press he's in an upcoming movie.
19:25Yeah, it's at 20th Century Fox, oddly enough,
19:29and it's Barbie Schroeder, and I'm pretty excited about it.
19:33He was very disrespectful. It was all about David Caruso.
19:37It even comes out in how he performs in front of the camera,
19:40while Caruso's character is written to be especially solicitous of Detective Sipowicz.
19:45That about was fancy.
19:47Me and the lieutenant are going to get together after work to know each other better.
19:52According to David Milch, during the rehearsal for that scene,
19:56Caruso decides to go off script
19:59and kicks a metal garbage can within inches of Dennis Franz's head.
20:03Bill Clark says Caruso is lucky he wasn't on set that day.
20:08They would have arrested me if I would have seen him do that
20:10because I wouldn't beat him to death.
20:14He just had his attitude. His attitude was terrible, that was it.
20:18Caruso, who was little known before NYPD Blue,
20:22is now being labeled a sex symbol
20:25and demanding a 38-foot trailer,
20:27a private security detail,
20:29time off to make movies,
20:31and a massive pay raise.
20:33His attitude on set is also becoming more toxic.
20:37It was documented that there were good days and bad days.
20:43There are people in life that are their own worst enemies.
20:49Caruso battles Milch over the dialogue.
20:52For Milch, who agonizes over every line he writes, that's torment.
20:57One argument gets so heated that Milch, who has a heart condition,
21:01gets rushed to the hospital.
21:03You can still hear the anguish
21:05as he retells the story to the producers of the season one documentary.
21:09They did an angioplasty and then I got sick the next week
21:14and they did another angioplasty
21:16and meanwhile I was trying to write to keep writing
21:20and so it was a mess.
21:23It was terrible. I was always afraid something would happen to him,
21:26you know, with the condition he had.
21:29And drug use.
21:32In an interview for a behind-the-scenes documentary,
21:35Boczko talks about the two Davids
21:38and why he chose his friend Milch
21:40over NYPD Blue's disgruntled leading man, Caruso.
21:43You know, David Milch is too ill.
21:46He's going to wind up on his knees in the parking lot.
21:49If we don't get rid of this guy, he's unhappy.
21:52He doesn't want to be here.
21:54Early in season two, when Caruso's demands aren't met,
21:57Boczko agrees to let him leave the show.
22:00It's now up to Milch to script how his nemesis will exit the series.
22:04I would have liked to see Caruso swallow the bottle of his gun
22:07and blow his brains out, but, you know, that wasn't there.
22:12Instead, Milch allows Detective John Kelly to simply quit the NYPD.
22:16Ah, John.
22:18There were some people that were happy,
22:20there were some people that were sad.
22:22And Dennis Frowns is ecstatic, but he's such a good actor,
22:26he makes his character appear heartbroken.
22:30The last shot of Detective Kelly is
22:32as he walks out of the 15th Precinct.
22:35But when the director yells cut, Caruso doesn't stop.
22:38He literally walks out on the show.
22:41He just left. I mean, I feel like he just walked out.
22:47Caruso never says goodbye.
22:49Boczko may have chosen Milch over the disruptive Caruso,
22:53but his old friend is about to make things at NYPD Blue worse, not better.
22:58Sometimes he would disappear in the middle of writing a scene.
23:03We don't want any police officer in this city
23:07to have to hesitate for a moment when you're doing your job.
23:13At the start of the 90s, the NYPD is facing public outrage
23:17over police misconduct and a lack of accountability.
23:21Presently, the process is controlled by the police department.
23:25It's police investigating the police.
23:27We don't have to be a walking around genius to understand
23:30there's something more in that system.
23:32In response, Mayor David Dinkins creates a civilian review board
23:36to investigate police officers.
23:38But misconduct continues, highlighted later in the decade
23:42when Abner Louima, a Haitian immigrant,
23:45is arrested and viciously beaten and sodomized by police officers
23:49while in custody at New York's 70th Precinct.
23:54The actions of those few officers that may have been involved in this
23:59incident are not indicative of this entire precinct.
24:02It's against this backdrop that NYPD Blue tries to dramatize the reality
24:06that not all police officers are constantly upholding their oath
24:10to faithfully serve and protect.
24:12Let me have your gun and your shield.
24:14Some coerce witnesses.
24:16You gotta say, that's him. I recognize him. That's the guy. You follow?
24:20I understand.
24:21Others take bribes from organized crime.
24:24You're on his list, Janice. Friendly cops.
