NYPD Blue

Strikingly shot, wonderfully cast, this tough, taut, atmospheric show is the season's best new series.

Yet another explosively compelling police drama -- not to mention a controversy that seems certain to guarantee a big audience for the program. [21 Sept 1993, p.D1]

NYPD Blue is a very good cop drama, often edging its way into superb...It is intense and powerful, peopled with intriguing characters. And it addresses issues in remarkably human, real terms, especially for television. [21 Sept 1993, p.C1]

Amy Brenneman, as Licalsi, is the dark-haired, more visceral contrast to Kelly's wife, Laura, played by Sherry Stringfield. Both women add depth to the drama, as do James McDaniel as the precinct commander, Nicholas Turturro as the new kid in the cop shop and Tom Towles as the guy from the Organized Crime Squad.

The acting is strong. The music is urgent. The on-location shooting - with many exteriors - has a gritty Gotham authenticity. And the directorial style is crisp and energized. [21 Sept 1993, p.H1]

While the music of Mike Post makes its insistent point, complementing Franz's fine crafting of a hyper-real portrait of a public servant that's effective in a heightened way, NYPD's overall impact is all too self-consciously wrought to engender quieter, deeper aspects that would truly flesh out the fictional lives assayed here. [21 Sept 1993]

The show is a mixed bag. The story line is formulaic, but the dark tone is skillfully shaded in gray. The approach to sex is basically gratuitous, sexist, and tiresome - more banal male fantasies. The handling of violence is at least concerned with consequences. There are too many stock characters, and the speedy pace is manipulative, but the camera work is excellent in the pilot, and the character development of the show's protagonist is one of the most interesting ever created for a weekly cop show. [21 Sept 2003, p.13]