NYPD Blue - General Discussion

[peacheslatour]

Note to self; get DVR.

[friendperidot]

Peaches, I just stay up until 2 AM CST and watch. 

[peacheslatour]

Lol, I'm usually in bed by 10:00.

[friendperidot]

Watching in the wee hours of this morning and tried to pay attention after this thought occurred to me, and the show won't be on again til Monday. When Baldwin Jones joined the squad, he asked the other detectives to call him "D" or "B", I don't remember. Now that he's been part of the squad for a few years, I don't really remember anyone calling him that, at least not much, Greg usually slurs through Baldwin, and I think Andy does a little better job of saying Baldwin. I'm really just putting this here so I can remember to pay attention. And the actor, Henry Simmons is one fine looking man. I like to swim in the shallow end of the pool.

[peacheslatour]

1 hour ago, friendperidot said:

Watching in the wee hours of this morning and tried to pay attention after this thought occurred to me, and the show won't be on again til Monday. When Baldwin Jones joined the squad, he asked the other detectives to call him "D" or "B", I don't remember. Now that he's been part of the squad for a few years, I don't really remember anyone calling him that, at least not much, Greg usually slurs through Baldwin, and I think Andy does a little better job of saying Baldwin. I'm really just putting this here so I can remember to pay attention. And the actor, Henry Simmons is one fine looking man. I like to swim in the shallow end of the pool.

Oh, lets just come out and say it. The man is a god.

[friendperidot]

Peaches, you make me laugh. Yes, he is. Jimmy Smits is pretty damn fine too.

[peacheslatour]

23 minutes ago, friendperidot said:

Peaches, you make me laugh. Yes, he is. Jimmy Smits is pretty damn fine too.

I was so in love with Det. Simone. I sobbed like a child when he died. For me, the show was never quite the same after that.

[friendperidot]

Episode on H&I right now where Greg's daughter comes in office to tell him that her mother is refusing to come to wedding if he comes. Scene opens with her talking to PAA John, who looks at her engagement ring and then makes a comment about not everybody needing a large diamond. I wonder about that line every time I see it. John was usually quite sympathetic and kind to people, I wonder why he would have made a crack like that. It just seems out of character for him. John is one of my favorite characters on the show.

[friendperidot]

I'm on about my 3rd or 4th runthrough on this show on H&I. I never watched before this. But this time, it seems things are moving faster, story lines that I had thought that had taken 3-5 episodes to do, now I see they're wrapped up in about 2 episodes. Tonight's was the getting rid of the Stan Hatcher problem, the cop that killed his wife, but is related to the head of Human Resources and Gibson is terrified of crossing HR. Andy got transferred, they got all the evidence against Hatcher and got him to put in his papers in one hour of the show. Much faster than I had remembered. And every time the Hatcher story starts, I think it's the same actor that plays Tom Paris on Star Trek: Voyage. It's not, but they look alike and they sound alike. The series is nearing the end of the series again. I hope they start it over at the beginning again. I miss so many little things, and I miss all the actors that have left as the show played out.

Edited October 30, 2018 by friendperidot

[MMLEsq]

On 10/30/2018 at 2:26 AM, friendperidot said:

I hope they start it over at the beginning again. I miss so many little things, and I miss all the actors that have left as the show played out.

I do too!  I watched it a bit when it was on during its initial run, but never religiously.  I'm enjoying the reruns on H&I.  If they start again with S1, I think we should do a "group rewatch" -- I seem to recall they did one on the Law & Order topic.  I think it's been done with a bunch of other shows also*.  We can talk about things we missed the first time, things that take on a different meaning or sense of importance now that we know what we know, minor characters played by actors that went on to become famous, etc. 

 

*  I just did a quick search and confirmed that, yes, a bunch of other shows have Rewatch threads -- Breaking Bad, Once Upon a Time, Gilmore Girls, Sex And The City, just to name a few.

[friendperidot]

Since the series finale ran last night on H&I, I assume (yes, I know better) that the series will start over at 1/12 AM Eastern/Central. I kind of dread the years of Andy being an asshole drunk and David Carouso and Amy Bremmerman, so maybe I'll have an earlier bedtime for a while.

[peacheslatour]

I hate all of the David Caruso episodes. Give me Bobby.

[friendperidot]

Peaches, I knew I should have looked up the spelling of his name, Caruso! Thanks.

And I may be in bed a couple hours earlier for a few weeks until Bobby comes back on. He was my favorite Sipowitz partner with John Clark Jr as a pretty close second.

[peacheslatour]

Same.

