Would I enjoy NYPD Blue?

[cardinal biggles]

It's a shame the fifth season isn't out, because it's the last full season with Smits and, after the meandering fourth season, a nice return to form (especially the harrowing two-parter "Lost Israel", arguably the series' finest hour).

The "Lost Israel" two-parter is my favorite episode of the series, bar none, and that's the main reason I want them to keep releasing the seasons. I taped it off of TNT back in 2003, but that tape isn't going to last forever...

 

[Thrall]

a fat balding old racist sexist jerk,

You would have hated the original Life On Mars. Women didn't know if they should slap Gene Hunt, applaud him, or make out with him. And that was all in real life, not on the show. Face it, dickheads are sex magic. No one likes to admit it, but it's true.

 

[Star Wolf]

The thing is, I don't care for conventional police dramas. I prefer darker, grittier shows like Homicide: Life on the Street, The Wire, Oz, and The Shield.

How does NYPD Blue compare to these others? Is it something that I would likely enjoy, or should I save my money?

It's conventional police drama. It may have been cutting edge back in 1994, but it just doesn't cut it by 2009 standards.

Murder cases are all solved within a single 8 hour shift
The case is ALWAYS cracked by having the cops sweat out a confession from some hapless criminal, it's funny how lawyers are never there
The main character, a fat balding old racist sexist jerk, is somehow magically irresistible to women


NYPD Blue will stretch your believability limits to their max. and then break them. Either NYC has thousands of murders per year, or every murder in the city is investigated (and solved) by the same six person detective squad.

I never got it myself. After many years of Law and Order it reminded me of the Homicide episode when the detectives ask how anybody can be so stupid as to go into the box. But here as on CSI there the suspects were, without asking for the lawyer. To me its in the end a poor copy of the Hill Street Blues inovations. If you want gritty try Brooklyn South.

 

[flandry84]

I watched NYPD BLUE religously for the first 3-4 seasons,but as the show was shown so late at night over here,I kinda lost track of things about the time Rick Schroeder left the cast.TBH when all the publicity surrounding the final ever episode came out,I was surprised that the show had been trundling on .
I cannot fault Denis Franz though,great actor.