Dark Side of the 90's Season 3 Episode 3
Dark Side of the 90's Season 3 Episode 3
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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, where it's hard to tell
00:36the good guys from the bad guys.
00:39They were real, and they were vulnerable, and they were flawed.
00:44You 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.
01:04He was using prescription pills.
01:06It was horrible.
01:07He just gambled away so much money.
01:27Did I do that?
01:33Darlene, put out the forks and stick one in your tongue.
01:37Screech, 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.
01:47Do not offend anyone.
01:49America 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 Belka's caller 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.
03:23Stephen 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 canceled two years later, Bochco and Milch reunite.
03:55Later, in a 1994 TV special about the creation of NYPD Blue, the two describe how the television
04:02landscape was undergoing an upheaval right 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 that don't need to comply with FCC rules
04:25regarding 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 is to make an adult-friendly cop show
04:41that includes profanities, real-world violence, and racy sex scenes, adding a double meaning
04:47to the blue and NYPD Blue.
04:49So it didn't feel as much like comfort food as previous generations of cop shows.
04:54There was PG-13 nudity and there was PG-13 language.
05:02You asshole Kelly, you're the one jammed me up!
05:04Which was unheard of on network television.
05:08Hi, I'm Gail O'Grady and I play Donna Abandando on NYPD Blue.
05:14Abandando. Donna.
05:16Fine.
05:18Milch 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.
05:27They needed each other, and Milch knew that he needed Bochco and Bochco knew that he needed Milch.
05:32Bochco's a good writer but he's not the writer that David Milch was,
05:36and David Milch is that strong writer but not a producer at all.
05:40Hi, I'm Paris Barclay, I'm the director, producer, and writer.
05:44Part of what I was doing in the 90s was starting my career in television,
05:48doing my first feature, and trying to stay off drugs, just like so many people, including David Milch.
05:54Barclay's not speaking out of school.
05:56Milch admits to drinking alcohol as an 8-year-old, using heroin in high school,
06:01losing his virginity to a sex worker,
06:04and spending his university years not only taking LSD but manufacturing it in a lab.
06:10David never seemed to be hiding anything.
06:12He was pretty open about who he was and what his journey had been.
06:18And those experiences help inform Milch's writing.
06:21Since his time in the 70s teaching at Yale and working on a novel,
06:25Milch has been described as talented, temperamental, and even...
06:29Genius!
06:31That was just him.
06:32Genius!
06:35David Milch, definitely.
06:37His first NYPD Blues script, with its renegade cops, swearing, and steamy sex scenes,
06:43seems to live up to the hype.
06:45I held this script and I went,
06:47David was a true artist and a poet who was writing literature
06:51and using the network's money to turn it into a television show.
06:55The executives at ABC don't see it that way.
06:58They reject Milch's script and pressure Boczko to rework the show.
07:03Boczko says no, so ABC drops NYPD Blue from its 1992 lineup.
07:09But David Milch isn't ready to give up.
07:12Instead, he makes a research trip to New York City
07:15to meet with veteran homicide detective Bill Clark.
07:18Bill Clark, who had been one of the cops in Son of Sam in New York
07:22and was a really real guy, was the perfect person.
07:25Milch and Clark pal around the city,
07:27with Milch writing down all the tales of being a New York City cop
07:31Clark is willing to tell.
07:33Bill Clark was, I mean, to this day,
07:35is the best cop in New York City.
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 Boczko'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.
08:08I had a very busy time in the bureau,
08:11so he liked the details I put in every story.
08:14Back in Hollywood, ABC remained 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.
08:32Boczko 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.
08:43Jimmy Smits has just wrapped the series finale
08:45of Boczko'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
09:01The reality of the show,
09:03the textures of the characterizations.
09:06Still, Smits turns Boczko down.
09:09It's too soon for him to jump into another series.
09:12Commitment phobia sets in.
09:14It's been a recurring thing in my life, supposedly.
09:20So Boczko 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.
09:42No tour, no treaty.
09:44I 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 Boczko overrules Milch
09:53and gives Caruso the gig.
09:55Stephen was the boss.
09:58He gave a lot of power to Milch.