[friendperidot]

Quote

Have only just started watching NYPD after spending the last couple of months watching all seven seasons of Hill Street. So because I'm only in 6 episodes of S1 I can't really judge the Andy character too accurately just yet. But from I have seen from him so far, I think he is terrific. Very much the anti-hero, very un-pc, a bully and outspoken

Yeah, who knew when they started writing and making this show, that the middle aged, fat, balding, drunk guy was going to be the most interesting to watch? I love watching Dennis Franz, he did amazing work on Hill Street Blues with both his characters and then on NYPD Blue with Andy. Now the character, I probably couldn't stand, I know I couldn't have any kind of romantic relationship with him, he reminds me too much of my ex-husband, another drunk, who unfortunately was never able to find what it was like to be sober and what good things could come in life with working a program, he died at 43, and that was over 20 years ago, but it makes me sad, the "what might have been". I'm a firm believer in working my own program, so he at least gave me that gift. But Andy, I would have wanted to smack him around, all 3 of his wives really showed remarkable restraint, of course by Connie, he had worked a program for a while, and poor Katy truly got the short end of the stick, I enjoyed when she got sober and worked program on and with Andy and was sad that whatever they once had just couldn't be again, she was wonderful with Theo. And it's late and I just finished watching, at Andy and Sharon Lawrence were going to go on their first date and I am totally drawing a blank on her character's name and my meds will kick in before I can look it up. Maybe if she hadn't died, I'm sure if she hadn't died, Andy would have been a different person, and he wouldn't have married Connie and ended up with 2 more kids! And what was their baby's name? Matt? Time to log off, starting to make no sense and I'm rambling. Night, night!

[peacheslatour]

Sylvia, although I don't remember her last name.

[friendperidot]

thanks, I think it was something like Costas, it was Greek, it was a big part of their story that she was Greek.

[peacheslatour]

18 hours ago, friendperidot said:

thanks, I think it was something like Costas, it was Greek, it was a big part of their story that she was Greek.

I think you're right, it was Costas. It really used to blow my mind how Andy was able to get these beautiful women because as much as I loved the character and the actor, he was a bit of a handful.

[friendperidot]

Well, I guess I'm still talking to myself, here, but I have things to say! The shows on H&I are winding down on Caruso years, and while David Caruso is not my favorite actor and John Kelly was not my favorite partner, I have noticed that he's a pretty stand up guy for his fellow officers, in tonight's show, Martinez killed a man in a road rage incident, Martinez wasn't angry, the man was and pulled a gun on Greg. Kelly was tough with the IAB officer who was trying to question Martinez, he made it clear that Martinez had to have his representative with him before speaking to IAB. And then the show has moved on to Amy Bremmerman's crisis of conscious of the two men she's killed and is coming forward, he tries to protect in many ways and he was instrumental in getting a very tough defense attorney for her. And he's pretty stand up to Andy at times, he pulled him out a bar more than once. And his ex-wife, he has her back through everything. So he may not be my favorite character, he does what he thinks is best.

As a side not, a few days ago, Andy acquired a dog because the owner was murdered (the whole fadigus scene, tonight, he got drunk at Sylvia's father's birthday party, Sylvia stopped by, and Andy picked up the dog and held her. Wonder what happened to the dog, I don't remember her being around when Andy & Sylvia got married.

[peacheslatour]

I don't think we ever saw that dog again. I love using "stand up guy" along with "and so forth" and "hows it goin'" among others. There was a whole language that made this show so unique.

[friendperidot]

Peacheslatour, if you haven't been watching H&I because David Caruso was on, his last episode was tonight and Jimmy Smits started tonight. First few minutes with Bobby Simone in the precinct, the cop that Det Lezniak broke up holds her at gun point, Lt. Fancy tackles him and Andy jumps in and is thrown into a file cabinet, the rest of trained detective squad stand around and then the new guy walks in and joins in the fray. I can understand Donna, she's not a police officer, and Det. Lezniak was a stunned by what was happening, but the rest of them just stand around with their thumbs up their asses? A little too convenient.

[peacheslatour]

It's not because I don't like David Caruso, although I don't. It's because it's on too late at night for me and I don't have Tivo or a dvr or whatever. I really miss when it used to be on at 4:00 in the afternoon. I watched it every day. I've never cried as hard as I did when Bobby died. I keep hoping one of the other oldie channels brings it back. Maybe when my DH retires and doesn't have to get up at the crack of dawn. Damn, I'm also missing Columbo because Hallmark is running nothing but those ridiculous Christmas movies. Bleh.

[friendperidot]

I understand, 3 Hallmark channels were added to Philo, the day before the Christmas movies started...sometime around Halloween. And about the middle of November, Lifetime started their Christmas movie stuff. I will be glad when it's over, I'll have 5 more channels to watch. I'm retired, so I get to stay up to watch, I rarely make it to the end of the second episode.

