NYPD Blue doesn't hesitate to hit the melodramatic highs right out of the chute with a fallen-into-alcoholism-and-despair cop, Detective Andy Sipowicz (Dennis Franz, as intense and angry as expected) on the stand at the trial of a long time criminal lowlife, Alfonse Giardelli (Robert Constanzo) he arrested for holding cartons of illegal cigarette in the trunk of his car. Andy, it is assumed by Alfonse's attorney, James Sinclair (Daniel Benzali), used nails to deflate the criminal's tires, affording him the chance to peep in the trunk. The judge agrees and frees Alfonse, with Andy later getting wasted (while still on the job) due to the prosecutor's (Sharon Lawrence) inability to put the punk away. Andy "confronts" (more like assaults) Alfonse in a restaurant, waving a gun around and stuffing the likes of (Alfonse's) toupee and (Andy's) dirty sock in the criminal's mouth! Before you know it Internal Affairs is investigating and Andy's partner, Detective John Kelly (David Caruso), is left with a new partner pending investigation (Nicholas Turturro). Cue the emotional fireworks: Andy, lured to a hooker's apartment, is shot multiple times by a hiding Alfonse and left for dead. In the hospital and clinging to life, Andy is already suffering one of those *gasp!* dramatic moments usually saved for sweeps. Meanwhile, John is out to find his partner's shooter, disrupting the "businesses" of Alfonse's crime boss, Marino (Joe Santos) in order to catch this scumbag. Other subplots getting some attention include John and his wife (Sherry Stringfield) on the verge of divorce (if he will quit extending the inevitable and just "sign the papers") and the beginnings of a romance between John and a uniformed cop, Officer Janice (Amy Brenneman). At the tail end of the episode, we learn that Janice is somehow tied to Marino, ordered by him to kill Alfonse (so he will quite bringing the cops into his business), and Andy has survived his terrible ordeal, clutching the hand of John who finally got up the strength to visit him in ICU (John's father died in the hospital "going through the wrong door"). This pilot already called attention to its more "mature content" with a steamy sex scene between John and Janice, as well as, Andy grabbing his crotch and profanely letting ADA Sylvia (Lawrence) know how he feels about her performance in the courtroom. David Schwimmer of "Friends" has a part as a lawyer (potential lover for Stringfield) who winds up another victim of a thuggish thief in the apartment complex of John's wife. The way the show is shot uses the "unstable" steadicam method now a gold standard in photographing characters and their actions, and the stories are designed to authenticate the New York City experience of detectives and the complications of their daily lives on-and-off the job.
Review of Pilot