10:02When all was said and done, Stephen could put his foot down.
10:06Boczko then goes after James McDaniel,
10:09who had a small part on Hill Street Blues.
10:11And we know about the hidden racism in the department.
10:14McDaniel is cast as Lt. Arthur Fancy.
10:17They also want Dennis Franz.
10:19Like Jimmy Smits, Franz is reluctant to sign on
10:22to a police drama, but for slightly different reasons.
10:26Franz has 27 cop roles on his resume.
10:29From films like Die Hard 2.
10:31Hey, don't lecture me, hot shot.
10:33I know what I'm doing.
10:35To, yup, Hill Street Blues.
10:37Oh, hey, hey, you're under arrest.
10:39Milch 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
10:50who seeks comfort from sex workers,
10:52his 28th cop role.
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,
11:23enough to stick with the part
11:24after 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.
11:36With 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, so we literally negotiated
12:07every single aspect of it.
12:10As for what the show can say,
12:11Boczko and Iger settle on 37 swear words per episode.
12:16But when the network screens the first one
12:18for their nationwide affiliates,
12:2037 is too goddamn many.
12:23Hey!
12:24Ips-a-dis, you pissy little bitch!
12:29They also complain you can almost
12:31sorta kinda-s ya nipple in a sex scene.
12:34It was nudity for television, PG-13,
12:38nothing 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
12:53about a lot of affiliates
12:55that weren't gonna carry the show.
12:58And that news fires up 90s Christian crusader
13:01Reverend Donald Wildman.
13:03His media watchdog group,
13:04the American Family Association,
13:06starts a campaign to ban the show as softcore porn.
13:10Stephen Boczko and David Milch loved it.
13:14The more controversy there was,
13:16the more people screaming and yelling
13:19about not carrying this smut and this garbage,
13:24the more excited it made the producers.
13:27Reverend Wildman will prove remarkably successful
13:32at promoting the show.
13:34It hurts our society, it hurts women,
13:36and it hurts our children and our families,
13:38so that's why we're out here.
13:42Cop shows have been around longer than TV.
13:45In 1951, Dragnet makes the jump from radio to television,
13:50with Jack, just the fax man Webb,
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
14:02remains 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.
14:14...to Kojak's lollipop and Beretta's white cockatoo.
14:18Come on, you.
14:19But in the 90s, NYPD blue cops can be heroes or villains
14:25with complicated human behaviors.
14:28They curse...
14:29This is my ashes, smart mouth little punk.
14:31...abuse alcohol, have gratuitous sex,
14:34and struggle with right and wrong.
14:36Right now, I'm gonna 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 they're crusading to keep NYPD Blue from ever airing.
15:07What I've heard is it's gonna 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 new series
15:23on any network's fall schedule.
15:25Viewer discretion advised.
15:27Translating viewer discretion advised
15:29to you must watch NYPD Blue.
15:32NYPD 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,
15:46CSI New York, Southland.
15:49I created my own series called SWAT.
15:52And I was a teenager in the 90s watching NYPD Blue.
15:57Shut up! Get going then!
15:58It felt very honest based on real life.
16:01Coachco 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,
16:14that's the way it is.
16:16So he gave me a lot of power.
16:18Clark also teaches the cast and crew
16:20how 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
16:28a fight scene or a gunshot, you know, a shootout.
16:33Clark even brings his real-world experience
16:35in front of the camera.
16:37He talks procedural with Lieutenant Fancy,
16:39arrests a bunch of mobsters,
16:41and performs alongside David Caruso,
16:44doing a pretty decent job acting like
16:46he doesn't think Caruso is a diva.
16:49He was, well, I'm going to wind up in trouble here,
16:52but he was well despised by the crew
16:56and a lot of the other actors.
16:59But in September 1993, Caruso joins the entire cast and crew
17:04to celebrate the show's premiere
17:06and its record-breaking 23 million viewers.
17:10It became a gigantic hit,
17:12and NYPD Blue remains controversial.
17:15Phil Donahue brings the cast on his show
17:17and plays clips for an audience
17:19of 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
17:37in the audience who's a fan.
17:39Do you guys use that dirty language like that,
17:40and stuff like that?
17:41No.