[peacheslatour]

I'm retired too but DH is not. I used to be a real night owl back in the day. Going out at ten at night, coming home at 4 am and going to work the next day, fresh as a daisy. Hoo boy, are those days ever over. But I want to be able to stay up and dammit, when hubby finally retires I'm going to stay up late and sleep in.

Without NYPD Blue and Columbo I'm reduced to watching a lot of Law and Order SVU and The Gilmore Girls.

[TaraS1]

Lesniak was such a horribly written character, I always felt for the actress because there just wasn't much she could do with that mess.

[friendperidot]

can't disagree with your assessment TaraS1. I don't David Milch's strong point was writing for women. Many men can't. The women got a little better, but they were never great. And I liked several of them, they just weren't women as written by a woman would be. I read lots of whodunits, but I've gotten so I won't read male authors who write for female lead characters or female authors who write for male lead characters. Not many people can successfully write for the opposite sex, too much crap standing in our way.

[TaraS1]

8 hours ago, friendperidot said:

can't disagree with your assessment TaraS1. I don't David Milch's strong point was writing for women. Many men can't. The women got a little better, but they were never great. And I liked several of them, they just weren't women as written by a woman would be. 

Absolutely.  I loved Diane (I was a Kim Delaney fan from her soap days), and Jill and Connie were big favorites of mine, too.  And in hindsight, after multiple rewatches, I liked Rita more than I did during the original run.  But I meant to say in my original comment that not liking Lesniak was just a small complaint about what is otherwise my all-time favorite drama.  I love this show SO much, and love talking about it.

[Pallas]

15 hours ago, friendperidot said:

I don't David Milch's strong point was writing for women.

The women of Deadwood and the women who love them would disagree. Even if, and there's no doubt, the nooks and crannies of the male psyche are where Milch is the ace spelunker, and he can make a man out of even the most stock male character. But on broadcast TV 25 years ago, every woman with authority -- not only detectives and DA's -- was a stock fantasy of a woman with authority. A babe in ribbed knits with a sharp mind that masks a great heart, and, a tough skin meant to protect a bruised little girl. No one knew how to write them or play them because no one knew them. 

[friendperidot]

I will grant you that because I have never seen Deadwood. It's never been on any service I have and I've never had an interest in looking for it.

[friendperidot]

Bobby and Andy on stakeout singing Duke of Earl! Adorable, will never not be adorable.

[peacheslatour]

9 hours ago, friendperidot said:

Bobby and Andy on stakeout singing Duke of Earl! Adorable, will never not be adorable.

Truly, that was glorious!

[friendperidot]

Since when is Sinatra's "My Way" an appropriate bachelor party song? I don't remember that scene from before, but Martinez croaking out "My Way" while Andy tells Greg if it goes on beyond 2 verses to shoot him was amusing.

[Pallas]

5 hours ago, friendperidot said:

Since when is Sinatra's "My Way" an appropriate bachelor party song?

I think "My Way" isn't so much a bachelor party song as it is a male party piece. A swaggering ballad of self-regard and self-delusion; a fossil preserved in vinyl by a single performance. What makes it funny as a party piece is that it's a drunken impulse: asking a guy if he wants to perform it should be part of the roadside sobriety test. And even sober, (1) no one can remember the lyrics: it has five verses and three memorable lines; and (2) no fool can sing the melody: it stretches well over an octave and builds up.

It's also an anthem for stock alpha heavyweights; Sipowitz was implying that Martinez, by taking it on, was flying a little too close to the sun. Andy was looking to deescalate the situation before it reached "If not himself, then he has naught" degrees of madness. 

[friendperidot]

So obviously I have never been to a bachelor party in my entire 68 years.

[peacheslatour]

8 minutes ago, friendperidot said:

So obviously I have never been to a bachelor party in my entire 68 years.

I have never even been to a bachelorette party.

[friendperidot]

Peacheslatour, neither have I. I've been to Bridal and Baby Showers, I've been to a male stripper club where there were bachelorette parties going on, don't judge, it was the Disco years, I liked to dance and no men were admitted until the shows were over so there was more freedom for the women to be themselves. And, then the dancers were nice to look at. And just the other day, I told my nieces if they were very careful in going through my belongings, they might find an envelope of shocking evidence from my 30th Birthday party, but to please look through the pictures, laugh and then destroy them. They don't think I ever lived any kind of life in my "before."

