Tuesday, January 11, 2000

Tough language, tender types return on 'NYPD Blue'

The long wait is over.
   "NYPD Blue" returns for its seventh season today on ABC with an episode that serves as a reminder of why this cop drama is a series worth waiting for.
   Tonight's hour is a spellbinder fraught with ethical dilemmas. It ends with a surprisingly sweet choke-up moment between Sipowicz (Dennis Franz) and his little son Theo (Austin Majors).
   Sipowicz, still shell-shocked by the death of his wife Sylvia, is caught up in the investigation of a man beaten to death in an alley. Under questioning by Sipowicz and partner Danny Sorenson (Rick Schroder), a young street cop (Kevin Dillon) admits the dead guy had been given "a minor tune-up" by another cop who overreacted when the guy spat in his face.
   Add "minor tune-up" to the show's lexicon of colorful cop phrases. This drama speaks in its own patois, peppered with "skels" and "mutts" (both are pejorative) and offbeat nicknames like "Poodlehead Mikey" (a pivotal figure in tonight's plot).
   "He's a type," Sipowicz says to Sorenson, and you know that's bad.
   "Minor tune-up" means a major beating.
   The cop who admitted seeing it "over-communicated" the information, Sorenson says.
   Sipowicz and Sorenson are disgusted by the street cops who expect the investigators to cover up for them. But when eyewitnesses finger the young officers, the senior detectives have no choice but to turn them in.
   Going up against the formidable "blue wall" of department loyalty isn't an easy decision for a straight-up guy like Sipowicz.
   "This is a five-ton bag o'crap," he tells his partner.
   No, "NYPD Blue" hasn't softened up its tough language any. But somehow the characters do seem more vulnerable this season.
   Sipowicz is bowed by grief. Sorenson tries to lift his spirits by noticing his weight loss (actor Franz has dropped more than 30 lbs.).
   "You are a very attractive man," Sorenson says to Sipowicz, who shakes off the compliment. It's a small, but genuinely touching exchange.
   This TV season, now about half over, has seen a big resurgence of interest in long-running one-hour dramas. "Law & Order" on NBC (9 p.m. Wednesdays) is experiencing its highest ratings ever, and "ER" is still TV's most-watched show. CBS' "JAG" posted record numbers in November and December and shows no signs of slowing down. The return of "NYPD Blue" was delayed by a successful run for the new ABC drama series "Once and Again" (which moves to Mondays).
   But there's something about the combination of writing and acting on "NYPD Blue" that makes it stand above the rest. You believe in and care about these battle-scarred characters. You listen just a little more attentively when they speak that staccato stationhouse lingo.
   Matt Olmstead wrote tonight's episode from a story by series creators David Milch and Bill Clark. They know their cop code, but they also know how to bring out the humanity of their characters.
   Danny Sorenson gets into a physical thing back at his place with a pretty cop named Mary (Sherri Rappaport), but it ends tenderly, not torridly.
   And when Sipowicz sits down to dinner with his little boy . . . well, you have to see it for yourself. The writing of the scene is simple and real. The acting is simply wonderful, particularly young actor Austin Majors (who recurs in episodes to follow). If you can watch father and son together without welling up and wiping away some tears, you're nothing but a mutt at heart.
  
  
  
  

 
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