17:42You haven't scratched the surface of language.
17:44That cop saying the show gets it right
17:46is a compliment Bill Clark takes personally.
17:49He got me ready to start crying here,
17:51thinking about it.
17:52You know, for a guy that was a cop
17:54and been in the Army for so many years before that,
17:57to be so proud of what he's doing, you know?
17:59Because the other technical advisors on other cop shows
18:02didn't have any power, really, you know?
18:04If you've ever been in a real precinct
18:06or, you know, or spoken with cops,
18:09you're gonna get a little salty language.
18:11You're gonna get some dams and some shits
18:13and some f***, that's what it is.
18:15Maybe a few cocksuckers, depending on what generation,
18:18but that's what it is.
18:20That's what it is.
18:21At the end of season one,
18:22NYPD Blue earns 26 Emmy nominations.
18:26The ABC affiliates that refused to air it
18:29are now singing its praises.
18:32But not everybody has joined the choir.
18:34When we were pulling up to the Emmy Awards to get out,
18:39there were people picketing on the side of the roads.
18:43Like, you're gonna burn in hell, you know?
18:46You know, just signs about NYPD Blue
18:50and 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 Frongs
19:02who's holding the Emmy
19:03and graciously thanking the show's creators.
19:05I was very touched when Stephen and David Milch
19:09came over and gave me a big smack on the lips.
19:12That's right.
19:13Caruso does win a People's Choice Award,
19:16but he proves less humble than Frongs
19:18when instead of focusing his backstage remarks
19:21on his TV show,
19:22he feels the need to remind the press
19:24he's in an upcoming movie.
19:26Yeah, it's at 20th Century Fox oddly enough,
19:29and it's Barbie Schroeder,
19:31and I'm pretty excited about it.
19:33He's very disrespectful.
19:35It was all about David Caruso.
19:37It even comes out in how he performs
19:39in front of the camera,
19:40while Caruso's character is written
19:42to be especially solicitous of Detective Sipowitz.
19:45That about was fancy.
19:47Me and the lieutenant are going to get together
19:49after work to know each other better.
19:52According to David Milch,
19:54during the rehearsal for that scene,
19:56Caruso decides to go off script
19:58and kicks a metal garbage can
20:00within inches of Dennis Frongs' head.
20:03Bill Clark says Caruso is lucky
20:06he wasn't on set that day.
20:08They would have arrested me
20:09if I would have seen him do that
20:10because I wouldn't beat him to death,
20:13but he just had his attitude.
20:16His attitude was terrible.
20:17That was it, you know.
20:19Caruso, who was little known before NYPD Blue,
20:23is 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
20:40there were good days and bad days.
20:43There are people in life
20:45that are their own worst enemies.
20:49Caruso battles Milch over the dialogue.
20:52For Milch, who agonizes over every line he writes,
20:55that's torment.
20:57One argument gets so heated
20:59that 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
21:07of the season one documentary.
21:09They did an angioplasty
21:12and then I got sick the next week
21:14and they did another angioplasty
21:16and meanwhile I was trying to write
21:18to keep writing and so it was a mess.
21:23It was terrible.
21:24I was always afraid
21:25something would happen to him,
21:26you know, with the condition he had.
21:29And drug use.
21:32In an interview
21:33for a behind-the-scenes documentary,
21:35Boczko talks about the two Davids
21:37and why he chose his friend Milch
21:39over NYPD Blue's disgruntled leading man, Caruso.
21:43You know, David Milch is too ill.
21:45You know, he's going to wind up
21:47on his knees in the parking lot
21:49if we don't get rid of this guy.
21:50He's unhappy.
21:51He doesn't want to be here.
21:53Early in season two,
21:54when Caruso's demands aren't met,
21:56Boczko agrees to let him leave the show.
21:59It's now up to Milch to script
22:01how his nemesis will exit the series.
22:04I would have liked to see Caruso
22:06swallow a bottle of his gun
22:07and blow his brains out,
22:08but, you know, that wasn't there.
22:12Instead, Milch allows Detective John Kelly
22:14to simply quit the NYPD.
22:17Ah, John.
22:18There were some people that were happy.
22:20There were some people that were sad.