Edited to add that if I knew where those pictures were, I'd destroy them now. Almost all of my belongings are packed in boxes. I haven't seen my hairdryer in 2 years. I may get a new one. Obviously, I don't use one.

 

Edited so it's not a double post and I'm the only one posting. Tonight's first episode on H&I has one of the creepiest serial killers in history. And this is why I never sleep with a window open and partly why there are 2 large dogs in my room, there's always a dog in my room and usually on my bed. This is the guy with the scuba mask who was found on the street and Diane and Bobby goad his landlord into throwing his stuff in the street and they open a footlocker and find all his trophies. The guy who calls women with large breasts, candidates with large balls. Super creepy guy. And I've read most of Patricia Cornwall books. And this is the reason I quit watching Criminal Minds, every episode had to have a creepier, sicker serial killer than the last episode.

Edited December 18, 2018 by friendperidot

[WendyCR72]

Kim Delaney and Bill Brochtrup on board for ABC revival.

[peacheslatour]

1 hour ago, WendyCR72 said:

Kim Delaney and Bill Brochtrup on board for ABC revival.

Awesome!

[TaraS1]

Damn it, I had no intention of getting sucked into a show where poor Andy has been murdered, but bringing back my beloved Diane and Gay John?!

Danny (re Andy's concerns about John babysitting Theo):  Andy, how long have you known John?

Andy:  A long time and he's been gay every day of it.

[friendperidot]

John Irvin/Gay John/Bill Brochtrup is my favorite character on the show, I've said it before. If he's going to be part of the reboot, I'll have to watch. Since Major Crimes is over, I'm going to need to see him on something new.

Editing after watch the first hour of H&I's shows tonight, I'd seen it before, but I had missed a scene at the end. I saw the part when Andy J. met Andy at the diner and then left and that there was another diner, telling Andy to talk through him. It didn't mean anything to me. Then tonight, for the first time, I caught the follow up scene, Andy J and Andy in the bar, Andy saying he brought Sylvia and Theo, they were in the bathroom, Andy J saying he didn't think it was right, then Andy slugged the 2 guys that murdered Andy J and then asking who the other guy was, said he remembered him from the diner, who was he and Andy J answering, that's my boss. Andy said "that's Jesus Christ" and ask what he was supposed to do and then the Jesus said, "what did I tell you earlier at the diner, talk through me, talk through me." Pretty heavy duty scene that was, I'd missed seeing that little part, but then Andy woke up from his dream and went to Theo's crib and was cooing to him about being a good boy. It was all a pretty powerful scene. Lots of theological issues need to be worked out there.

Edited January 11, 2019 by friendperidot

[friendperidot]

It's been a while, so I'll talk to myself some more. There are some seriously beautiful women on this show. I keep being struck by how beautiful Sharon Lawrence is and Andrea Thompson is so very striking. Most of the other women are beautiful also, the show on H&I just happens to be focused right now on storylines with these two. Then there's the beautiful men, many of them. 

Editing to talk to myself some more, it's the second episode on H&I tonight and I hate this episode, but Jimmy Smits is such a good actor. In tonight's first episode, he is in the hospital and very sick, had an emergency operation where they inserted something to help his heart. He was complaining to Diane about going in for a test and waking up with a tube in his joint, she asked him if it hurt, the look he gave her was golden. This current episode is so hard to watch, if my meds click in before it's over and I fall asleep, I think I'll be okay with it. The last time this was on, my dog was lying next to me and when Bobby started whimpering in pain, my dog sat up and watched the tv screen. He's asleep right now, it's hard enough to watch this one without my dog getting upset too.

Editing again, because I had forgotten that Bobby's heart transplant took a couple of episodes, so he's around for at least another episode, but these and Sylvia's deaths are so hard to watch. Very good job by the cast.

Edited February 2, 2019 by friendperidot

[peacheslatour]

The scene where Bobby dies made both my husband and I cry like tiny children. Why did he leave the show?

[friendperidot]

Peaches, from the show about how the series was done, it wasn't at the very end of the series, but 2 or 3 years before it ended. They have shown it a couple of times on H&I at the end of the series and before they start it again, but David Milch talked about his hard drinking days and that he did not always have the scripts done in time for the cast to learn their lines, so there were notes all over the set with their lines and they read them during the filming/video taping. From what I understand, Milch was quite a controlling person and did not allow adlibs, lines had to be said as written. He does an excellent story, but sometimes, his lines get a little convoluted. Apparently Jimmy Smits and some of the others really did not like working in that atmosphere and they wanted out of the show. From what I know about addicts and alcoholics in my personal life, the more out of control they feel about themselves, the harder they work to control those around them. There's a reason that the first step of AA/Al-Anon/NA/Nar-Anon is "admitted we were powerless over alcohol (substitute what you need there) and our lives had become unmanageable. There's a lot in 12 step programs about control/out of control/controlling others. Yes, I am an an Al-Anon, and I'm a Virgo and I'm a first born, just do what I say and everything will go smoothly, dammit!

