'NYPD Blue' to Return for One Last Season

LOS ANGELES (AP) - "NYPD Blue'' will be on the job for one more season, its 12th, and then take retirement, ABC announced Monday.

But executive producer Steven Bochco, while saying he would approach next season as the last, hinted at hopes that the police drama might stay on the case.

"Should we do brilliantly, and circumstances change, we would be delighted to revisit the possibility of life beyond 12 seasons,'' he said in a statement. "However, to go out after 12 strong years is great, as it's better to go out too early rather than overstay our welcome.''

Dennis Franz, who stars as tough New York police Detective Andy Sipowicz, and the ensemble cast including Mark-Paul Gosselaar and Esai Morales will be part of the last season, ABC said.

In 1994, the show set an Emmy nominations record with 26 bids. It was named best drama series the following year.

"NYPD Blue'' returns Tuesday night (10 p.m. EST) after an extended break in which its spot was occupied by the new crime drama "Line of Fire.''

Four more episodes of "Line of Fire,'' which debuted Dec. 2, remain to be aired, ABC said. A decision about its future has yet to be made.

Originally posted by Rogue588
Yeah, but as I added in the postscript I think it should have its own thread. [Not discounting Charlie's laments about losing shows, of course...]

Originally posted by madcougar
I hope they don't kill Sipowitz off in the last episode.

Originally posted by Cusm
He did, tonight they get a new Lt in the Squad.

Originally posted by Kal Jedi
I thought

Spoiler:

Esai

was leaving?

Originally posted by Cusm
He did, tonight they get a new Lt in the Squad.

ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT: NYPD Blue creator Steven Bochco is threatening to pull the plug on the long-running cop drama at season's end if ABC doesn't stop censoring the show's racy content. Although the network renewed Blue for a 12th and final season, Bochco tells The Hollywood Reporter that "this will be NYPD Blue's last year" if the crackdown does not let up. "If we have to keep reining ourselves in like this," he says, "it just wouldn't be worth continuing to do the show." Bochco claims that in the two months following Boobygate, ABC forced him to alter or eliminate visuals in four sex scenes and "dial back some of our language."

Crackdown has Bochco in 'Blue' mood
Elements of show being toned down

Tuesday, April 27, 2004 Posted: 1:25 PM EDT (1725 GMT)

LOS ANGELES, California (Hollywood Reporter) -- A couple of seasons ago on "NYPD Blue" -- one of the few stable shows residing in the ABC universe -- the network's recently ousted entertainment chief, Susan Lyne, urged producers to try a little experiment.

"Susan wanted us to start using the word 'bulls---' in our episodes," Steven Bochco, the show's creator and executive producer, recalled in a recent interview.

"And so we did -- not gratuitously, but in character. We received not a single phone call. Not one little peep. No letters of protest. Nothing. Zero.

"I thought, what a nice sign that is, that a 10 o'clock drama can occasionally access some of the casual profanity that's absolutely familiar to anyone over the age of 7."

It was yet another content victory for a series that had written the book on controversy, that had famously stood down the watchdog groups and affiliate rejection to survive its first season in 1993-94 and, more than a decade later, outlive virtually all of its critics.

But as "NYPD Blue" rolls to the end of its 11th and penultimate season, the gritty cop drama has found a foe that it can't compete with in the federal government.

The so-called indecency crackdown has hit "NYPD Blue" hard, Bochco explains. At ABC's insistence, the show has been forced over the past two months to alter or eliminate visuals in four sex scenes. "We've also had to dial back some of our language issues," he says.

New reality

Bochco relates these facts with more sadness and resignation than outrage, like a man who cannot believe he's still fighting the same battles nearly 25 years after bringing "Hill Street Blues" to NBC. He's philosophical about it -- but not at all pleased.

"We unfortunately live in a time where we no longer have broadcasting philosophies," Bochco believes. "We have divisions of giant companies who do staggering amounts of business with the government. Because of their size and responsibility to shareholders, they're prepared to accommodate anything rather than take on the government in ways that could cost money and damage their relationship with advertisers."

That's the new reality. And what upsets Bochco perhaps more than anything isn't the fact his show has to relinquish hard-won freedoms and water down his product 11 years in; it's that he's the victim of what he sees as mere political jockeying.

"I'd bet my house that the overwhelming majority of politicians banging this drum haven't watched us or anyone else who's being scaled back," he says. "In typical lemming fashion, it's just, 'Oh boy, here's an opportunity to get some ink, to get my face out there in an election year.' They get to take easy shots at a slow-moving target."

Bochco suspects that the "self-appointed cultural arbiters" will move on to new issues and the crackdown will dissolve after November.

"Every election cycle, this issue rears its head," he says. "But right now, it's as scary as it's ever been."

Even though "NYPD Blue" was recently renewed for a 12th and final season, Bochco warned "this will be 'NYPD Blue's' last year" if the crackdown does not let up.

"If we have to keep reining ourselves in like this, it just wouldn't be worth continuing to do the show."

Bochco perhaps states the obvious when he maintains that you couldn't put an "NYPD Blue" on the air today. "Not a chance," he believes.

Originally posted by chanster
I stopped watching the show after they killed Smits character...just couldn't get into it, and it started to feel like "tragedy of the week for Sipowicz" I am sure its probably changed, but thats when I turned it off.

Originally posted by Michael Corvin
I do think they will have a surefire hit in the Practice spinoff.

Originally posted by Rogue588
One the one hand, I agree with das and think this censorship shit is outta control.