22:23And Dennis Franz is ecstatic,
22:25but 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,
22:37Caruso doesn't stop.
22:38He literally walks out on the show.
22:41He just left.
22:42I mean, I feel like he just walked out.
22:47Caruso never says goodbye.
22:49Boczko may have chosen Milch
22:51over the disruptive Caruso,
22:53but his old friend is about to make things
22:55at NYPD Blue worse, not better.
22:58Sometimes he would disappear
22:59in the middle of writing a scene.
23:05We don't want any police officer
23:08in this city to have to hesitate
23:11for a moment when you're doing your job.
23:15At the start of the 90s,
23:17the NYPD is facing public outrage
23:19over police misconduct
23:21and a lack of accountability.
23:23Presently, the process is controlled
23:26by the police department.
23:27It's police investigating the police.
23:29You don't have to be a walking around genius
23:31to understand there's something flawed
23:33in that system.
23:34In response, Mayor David Dinkins
23:36creates a civilian review board
23:38to investigate police officers.
23:40But misconduct continues,
23:42highlighted later in the decade
23:44when Abner Louima, a Haitian immigrant,
23:47is arrested and viciously beaten
23:49and sodomized by police officers
23:51while in custody at New York's 70th precinct.
23:56The actions of those few officers
23:58that may have been involved in this incident
24:00are not indicative of this entire precinct.
24:02It's against this backdrop
24:03that NYPD Blue tries to dramatize the reality
24:06that not all police officers
24:08are 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.
24:18I recognize him.
24:19That's the guy.
24:20You follow?
24:21I understand.
24:22Others take bribes from organized crime.
24:24You're on his list, Janice.
24:26Friendly cops.
24:27So stop acting like you still got your cherry.
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
24:37with 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
24:49and they were flawed.
24:53And 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
25:05so I took care of that.
25:06I did a little repair job.
25:08That was around the fourth drink.
25:10You like this so far?
25:12You like this story?
25:13No.
25:14No?
25:15Then 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.
25:21He'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.
25:32Probably that was the wrong approach.
25:34He's got a shitty life, you know,
25:36for 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,
25:55Jimmy Smits.
25:56And, I mean, I guess you can cut now
25:58to 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
26:09can survive with a new actor a part of the show
26:12by having Sipowicz question whether he can live
26:14with his new partner, played by Smits.
26:17And this is where David Milch is genius to me as a writer.
26:23He used the fact that I was replacing someone
26:27and so we weren't going to shy away from that.
26:30With the Sipowicz character,
26:32it's like he didn't, I don't know about this guy.
26:35His attitude's all wrong.
26:37How you doing this type of thing?
26:39From his first appearance,
26:40the audience begins rooting for Smits to endure.
26:43But so do the show's cast and crew,
26:46in part because Jimmy Smits injects
26:48a 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, you know,
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 like nurture people
27:14and embrace people's humanity and faults
27:19and accept them and let them flourish.
27:21Are you a cop?
27:22But this is NYPD Blue,
27:24so 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
27:36as the Franz character.
27:37I was astounded with Dennis Franz's ability
27:41to kind of fortify this very,
27:44what has become this very iconic police character.
27:49Maybe I should start each question with, you know,
27:52I'm sorry for the injustices the white man
27:55has inflicted upon your race,
27:57but can you provide me with any information?
28:00No, it's funny.
28:02You would think the Sipowitz, the Sipowitzisms
28:05would have pissed me off as a black teenager,
28:08but it felt so honest.
28:10And real, if anything were to piss me off,
28:13it was more the portrayal
28:15of one-dimensional black characters.
28:17This morning, this bag contained a lunch
28:19prepared by my wife for me.
28:21Not the rodent population of the 15th precinct.
28:24It was an issue.
28:25James McDaniel, who played Lieutenant Fancy,
28:27never felt that his character was as fully fleshed out
28:30as the other characters.
28:31And the blame for that focuses on David Milch,
28:34especially after his talk to a writer's workshop
28:38gets publicized.
28:39Basically saying, I think I'm a racist,
28:41and I identify with the racist things that Sipowitz says.
28:45You guys make me laugh.