[friendperidot]

it's been 6 weeks or so since I was talking to myself. But watching through Danny's last shows and his death and the services, the quality of writing and acting on this show really were excellent. Andy Sipowitz really is everyman. Tonight, on the first hour, Eddie Gibson was being his usual irritating self, but he agreed to go on medical leave to take care of his cancer. There was a bit with Dennis Franz rolling his eyes, he really was terrific. Then in the second hour, one of the reasons I love Baldwin Jones, Greg started getting all excited at the idea of breeding bulldogs and Baldwin told him to take it easy, he could see the wheels turning. Next, Mark Paul Gosselaar as Det. John Clark Jr. is my second favorite Andy partner, and tonight's lines about the rest of the squad are supposed to be Andy's puppets, "yes Andy. yes Andy. yes Andy." Such great delivery, then later in the show, just dropped a "yes Andy." Always, the cast is excellent, the acting is above average, way above average, the writing is excellent even if the dialogue is sometimes convoluted. But the show is still head and shoulders above most tv shows.

Edited to add a great example of the writing and acting, slimeball stoolie, Julian, played by Lenny Vinito, was trying to weasel money for a tip he had given on a murder, Lieutenant Rodriguez (the devine Esai Morales) came in to tell Andy & John to go out on a call, and Julian called out, "Let's be careful out there!" It's just these little touches that make the show.

Edited March 23, 2019 by friendperidot

[TaraS1]

I met Mark Paul Gosselaar at a comic-con thing last weekend and got to talk Blue with him.  In fact, I think I was probably the only person there to see him strictly because of Blue and not Saved By The Bell lol.  I asked if he'd been approached for the reboot and he basically said no, since he's doing The Passage.  We talked about the concept and were both like, "Poor Andy, he's suffered enough!" lol.  I told him I hadn't really planned to watch until I read that Kim and Bill B. were returning, and he said he'd heard James McDaniel's name mentioned when the idea was first floated, but had no idea if that was actually happening.

Anyway, super nice, extremely handsome guy.

[peacheslatour]

4 hours ago, TaraS1 said:

I met Mark Paul Gosselaar at a comic-con thing last weekend and got to talk Blue with him.  In fact, I think I was probably the only person there to see him strictly because of Blue and not Saved By The Bell lol.  I asked if he'd been approached for the reboot and he basically said no, since he's doing The Passage.  We talked about the concept and were both like, "Poor Andy, he's suffered enough!" lol.  I told him I hadn't really planned to watch until I read that Kim and Bill B. were returning, and he said he'd heard James McDaniel's name mentioned when the idea was first floated, but had no idea if that was actually happening.

Anyway, super nice, extremely handsome guy.

That's so cool.

[friendperidot]

toniivght's first episode, Connie was bringing home her sister's baby, at the hospital when she was waiting for the social worker to bring the baby and when Andy and Connie walked out with the baby, the music was a slowed down version of Dvorak's 2nd movement from the New World Symphony, the Going Home theme. That is the most beautiful music and sweetly used here. They used it at a funeral once, played by bagpipes, it was beautiful and that was the first time I ever heard it by bagpipes.

[friendperidot]

Starting tonight at midnight CDST, H&I will be airing 4 episodes of NYPD Blue. I am usually asleep before the second episode airs, I cannot stay awake until 4 AM to watch this. I wonder if they are getting ready to shelve this series. I have noticed that when they are getting ready to discontinue a series, they frequently air it at 2, 3 and 4 AM. Part of me will be really sad. I really like this show and I see some things in every re-watch that I'd not noticed before. However, the part of me that would like to go to bed before 2 AM, will be fine.

[friendperidot]

And tonight's 3rd episode proved that I see something new every time I watch. I knew that John Clark's doctor girlfriend had attempted suicide, I knew he had gone off the rails, went on benders and finally Andy gave him a talking to and he straightened out, but somehow, until I saw part of this episode, I never realized that Dr. Jen had actually committed suicide. First his father, than his girlfriend, no wonder he had so many problems. And it was just a couple of days ago that I recognized that one of the women officers that was involved in a storyline about a murder and an abusive husband was Lana Parrilla from Once Upon a Time, she is beautiful no matter what role she is playing.

[WendyCR72]

Pilot for the proposed revival to be re-shot with an eye for possible mid-season slot (should ABC like the redone pilot).