Bingeing Blue

By ROB PATTERSON

Loyal readers will know that this progressive is also, as I have dubbed myself, a Law & Order Leftist. The nickname refers to my love of TV police series and obviously draws from the long-running multi-series Law & Order franchise helmed by Dick Wolf.

Although what may be my favorite cop shows, The Shield and Southland, are set in Los Angeles, New York City police series have had a special spot in my heart from the time I watched Naked City in my youth. The affection was upped by Kojak in the mid-1970s, which during most of its run I lived in the City and it became my spiritual hometown where almost all of the near countless Greek diners had autographed photos of the show’s Greek-American star, Telly Savalas (as also was Kojak), framed on their walls up above the cash register.

The appeal to me of police dramas is that they are moral storytelling – which all good storytelling should be – and often present an ideal of police behavior that, sadly, too many cops and police departments don’t live up to (as we’ve seen in recent times far too often in regard to the treatment of Black Americans, to cite the worst aspect of bad American policing). But hey – TV often serves as our societal rose-colored glasses.

One cop series in particular recently highlighted for me something I really enjoy about streaming TV: the binge. Back in the largely just network and early cable TV eras there was a certain rhythm to only having shows you followed unfold on a weekly basis, albeit with the summer break. But the compression of a binge brings to the forefront all of the best qualities of great episodic TV.

My recent viewing of all 261 episodes of NYPD Blue – which originally ran from 1993 to 2005 – over the course of some three to four months on Hulu was quite a pleasurable and insightful TV experience that highlighted just what an excellent and groundbreaking series it was. As Variety recently noted, it was a “game-changing series” that was “a TV upstart that would ultimately become an institution.” And as its star Dennis Franz noted, it was “adult intelligent viewing.”

The show was initially intended as a star vehicle for David Caruso, whose run as a police detective only lasted into early in the second season. Instead, Franz’s character, Detective Andy Sipowicz, became the unlikely hero of an ensemble cast. He begins the show as a newly-sober sodden alcoholic with a seriously dyspeptic attitude who expresses racist and homophobic sentiments and is on the verge of washing out of the department. Rarely on TV has such an initially negative role gone through not simply character development but growth and evolution as a soul as Sipowicz does to become an admirable soul, if also one who is flawed and readily admits it.

The show broke down barriers by making Sipowicz’s sobriety an ongoing theme as well as opening new dimensions on network TV of nudity, onscreen violence and salty language. It had an ongoing gay character whose sexuality even became part of a few plots. Its women were also fully-fleshed out personae who could be both as strong and flawed as the men.

As with the best ensemble TV series, its cast felt like a family onscreen that I came to miss after I finished bingeing on it. I also liked that it was set in the City’s East Village that were my stomping grounds in the late ’80s before I moved away, giving its street scenes a nice familiarity. A friend who is a diehard New Yorker regularly watched NYPD Blue to assuage missing her home while living in Los Angeles.

It as announced last year that a pilot for an NYPD Blue spinoff with Sipowicz’s son as its main character was greenlighted by ABC, helmed by veterans of the original. Just maybe it might live up to the legacy and take police shows even further.

Populist Picks

TV Series: Brooklyn Nine-Nine – Speaking of New York City cop shows, this sitcom set in a police precinct is a charmer that’s smart and deliciously witty, powered by the combo of Andy Samberg’s offbeat detective playing against the crackling dry humor of his chief portrayed by Andre Braugher, who proved himself born to play cops on the masterful Homicide: Life on the Street. Cancelled by Fox after season and then picked up by NBC, its worthy of hope for continued survival.

Documentary Film: The Bill Murray Stories: Life Lessons Learned from a Mythical Man – Murray is legendary for just showing up at events and places and becoming a part of what’s happening if not the life of the party. And then wandering off towards his next adventure. The doc recounts many such delightful incidents where he admirably enlivens the scene with the fairy dust of his fame while eschewing any star attitude in his accessibility and involvement.

Rob Patterson is a music and entertainment writer in Austin, Texas. Email orca@prismnet.com.

From The Progressive Populist, May 15, 2019

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