28:47Now, what guys would you be referring to?
28:49Black bosses.
28:51Well, that didn't take long.
28:53And also he said in that same speech
28:55that it's very difficult for black writers
28:57to write majority white characters.
28:59That prompts a black journalist, David Milch, to respond.
29:03David Milch wrote him a letter saying
29:06something to the effect of,
29:07thanks for giving all these white motherfuckers jobs.
29:10These mediocre white motherfuckers.
29:12And David got the letter and said,
29:15who the hell is this?
29:16And David Milch was just a writer
29:18at the Washington Post at the time.
29:20He said, I gotta meet this guy.
29:22Milch hires Milch for season four
29:25and has Milch write a racially charged episode
29:29that features Lieutenant Fancy.
29:31All of her.
29:32That episode where Fancy and his wife
29:35get pulled over by the white cop.
29:37It's an inspiration, so I'll save that.
29:40The basics are Lieutenant Fancy is pulled over
29:43at a traffic stop.
29:44He gets into an altercation with the cop
29:46and it becomes, you know, a thing.
29:48You stopped us like you have my description
29:50on a bank robbery.
29:51All due respect,
29:52you're gonna tell me how to do a car stop now?
29:55Fancy's feelings of basically being racially profiled.
29:58And this is really early, before these stories
30:00were happening in the news every day.
30:02But that episode was fantastic, controversial,
30:05and was there to give Lieutenant Fancy
30:08a little bit more depth.
30:09The encounter ends with no one getting hurt,
30:12but it's an important first step
30:13towards more realistic white cop, black motorist scenes
30:17in future police dramas.
30:19And now we can explore like,
30:21okay, but what will really happen?
30:23Shit gets messy, emotions get messy,
30:25and you're not always in control in the same way.
30:29That police traffic stop episode
30:31also seems to spark a change in David Milch.
30:35I mean, we did an episode
30:36where we cast Mos Def as a snitch,
30:39and David realized that his dialogue
30:41was completely inauthentic for Mos Def,
30:43and he allowed Mos Def to make up his dialogue.
30:47Went in there with one of them damn fools
30:49who was so high he didn't know what he was doing.
30:51He was all high when we went in there.
30:53I don't even know what really happened.
30:55It was the first time an actor was allowed
30:58on David Milch's show
31:00to just say whatever he wanted.
31:02But unfortunately for the cast and crew,
31:05it won't be the last.
31:06David's struggles with his addictions
31:08make it more and more difficult for him to do his writing job
31:12and 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,
31:29he was using prescription pills,
31:31but he did disappear for long periods of time.
31:35It was a big deal.
31:42Three seasons after its premiere,
31:44NYPD Blue is still a top-ten television show.
31:49It was known for its, you know, language
31:51and its vivid portrayals of people
31:53that were unusual at that time in network television
31:56and also for a good amount of sexuality.
32:00You know, Jimmy Smith was always showing his butt,
32:02and Kim Dillane's butt was there.
32:05With regards to the nudity on the show,
32:07it was pushing the envelope for network television.
32:11It also pushes some actors out of their comfort zone.
32:15There were nudity clauses in the contract,
32:19and yes, it did concern me.
32:23I had one scene that was a sideshot.
32:29I'm all ears, Detective.
32:31At the time, it was nerve-wracking,
32:34at least for me.
32:35I don't know how other people felt about it.
32:39It was a source of comedy on the set
32:42for everybody on the show,
32:44because you never knew when the script was coming in
32:47whose turn it was gonna be.
32:49Dennis Franz might have been surprised
32:51when his turn came in season two.
32:53Certainly, it startled some of the 16 million viewers
32:56tuned in to that night's episode.
32:58Yeah, that's something you have to see once in a lifetime.
33:01What are you doing?
33:02I thought it'd be fun if we both took a shower.
33:07Whoa.
33:08It was also a liberating moment
33:09for many out-of-shape middle-aged men,
33:12including The Family Guy's Peter Griffin.
33:14What's happening now?
33:15Well, Sipowich is trying to find out who stabbed the super.
33:17Are you gonna tell me what I want to know,
33:19or am I gonna have to show you my ass?
33:21I ain't saying nothing.