24:27So stop acting like you still got your chow.
24:30Or cover up each other's crimes.
24:32You don't see anything criminal coming out of this, do you?
24:35Certainly NYPD Blue was instrumental with the ushering in of the anti-hero era
24:40where these are complex, you know, characters
24:43who have their own issues and they're demons.
24:46They were real and they were vulnerable and they were flawed.
24:52And Dennis Franz as Andy Sipowicz,
24:55now the show's leading character since David Caruso left,
24:59has more flaws than most.
25:01I watched some TV and TV pissed me off so I took care of that.
25:06I did a little repair job. That was around the fourth drink.
25:10You like this so far? You like this story?
25:13No.
25:14No? Then get the hell out of here.
25:16Sipowicz was a complex character.
25:18This wasn't a guy who had his shit together.
25:20This was a guy who was a drunk. He's a terrible father, self-admitted.
25:23He was a terrible husband at one point.
25:25I was drinking and my old lady wouldn't cooperate.
25:28My angle was I'd smack her around a little.
25:31Probably that was the wrong approach.
25:34He's got a shitty life, you know, for the first part of the series
25:38and he's trying to turn things around.
25:40But to give Sipowicz time to find his redemption,
25:42the show's co-creator David Milch needs to win back viewers
25:46who may be angry about Caruso's leaving.
25:49And who better to help him do that
25:51than the actor who originally turned down Caruso's role,
25:54Jimmy Smits.
25:56And, I mean, I guess you can cut now to Bobby's first entrance.
26:01Andy Sipowicz.
26:03Oh, Andy. Bobby Simone. Good to meet you.
26:05Yeah.
26:06Milch makes the question of whether NYPD Blue can survive
26:09with a new actor a part of the show
26:12by having Sipowicz question whether he can live with his new partner,
26:15played by Smits.
26:18And this is where David Milch is genius to me as a writer.
26:24He used the fact that I was replacing someone
26:28and so we weren't going to shy away from that.
26:31With the Sipowicz character, it's like he didn't...
26:34I don't know about this guy.
26:36There's anything that's all wrong.
26:38How you doing this type of thing?
26:40From his first appearance, the audience begins rooting for Smits to endure.
26:44But so do the show's cast and crew,
26:46in part because Jimmy Smits injects a new positive energy behind the scenes.
26:52Jimmy Smits is the additive inverse of David Caruso.
26:55If you combine those two people, you get zero.
26:58So as wild as Caruso was,
27:00Jimmy Smits was incredibly pleasant, professional, and caring.
27:04And a lot of that bleeds into Smits' character, Bobby Simone.
27:08Thanks.
27:10Anytime, partner.
27:11He was able to kind of nurture people
27:14and embrace people's humanity and faults
27:19and accept them and let them flourish.
27:21Are you a cop?
27:23But this is NYPD Blue, so there's always an edge to every character.
27:27Detective Simone, that's with an E.
27:29Especially the cops.
27:31You can get it off your forehead in the mirror.
27:33But no one has as sharp or as many edges as the Franz character.
27:37I was astounded with Dennis Franz's ability
27:41to kind of fortify this very,
27:45what has become this very iconic police character.
27:50Maybe I should start each question with, you know,
27:53I'm sorry for the injustices the white man has inflicted upon your race,
27:57but can you provide me with any information?
28:01No, it's funny.
28:03I think the Sipowitz, the Sipowitzisms
28:06would have pissed me off as a black teenager,
28:09but it felt so honest and real.
28:12If anything were to piss me off,
28:14it was more the portrayal of one-dimensional black characters.
28:17This morning, this bag contained a lunch prepared by my wife for me.
28:21Not the rodent population of the 15th Precinct.
28:24It was an issue.
28:26James McDaniel, who played Lieutenant Fancy,
28:28never felt that his character was as fully fleshed out as the other characters.
28:32And the blame for that focuses on David Milch,
28:35especially after his talk to a writers' workshop gets publicized.
28:39Basically saying, I think I'm a racist,
28:42and I identify with the racist things that Sipowitz says.
28:46You guys make me laugh.
28:48Now, what guys would you be referring to?
28:50Black bosses.
28:52Well, that didn't take long.
28:54And also he said in that same speech
28:56that it's very difficult for black writers
28:58to write majority white characters.
29:00And that prompts a black journalist, David Mills, to respond.
29:04David Mills wrote him a letter saying something to the effect of,
29:08thanks for giving all these white motherfuckers jobs.
