THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, November 21, 1995 TAG: 9511210053
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E2 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: Larry Bonko
LENGTH: Medium: 76 lines
THE REAL Detective Andy Sipowicz wrote ``True Blue'' with David Milch, executive producer of ``NYPD Blue'' on ABC.
However, Bill Clark, who put in 25 years with the New York City Police Department before he signed on as the creative consultant on ``NYPD Blue,'' says he isn't Sipowicz. Not really.
Come on, Bill. I know better.
While reading ``True Blue,'' published by William Morrow and Co., I saw Sipowicz whenever Clark talked about how he investigated and helped crack cases such as the Son of Sam killings. Clark's phrases and sentences have the same rhythms of the dialogue that Dennis Franz delivers as Sipowicz Tuesday nights at 10.
``We brought the brothers in for questioning. I rode with Michael, who'd lived next door to the murdered woman, and was the uglier of these two skanky brothers. While he was in the car, he gave it up to me that he never hurt anybody, and it was his brother that did it.''
Sipowicz?
Or Bill Ckark?
A bit of both, suggested Milch long-distance from a city somewhere on The Book Tour. ``You will find a bit of Bill Clark in all our characters,'' said Milch. ``Even in the Medavoy character. Detective Medavoy has Bill's fussiness.'' And you will also find of bit of Clark in the storylines. ``More than half the cases in our scripts are based on Bill's experiences,'' said Milch.
Clark is always on the sets in Hollywood and Manhattan to see that the actors get it right, from making an arrest to interrogating a suspect.
Clark's highest compliment to the cast: ``That looks like a real collar.''
``True Blue'' is two books in one. First, there is Clark's story of life on the streets as a detective with the 112th Street Precinct in Queens. Three years after joining the NYPD, former infantry platoon sergeant Clark - he fought in Vietnam - had his detective's gold shield.
``You took this man's life, an off-duty fireman working a second job to make a few extra dollars to feed his family. If what it takes to make you give that up is laying hands on you, I'm gonna' beat you till you beg to die.''
Clark was bluffing about the beating, of course.
Secondly, ``True Blue'' is Milch's story of how he and Bochco gave birth to the series and then faced pressures from the network and affiliates to do away with the sexuality and frank language that set it apart from other network drama. ``The people in the network's office of standards and practices had problems with what they had seen,'' said Milch.
Problems, indeed.
Milch's woes with ABC's censors and affiliates, including WVEC here - which at first refused to carry ``NYPD Blue'' - were nothing compared to the troubles that actor David Caruso gave him. ``David brought extraordinary humanity and vividness to the part. But I had misgivings about him as a person when we were considering him for the role of John Kelly,'' said Milch.
``True Blue'' has its gossipy moments with Milch telling how the emotional Caruso almost nailed Franz with a trash can that he had kicked in a moment of anger. Then there were what Milch calls the ``inflated demands'' from Caruso to continue in the series.
Said Milch, ``Caruso's representatives asked for a raise that would have put the show wildly over budget. They itemized a list of perks that included a bigger trailer for David to reducing Sipowicz's role in favor of his character.''
Bochco let Caruso walk and called in the man who was his first choice to lead the cast of ``NYPD Blue'' - Jimmy Smits. With Smits aboard, the show won an Emmy as best nighttime drama and has finished as high as No. 4 in the ratings.
``We're all doing terrific work, and couldn't be happier,'' said Milch. Same story with the cops of America. On this book tour, Milch is meeting police officers who say they like the show a lot.
``They look at this show as their show,'' said Milch. Their show and Bill Clark's. by CNB