In honor of my latest interview with actor BILL BROCHTRUP (Episodes 71 & 72), who played police administrative aide (PAA) ‘John Irvin’ on the classic Emmy Award-winning TV series "NYPD Blue" for seven seasons, I've put together this entertaining trivia list featuring some fun facts about this groundbreaking police procedural television series for you to enjoy!
“NYPD Blue” originally aired on ABC from September 21, 1993 to March 1, 2005, and ran for 12 seasons and 261 episodes.
The show was initially a vehicle for David Caruso. ‘John Kelly’ was the main character, and the first season revolved around him and his professional and personal lives. Promotional shots for the show depicted Caruso in the foreground and other first-season characters set off behind him. Season two had the departure of ‘John Kelly’, and the show was thereafter built around an ensemble.
The exterior of the 9th Precinct station house is used to represent the fictional 15th Precinct's station house. It is the same building on East 5th Street in New York City used to represent the station house on “Kojak”.
The character of ‘Detective John Kelly’ was originally named Flinn, and intended for Jimmy Smits, who turned down the role. Smits later played Kelly's replacement, ‘Detective Bobby Simone’.
Dennis Franz, as ‘Andy Sipowicz’, a veteran New York City Police detective, evolved into the show's lead character, who increasingly assumed a mentorship role to other characters as the series progressed. His co-stars included (season two and beyond) Jimmy Smits as ‘Det. Bobby Simone’ (1994–1998), Rick Schroder as ‘Det. Danny Sorenson’ (1998–2001), and Mark-Paul Gosselaar as ‘Det. John Clark, Jr.’ (2001–2005)
Dennis Franz (Detective Andy Sipowicz) is the only actor to appear in all 261 episodes of the series. In second place is Gordon Clapp (Detective Greg Medavoy), who appears in 256 episodes.
Just like an earlier Steven Bochco series, “Hill Street Blues”, most of the episodes were written to take place over the course of a single day.
The character "Andy Sipowicz" was ranked number thirty-one in TV Guide's list of the "50 Greatest TV Dads of All Time" (June 20, 2004 issue).
Henry Simmons who played ‘Detective Baldwin Jones’ was only supposed to be on for a few episodes, executive producer Steven Bocho was so impressed with Simmons' acting ability that he became a regular in 2002, replacing Nick Tuturro's character, ‘Detective James Martinez’ and lasting through to the end of the series' run in 2005.
John F. O'Donohue (Detective Eddie Gibson) was a real-life N.Y.P.D. Detective before retiring to pursue an acting career.
The sets on this show of the "New York streets" were on the backlot of Twentieth Century Fox, and were originally built for Hello, Dolly!. Some location work was actually done in New York City for most of the show's run, mixing specific scenes with general location footage that was used for between-scenes and opening-credits sequences. During the final seasons, however, the combination of high costs for location filming and the show's reduced ratings meant that one hundred percent of filming was done in Los Angeles.
Dennis Franz, like his character ‘Andy Sipowicz’, is a Vietnam veteran.
Kim Delaney, who played ‘Detective Diane Russell’, was originally slated for only four episodes, the role became permanent after her character's relationship with ‘Detective Bobby Simone’ (Jimmy Smits) became a hit with viewers.
The series was often written on set during filming due to head writer David Milch's drug use. "OK, you [Sipowitz] say this, and then you [Simone] say this in response." Actors wrote down their lines on scraps of paper in the squad room. Jimmy Smits and other actors quit over the hectic scheduling.
Prior to the show's premiere, and immediately afterward, there was enormous controversy over what was perceived to be high levels of offensive language and nudity. Many affiliates refused to air the show and several advertisers boycotted it. Steven Bochco negotiated intensely with the network for a certain amount of language and nudity to be allowed. He has said that because of the pressure on the network from this criticism, the show would likely not have survived, had it not been an instant hit.
Bill Brochtrup who played ‘P.A.A. John Irvin’ for seven seasons of “NYPD Blue” has also been a series regular on two additional Steven Bochco shows: CBS sitcom “Public Morals” and ABC drama “Total Security”.
James McDaniel Jr played ‘Lt. Arthur Fancy’ on “NYPD Blue” for eight seasons, between 1993 and 2001. The series attracted some criticism regarding McDaniel being underutilized during his time on the show. McDaniel himself alluded to this, claiming to be "the highest paid extra on television." He was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series in 1996 for his work on the series. He also received three consecutive NAACP Image Award nominations for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series.
Ricky Schroder (Detective Danny Sorenson) left the show because his wife suffered a miscarriage and felt he needed to return home with her, so they wrote him out.
Sharon Lawrence didn't have to worry about the show's nudity clause the first half of the first season because she wasn't a full cast member. But in January 1994 she was made a full cast member. Then she was told her character was going to start a relationship with the character ‘Andy Sipowicz’. At that point she knew producers were going to tell her she had to be naked at some point and she was right. She said in an interview that having to be nude on national television didn't bother her though because, "I didn't have qualms about doing it. I was working with and for the best this industry has to offer in terms of television." She added that she knew they would film her nude tastefully.
Before joining the cast as ‘Detective Connie McDowell’, Charlotte Ross appeared in the fifth season as the abused wife of a cop suspected by ‘Detective Bobby Simone’ (Jimmy Smits) and ‘Detective Diane Russell’ (Kim Delaney) of killing a prostitute. When Andrea Thompson left the series, producer Steven Bochco remembered Ross, and wrote the part of McDowell for her.
Sharon Lawrence later got married in the same church where her character Sylvia's wedding was filmed.
Gail O’Grady first major role was as ‘Donna Abandando’ on the series. O'Grady played the big-haired police administrative aide (PAA) from 1993 to 1996, and for each year received an Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series. She left the series in 1996, and made a pilot for her own sitcom, “The Gail O'Grady Project”, but the show was not picked up by any of the networks.
The show was created by Steven Bochco and David Milch, and was inspired by Milch's relationship with Bill Clark, a former member of the New York City Police Department who eventually became one of the show's producers.
“NYPD Blue” has won 84 out of 285 award nominations. The series has garnered 84 Primetime Emmy Award nominations, winning 20 of them. Of the 20 wins, the series won the award for Outstanding Drama Series, Dennis Franz won four times for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series, and Kim Delaney won for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series - to name a few.
It was ABC's longest-running primetime one-hour drama series until “Grey's Anatomy” surpassed it in 2016.
A pilot episode for a proposed reboot TV series of “NYPD Blue” was filmed in NYC in 2019. It starred British actor Fabien Frankel (“House of the Dragon”) and co-starred original cast members, Kim Delaney, and Bill Brochtrup. The sequel was to center on Theo (Frankel), the son of Dennis Franz’s ‘Detective Andy Sipowicz’ character from the original series, who tries to earn his detective shield and work in the 15th squad while investigating his father’s murder. Even though there was a lot of excitement surrounding the sequel’s pilot the network ultimately decided not to pick up the series.
Child actor Austin Majors who played ‘Theo Sipowicz’ on ABC's “NYPD Blue” died of a fentanyl overdose in February 2023 while staying at a homeless housing facility in Los Angeles. He was 27 years old.
Trivia items from IMDB & Wikipedia
To listen to my riveting conversation with actor Bill Brochtrup (Episodes 71 & 72), who played public administrative aide ‘John Irvin’ on NYPD Blue for seven seasons, on my podcast - click on the links below. Enjoy!
Episode 71 - HERE
Episode 72 - HERE