29:11These mediocre white motherfuckers.
29:14And David got the letter and said, who the hell is this?
29:18And David Mills was just a writer at the Washington Post at the time.
29:21He said, I got to meet this guy.
29:24Milch hires Mills for season four
29:27and has Mills write a racially charged episode
29:30that features Lieutenant Fancy.
29:32All over.
29:34That episode where Fancy and his wife get pulled over by the white cop,
29:38it's an inspiration, so I'll save that.
29:41The basics are, Lieutenant Fancy is pulled over at a traffic stop,
29:45he gets into an altercation with the cop,
29:47and it becomes, you know, a thing.
29:49You stopped us like you have my description on a bank robbery.
29:52All due respect, you're going to tell me how to do a car stop now?
29:56Fancy's feelings of basically being racially profiled,
29:59and this is really early, before these stories were happening in the news every day,
30:03but that episode was fantastic, controversial,
30:07and was there to give Lieutenant Fancy a little bit more depth.
30:11The encounter ends with no one getting hurt,
30:13but it's an important first step towards more realistic
30:16white cop, black motorist scenes in future police dramas.
30:20And now we can explore like, okay, but what will really happen?
30:24The chick is messy, emotions get messy,
30:26and you're not always in control in the same way.
30:30That police traffic stop episode also seems to spark a change in David Milch.
30:35I mean, we did an episode where we cast Mos Def as a snitch,
30:39and David realized that his dialogue was completely inauthentic for Mos Def,
30:44and he allowed Mos Def to make up his dialogue.
30:47Went in there with one of them damn fools who was so high,
30:50he didn't know what he was doing.
30:51He was all high when we went in there. I don't even know what really happened.
30:55It was the first time an actor was allowed on David Milch's show
31:00to just say whatever he wanted.
31:03But unfortunately for the cast and crew, it won't be the last.
31:07David's struggles with his addictions make it more and more difficult for him
31:11to do his writing job, and almost impossible for the actors to do theirs.
31:16It became harder for me to turn the work over
31:19in a way that I was satisfied with as an actor.
31:23David isn't, like, drunk on the set and being sloppy.
31:26From my understanding, he was using heroin, he was using prescription pills,
31:31but he did disappear for long periods of time.
31:34It was a big deal.
31:41Three seasons after its premiere,
31:43NYPD Blue is still a top ten television show.
31:48It was known for its language and its vivid portrayals of people
31:52that were unusual at that time on network television,
31:55and also for a good amount of sexuality.
31:59You know, Jimmy Smith was always showing his butt,
32:02and Kim Dillane's butt was there.
32:04With regards to the nudity on the show,
32:07it was pushing the envelope for network television.
32:10It also pushes some actors out of their comfort zone.
32:13There were nudity clauses in the contract,
32:17and yes, it did concern me.
32:21I had one scene that was a side shot.
32:28I'm all yours, detective.
32:30At the time, it was nerve-wracking, at least for me.
32:34I don't know how other people felt about it.
32:37It was a source of comedy on the set for everybody on the show,
32:42because you never knew when the script was coming in
32:45whose turn it was going to be.
32:47Dennis Franz might have been surprised
32:49when his turn came in season two.
32:51Certainly, it startled some of the 16 million viewers
32:54tuned in to that night's episode.
32:56Yeah, that's something you have to see once in a lifetime.
32:59What are you doing?
33:01I thought it'd be fun if we both took a shower.
33:03Whoa.
33:04It was also a liberating moment
33:06for many out-of-shape middle-aged men,
33:09including The Family Guy's Peter Griffin.
33:11What's happening now?
33:12Well, Sipowitz is trying to find out who stabbed the super.
33:14Are you going to tell me what I want to know
33:16or am I going to have to show you my ass?
33:18I ain't saying nothing.
33:19All right, it was Jimmy the Hat.
33:21And Homer Simpson.
33:22Homer, I don't think you should wear
33:24a short-sleeved shirt with a tie.
33:26Oh, but Sipowitz does it.
33:28If Detective Sipowitz jumped off a cliff,
33:30would you do that too?
33:31Oh, I wish I was Sipowitz.
33:33The Andy Sipowitz character
33:35also becomes David Milch's alter ego.
33:38I think the demons that David was facing
33:41became an engine for Sipowitz's character.
33:44I haven't had sex sober in about 20 years.
33:47You're not going to scare me off, Andy.
33:49I know what you were like.
33:52And I know what you're like now.
33:55And I know what you're like now.