33:22All right, it was Jimmy the Hat.
33:23And Homer Simpson.
33:25Homer, I don't think you should wear
33:27a short-sleeved shirt with a tie.
33:29Oh, but Sipowich does it.
33:31If Detective Sipowich jumped off a cliff,
33:33would you do that, too?
33:34Oh, I wish I was Sipowich.
33:37The Andy Sipowich character
33:38also becomes David Milch's alter ego.
33:41I think the demons that David was facing
33:45became an engine for Sipowich's character.
33:47I haven't had sex sober in about 20 years.
33:50You're not gonna scare me off, Andy.
33:53I know what you were like.
33:56And 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.
35:28Sometimes he would disappear in the middle of writing a scene,
35:31and so we would go with whatever he had written.
35:33The page and a half that he had written,
35:35we would shoot it.
35:37Bill 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 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,
36:11and then he would say,
36:12okay, the next name that gets pulled out of the hat, $200.
36:15And he'd pull a name out of the hat,
36:16and it would be charted out,
36:17and he would just give $200 in cash to that person.
36:20Or he'd say, okay, the next one, big $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,
36:30and this is, you know,
36:31David trying to show his appreciation
36:33and his love for them,
36:34so 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
36:54or change people's lines or act out the scenes
36:57or give people line readings.
36:59David would then leave,
37:00and you would be responsible for shooting the scene.
37:02And I 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,
37:09and 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,
37:50emotionally draining, moving piece of television
37:54I'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,
38:22and it was emotional, and it was,
38:24it hit so many right notes.
38:27It's not without irony that the compassionate
38:30Detective Simone passes away
38:32following 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.
38:49Like, this actor has a single tear
38:51as 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 a 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 actors scribble 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,
39:54he 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, and then suddenly
40:36we'd run the pages down to the set and start shooting it.
40:39The process seems to work for Milch,
40:41but for everyone else, not so much.
40:44I think for most of the people,
40:46especially the guest actors, it 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.
41:05Nick Turturro and 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,
41:20Milch's wife Rita says there's a lasting upside
41:23to his OCD and bipolar diagnosis.
41:26Bipolar is a difficult disease to live with,
41:30so it was a big relief to get proper medication.
41:34You know, I think a lot of David's addiction
41:37was self-medicating.
41:40I was really glad that in the end David left,
41:42because he probably would have killed it
41:44if he kept going the way that he was going, so...
41:48Everything works out for the best in that.
41:52But not for the show he leaves behind.
41:54Season nine of NYPD Blue premieres in 2001
41:58with another former child star joining the cast.
42:01You know where to find him?
42:02I can give you some place to share.
42:04Mark Paul Gosselaar goes from palling around with Screech
42:07on Saved by the Bell
42:08to partnering up with Sipowicz on NYPD Blue.
42:11Hey, two more callers for you today, huh, Junior?
42:13Put yourself in for a commendation.
42:15You're welcome.
42:16But without Milch's creativity, innovation, and inspiration,
42:20the show's magic seems to be gone,
42:22perhaps diminishing its legacy.
42:25Hello!
42:26I got shot here!
42:28In some ways, we may be regressed
42:30because that complexity that NYPD Blue represented,
42:34there's still a lot left to be desired
42:37when it comes to storytelling
42:39about the cop experience in America.
42:43In the 2000s, NYPD Blue limps to the finish line,
42:47despite Jimmy Smits returning
42:49as the deceased detective Bobby Simone
42:51to haunt his former partner.
42:53I'm always around if you need me.
42:56When are you gonna be like my guardian angel?
43:00Something like that.
43:01But Smits fails to resuscitate the show,
43:04and soon it's time for fans to pay their last respects.
43:08March 1st, 2005,
43:10more than 16 million people tune in to the final episode.
43:14The cast and crew celebrate their incredible 12-season run
43:18and the legacy that changed cop shows forever.
43:22We were in the trenches together.
43:25We had to lean on each other a lot to get through days,
43:29but it was very special.
43:34Every show creates some kind of family.
43:36Every really good show.
43:38I don't think Hollywood's ever gonna give up on cop shows.
43:40Ever.
43:41I 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.