ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, January 28, 1997 TAG: 9701280097
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: ELLEN GRAY KNIGHT-RIDDER/TRIBUNE
At first, her co-worker seemed like Barbie's Dream Date.
A handsome thirtysomething widower, he wore Donna Karan suits and Armani shirts. He lived in a loft. He took her out for romantic dinners in the middle of the week, complete with wine and drippy candles.
When she stopped drinking, he held her hand.
When her father was killed in a domestic dispute, he hugged her close.
He was a great listener, with soulful brown eyes, but he didn't seem to talk much about himself.
One fall day, he took her for a walk along the river and asked her to marry him.
And she said ... maybe.
Not yes. Not no. Just not now.
And almost overnight, her Dream Date turned into the Boyfriend from Hell.
At work, he hung around her desk, listening to her phone calls. When a new assignment required her to spend time with an old flame, he pestered her constantly about him.
Eventually, he and another co-worker arranged - indirectly - to have the guy killed.
So this is one of those cheesy NBC ``Moment of Truth'' movies, right? One of the hunks from ``Melrose Place'' plays the boyfriend, one of the women from ``Beverly Hills, 90210'' plays his hapless love?
Try again. It's ABC's ``NYPD Blue,'' which lately has been giving viewers a much closer look at Detective Bobby Simone (Jimmy Smits).
Kim Delaney, who plays Simone's on-again, off-again girlfriend, Detective Diane Russell, took a lot of heat from people on the street after her character didn't grab Simone's ring earlier this season.
``People found it almost incomprehensible that she would have turned down his proposal of marriage,'' said ``NYPD Blue'' executive producer David Milch in an interview last month, shortly before the most recent Simone-Russell arc of stories began airing.
``I think that if you stick with it you will find out why that was,'' he promised.
Well, I stuck with it, and I think I know now: Bobby Simone may have some wonderful qualities, but he's also one scary guy.
I'm not sure, though, that Diane has figured that out yet. It may also take some of his fans awhile to catch on. At lunch recently, when I asked a friend what we really knew about Simone, she pointed out that he'd put his career on hold to take care of his wife when she was dying of breast cancer.
That's the sketchy bio Simone arrived at the 15th Precinct with two seasons ago, when Smits stepped in to replace the exiting David Caruso. And until recently, we haven't really learned much more.
Partnered with the more-colorful Andy Sipowicz (Dennis Franz), Smits' character has generally gotten the shorter end of the dramatic stick: He's been the tall one, the sober one, the more politically correct one. While he's also gotten more of the show's trademark sex scenes, he's so far missed the Emmy.
This season, which I suspect the writers have dedicated to Simone, we're learning more about Bobby than ever. He's possessive. He's a control freak. And he just might be - morally, if not legally - a murderer.
Dream Date? No way.
Run, Barbie. Run.
LENGTH: Medium: 65 linesby CNB