33:59And I think you're a good man.
34:02With Stephen Bochco off working on new shows
34:05like Murder One,
34:06David Milch's addictions begin to spiral.
34:10His gambling and drinking and whatever,
34:14you know, that was not very good, you know?
34:16And for a writer who channels his own pain
34:18and trauma into his work,
34:20episodes full of violence and suffering
34:22prove less therapeutic than harmful to his psyche.
34:26Milch also scripts Kim Delaney's character
34:29recovering memories of childhood sexual abuse.
34:32I must have flirted, but I don't think I did.
34:36Andy crafts an emotional and disturbing
34:39two-part episode called Lost Israel.
34:42And what we're told is that this is
34:45a story from David's life.
34:52When I was a child,
34:56I was abused myself.
35:00Milch's truth is revealed through the character
35:02confessing to being raped by a camp counselor.
35:06I didn't know what he was doing.
35:07All I knew was how homesick I was,
35:09and he was the only one who helped me,
35:11and I was too afraid to say that I didn't like it.
35:16So the writing became therapy for him,
35:18telling it in the stories of NYPD Blue.
35:21But increasingly, Milch retreats into his addictions,
35:24vanishing to a local racetrack.
35:27Sometimes he would disappear in the middle of writing a scene,
35:30and so we would go with whatever he had written.
35:33The page and a half that he had written,
35:35we would shoot it.
35:36Bill Clark tries his best to get Milch back to work.
35:40Yeah, I mean, it was horrible, you know,
35:42because he just gambled away so much money.
35:47You know, for a guy like me,
35:48if I lost $2 on a horse, I'd be sick, you know,
35:52so to watch him lose the amounts he lost,
35:55it was really tough.
35:57But he made a lot, so it's his money,
36:01but I felt bad for his wife and kids, you know.
36:04And when Milch wins big,
36:05he just gives the money away with on-set raffles.
36:09He would put names in a hat,
36:10and then he would say, okay, the next name that gets pulled
36:13out of the hat, $200.
36:14And he'd pull a name out of the hat, and it'd be $200,
36:17and he would just give $200 in cash to that person.
36:20Or he'd say, okay, the next one, big one,
36:21$1,000.
36:23I did feel a little awkward handing out ill-gotten gains,
36:27but at the same time, I thought,
36:28this crew has been through a lot, and this is, you know,
36:30David trying to show his appreciation
36:33and his love for them, so let him do his thing.
36:36One thing Milch isn't doing is diligently writing scripts.
36:40And by season four, the cast and crew start wearing pagers,
36:44so if David feels ready to shoot a scene,
36:47everyone can rush back to the set.
36:49Including David,
36:50who would then completely either rewrite the scene
36:53or reorganize parts of it or change people's lines
36:56or act out the scenes or give people line readings.
36:59David would then leave,
37:00and he would be responsible for shooting the scene.
37:02I thought, holy hell, how am I gonna do that?
37:04I mean, I'd been on ER, which was very, very disciplined.
37:07Scripts were ahead of time, and so this was very unusual.
37:12The last-minute changes, for me, caused a lot of stress
37:18because it became harder for me to turn the work over
37:21in a way that I was satisfied with as an actor.
37:25So when Smith's contract is up,
37:27the Emmy-nominated actor asks to be written out of the show.
37:32I really felt like I needed to do something
37:34for my own kind of sanity.
37:37That was a hard decision.
37:41Thanks for coming by, Doc.
37:44I got the script, and I just thought,
37:47holy hell, this is the most vivid, emotionally draining,
37:52moving piece of television I've ever been given.
37:56It's all right, Bobby.
37:58No, no.
38:00I'm here.
38:04In what Variety magazine later calls
38:06the best episode of the entire series,
38:10NYPD Blue gives Jimmy Smith's character, Bobby Simone,
38:14a heroic send-off in 1998.
38:17I never thought I'd make a new friend.
38:20The way we went out was beautiful, and it was emotional,
38:23and it hit so many right notes.
38:27It's not without irony that the compassionate Detective Simone
38:31passes away following an unsuccessful heart transplant.
38:35For me, it is still the best thing I've done in television,
38:40and it's sad because that was 1999.
38:43When he died, a single tear, which is not scripted,
38:46comes out of his eye in that final shot.
38:49This actor has a single tear as he looks at his wife,
38:53and I'm going, you know, Jimmy Smith,
38:56you are doing God's work here.
38:59This is amazing.
39:05Losing Jimmy Smith isn't the only change at NYPD Blue.
