I watched this show from time to time when it originally aired. Now it is re-airing on DirecTV's Audience Network. I started watching it around the time Jimmy Smits had about a year left on the show through the end. Now the channel has looped back to the first season. Normally watching from beginning to end (esp. a show that ran for a long time--12 or 13 seasons I think) it's hard to get some sense of the changes in quality unless there is a dramatic dropoff. But having looped from the end to the beginning, I can say that there is noticeable shift from a focus on an entire police squad to a focus on just one unit and the quality of the stories certainly dipped. They packed a lot of really interesting stuff into an hour during this first season but by the time it gets later, there seems to be a bit more soap opera stuff happening with repetition of storylines. I don't know what happened to the writers who started the show but they were certainly doing really good work up front.
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NYPD Blue
Commercial demands by the network combined with fear of being too "edgy", as I remember it.
It started out as a genuinely fresh approach to the genre, but lost its mojo quickly.
That said, Franz/Sipowicz was a great character, especially in the earlier years. -
NYPD Blue
They are 5 episodes into season 1 (airing 1 each night) and it really is good stuff. Perhaps I realize this more now because so much on network TV in the US is crap.
Franz/Sipowicz retains a nice edge throughout but his character suffered from the same repetition as everyone else later on (hothead, persecuted by higher ups, shows he's a caring cop, repeat). But early on he's more three dimensional. I know that the loss of Carusoe was a big deal after 1(?) season. I haven't followed him much but he's really good in this.Comment
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NYPD Blue
In NYPD Blue he didn't take his sunglasses off and on, and didn't growl zippy one-liners. He was really good and very likable. On CSI he turned into a self-parody.Comment
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NYPD Blue
Or do that head to one side thing.
NYPD Blue was great. One of my favourite TV shows of all time.Comment
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NYPD Blue
You could say CSI was one big self-parody.G-Man wrote: In NYPD Blue he didn't take his sunglasses off and on, and didn't growl zippy one-liners. He was really good and very likable. On CSI her turned into as self-parody.Comment
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NYPD Blue
I think this is all boils down to the writing. Everything is written for shots that can be single serve items: 30 seconds here on to the next, 30 more seconds and on to the next, etc. It's as if the Simpsons approach to making a TV show needs to be adopted by every other show. I like the Simpsons but it's a simplistic form relative to fleshing out an idea, character, theme.Vulgarian Visigoth wrote:You could say CSI was one big self-parody.Originally posted by G-ManComment
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