The End Of Blue

The last half-decent cast line up

I'll admit NYPD Blue jumped the shark a long while ago but I've always had a soft spot in my heart for the dysfunctional denizens of the 15th Precinct and even now still squander an hour of my Tuesdays to watch the ugliest male and prettiest female cops in New York "reach out" to each other and go through whole shifts without smiling once. After recovering heroin addict and Deadwood creator David Milch left the show the effort seemed to go out of the scripts but the show still managed to be less two dimensional than any of the CSI franchise and less pompous than any of the Law and Order variants.

Sadly, in the search for a replacement show ABC abdicated its responsibility for interesting serious drama (a decline that set in when The Practice decided to become inane) and will be filing NYPD Blue's slot with Blind Justice. Incredibly, this is another Steve Bochco series, although I fear it will be more Cop Rock than Hill Street Blues. As ABC describes the show:

"The lead character, New York Detective Jim Dunbar, was blinded in a shootout when his partner failed to cover him. He could have retired with a full pension after his injury, but instead fought to remain on the job, determined to prove he still has what it takes and be an asset. Now, following his reinstatement, he is assigned to a new precinct where he intends to take on cases with the help of his guide dog, Hank."

In one of the promos I saw, Dunbar (played by pererenial nearly-man Ron Eldard, who may have done his best work in the quirky Bakersfield PD) vehermently asserts his right to be a cop, citing his Gulf War service and outstanding pre-blindness police career. This would have been fine, even moving, if the lines weren't delivered in the style of General Hospital.

I think I'll give it a shot for the first week, if only to see if it is "so-bad-its-good" shows, and report back. Watch this space.

This would be better than the Ron Eldard version, I suspect