THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, November 15, 1994 TAG: 9411150044
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E2 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Column
SOURCE: Larry Bonko
LENGTH: Medium: 71 lines
SINCE ``NYPD BLUE'' returned to prime time in this market last month, I haven't received one telephone call, letter or fax complaining about Detective Andy Sipowicz's street talk or scenes of a frank nature, such as when a middle-aged cop was found dead in a hooker's bed.
But I have heard from a number of readers who don't like ``NYPD Blue'' because the plot lines are hard to follow. Others say they are annoyed by the herky-jerky camera technique used by producers Steven Bochco and David Milch. And several have commented that the fade-out of David Caruso as Detective John Kelly took too long.
The truth is ``NYPD Blue'' is not as good as it used to be just one short year ago, when it pulled in 26 Emmy nominations.
There's a reason for that, and the reason is Caruso.
Bochco and Milch had to tear up the first six scripts of the new season when Caruso said he was leaving the show to pursue a career in films. The producers turned those first six scripts inside out to lay the groundwork for Carouso's departure and Jimmy Smits' arrival.
Tonight at 10, Smits joins the ensemble cast as a detective named Bobby Simone. He admits that the pressure of replacing Caruso has caused him to break out in hives. Caruso's awkward leaving is just a memory. With that done, perhaps ``NYPB Blue'' will return to be what it was in 1993 - TV's best-written and best-acted drama.
Until that happens, it has a place in a category I call TV Shows That Aren't as Good as They Used to Be.
More on that four paragraphs from now.
I understand why viewers here had a hard time following the episodes that aired on WVEC in October. ``NYPD Blue'' is a never-ending story. If you weren't in on the plot at the beginning last season - and how could you have been with Channel 13 refusing to air the series? - the first few episodes must have been puzzling.
As for the hand-held camera technique, also in vogue in NBC's equally good and gritty cop show, ``Homicide: Life in the Street,'' you'll just have to get used to it because Bochco and Milch like it.
With Smits' arrival, I anticipate a short stay for ``NYPD Blue'' in the category of TV Shows That Aren't as Good as They Used to Be.
``Northern Exposure'' is on that list. What used to be a cute and quirky series has become strained and silly.
We've learned all there is to learn about the free spirits of Cicely. When Rob Morrow leaves the series soon, and takes the Dr. Joel Fleischman character with him, there won't be anyone to hold it together.
CBS has another hour that's not as good as it used to be - David Letterman's ``Late Show.'' It looks as if Letterman and his writers have run out of good ideas after 15 months. How many times can you use New York cabbies for ``found humor''? On NBC, Letterman was doing an hour of entertainment with a little talk thrown in. On CBS, it's the other way around.
And Letterman isn't getting out of the studio as much as he once did.
Has Letterman grown lazy or is he putting his energy into the CBS prime time special he's doing later this month?
Also in the category: ``Beverly Hills 90210.'' The writers can't find anything for Luke Perry to do now that he's out of high school. So, they've turned him into a crazed drug abuser in a coma.
There also have been lots of fantasy sequences on ``90210'' of late. Beware fantasy sequences. They tell me a series is running out of gas.
I also have a category I call TV Shows That Have Been Around a While But Are Still Flying High. That group includes ``Seinfeld'' and ``Roseanne.''
``Home Improvement''? That series is in a third category: TV Shows That Everybody Else Likes But I Can't Stand. by CNB