39:09After being diagnosed with OCD and bipolar disorder,
39:13David Milch gets sober.
39:15It has the cast and crew hoping things on set
39:18will become more orderly and professional.
39:20And it didn't work that way.
39:22When David got sober, he became more obsessive
39:25about the show and more controlling.
39:27Milch's OCD makes sitting down to write his script
39:30nearly impossible.
39:32In the NYPD Blue final tribute special,
39:34you can clearly witness him making up dialogue on the fly.
39:38Hey, Baldwin, let's not have any direct
39:41or simple communications.
39:43The actor scribbled down what Milch is saying,
39:46desperately trying to keep up.
39:48This is not a process that works well.
39:50So Milch tries to create a script,
39:52but after decades of sitting at a desk,
39:55he says his chronic back pain makes typing impossible.
39:58Prescription pain meds would damage his sobriety,
40:01so he comes up with a hack.
40:03David wrote in a manner that I have never seen before,
40:07and I don't think I've seen since.
40:09He would lay on the floor,
40:11and behind the computer screen would be George,
40:14who was his script coordinator, who would be typing.
40:17And what George was typing is what Milch was saying.
40:20So all of these episodes of NYPD Blue
40:23are dictated by Milch,
40:25usually from a prone position on the floor,
40:28where he actually acts out each of the lines,
40:31and George typed it all, and then when a scene was done,
40:34George would print it out,
40:36and then suddenly we'd run the pages down to the set
40:38and start shooting it.
40:40The process seems to work for Milch,
40:42but for everyone else, not so much.
40:44I think for most of the people, especially the guest actors,
40:47it was incredibly stressful,
40:49and they did not enjoy their experience, sadly.
40:52Damn it! Back off!
40:54Longtime cast members begin following
40:56Jimmy Smits' lead and depart,
40:58including actors who have been on the show since season one,
41:01like Sharon Lawrence...
41:03Take care of the baby.
41:05...and Mattura on James McDaniel.
41:07This move is good for me.
41:09Even relative newcomer, former child star Ricky Schroeder...
41:12No offense. ...leaves the show.
41:14And when his contract is up, so does David Milch.
41:18In 2022, on The Today Show,
41:21Milch's wife Rita says there's a lasting upside
41:24to his OCD and bipolar diagnosis.
41:27Bipolar is a difficult disease to live with,
41:31and it was a big relief to get proper medication.
41:35You know, I think a lot of David's addiction
41:38was self-medicating.
41:40I was really glad that in the end David left,
41:43because it probably would have killed him
41:45if he kept going the way that he was going,
41:48so everything works out for the best in that.
41:52But not for the show he leaves behind.
41:55Season nine of NYPD Blue premieres in 2001
41:58with another former child star joining the cast.
42:01You know where to find him?
42:03I can give you some place to share.
42:05Mark Paul Gosselaar goes from paddling around with Screech
42:08on Saved by the Bell
42:10to partnering up with Sipowicz on NYPD Blue.
42:12Hey, two more callers for you today, huh, Junior?
42:14Put yourself in for a commendation.
42:16You're welcome.
42:18But without Milch's creativity, innovation, and inspiration,
42:21the show's magic seems to be gone,
42:24perhaps diminishing its legacy.
42:26I got shot here!
42:28In some ways, we've maybe regressed,
42:31because that complexity that NYPD Blue represented,
42:35there's still a lot left to be desired
42:38when it comes to storytelling
42:40about the cop experience in America.
42:43In the 2000s, NYPD Blue limps to the finish line,
42:47despite Jimmy Smith's returning as the deceased detective
42:50Bobby Simone to haunt his former partner.
42:53I'm always around if you need me.
42:56When are you gonna be like my guardian angel?
42:59Something like that.
43:01But Smith fails to resuscitate the show,
43:04and soon it's time for fans to pay their last respects.
43:07March 1, 2005,
43:09more than 16 million people tune in to the final episode.
43:13The cast and crew celebrate their incredible 12-season run
43:17and the legacy that changed cop shows forever.
43:21We were in the trenches together.
43:24We had to lean on each other a lot to get through days,
43:29but it was, it was very special.
43:33Every show creates some kind of fan, every really good show.
43:37I don't think Hollywood's ever gonna give up on cop shows, ever.
43:40I think it's a staple that is here to stay.
43:43It may take different forms, right?
43:45But there's always gonna be like a form of law enforcement
43:49bringing in bad guys.
43:51That's as old as time itself.