Michael Hoover

When “NYPD Blue” began its uniquely creative and powerful run 12 years ago, its cutting-edge mixture of profanity and nudity and realistic, as opposed to gratuitous, violence, set off a firestorm of protests and attempted censorship not unlike that which we are witnessing today in the culture wars set off by Janet Jackson’s “wardrobe malfunction.” Eventually, “compromises” were agreed to, and the show’s scriptwriters produced a dictionary of “acceptable” profanities and the actual number of times they could be used per episode.

As I watched “NYPD Blue’s” riveting last episode Tuesday night I thought how fortunate viewers were that the armies of protestors were not successful in their efforts to muzzle and even shut down arguably the best dramatic series in the history of television. If they had been successful, then Andy Sipowicz, unarguably—in this humble critic’s opinion—the single best classically dramatic character in television history would never have entered our consciousness.

“NYPD Blue” was one of only three TV series (the other two being “M.A.S.H”. and “Cheers”) that I would actually plan an evening around and I don’t usually advocate planning any evening around anything that television typically has to offer. Ironically, I too believe that television is ripe with callous, coarse, overly violent, offensive, crude, and rude nonsense and would be one of the first to agree with the description of television as a “vast wasteland.”

But unlike many of my friends, who I admire for banning TV in their households or even not having a TV set in their homes, I won’t and can’t turn my back on television. If you’re discriminating, you can cull some real gems from the wasteland. Nowhere is this more true than with NYPD Blue.

Putting aside the quick shots of derrieres that calculatingly put the show on the map and the explicit use of profanity, the show’s writing was incisively original, provocative, and dramatic. The acting was often near Shakespearian levels and the Bard would actually have loved this show.

Witness any of Shakespeare’s truly great characters—Lear, Hamlet, Macbeth, Othello, Iago—and go back and explore how the master, hundreds of years before modern psychology was invented, analyzed the inner conflicts that ate at these characters’ psyches. “Oh, full of scorpions is my mind,” exclaims Macbeth, who is racked by guilt and lack of sleep because, in killing the good King Duncan, he has “murdered sleep” and will never again feel the balm of peaceful sleep. How often has Andy Sipowicz been haunted by such inner demons that ate away at his soul? From his alcoholism, to his repressed racism, to his guilt over his son’s death, Sipowicz has fought as many devils grabbing at his soul as any great tragedian.

To the credit of the show’s writers, they allowed Sipowicz, over time, the opportunity to find redemption. Unlike the tragic heroes whose tragic flaws had, by classic convention, to bring them down, Andy was allowed many opportunities (261 episodes!) to recognize his shortcomings, put aside his anger and hubris, even ask for help, and eventually rise above it all to attain hero status. But he continued to be a hero with faults, which is in keeping with every definition of the modern hero as well. And having attained such a lofty status, it was incumbent upon Andy to assume, albeit reluctantly, the even more lofty status of mentor. Time and again Sipowicz was partnered up with young acolytes who hadn’t a clue as to what to do or how to be. Sometimes successfully, sometimes not, Sipowicz shepherded them to self-understanding.

Having learned so much from his own faults Andy ascended first to the role of reluctant hero, then, more assertively, willing leader. Nowhere was this heroic status in more evidence than in the series’ final episode when Sipowicz went up against some mighty powerful forces that could do him serious harm. In spite of this danger, he was compelled to seek the truth. Interestingly, the show ended on an ambiguous note, everything was not yet neatly solved, because, even though we will never see Sipowicz again, the suggestion was that he will live to fight another day. What reward did he earn for this heroism? Nothing more than the understated admiration of his band of followers. What more reward could a hero want?