New York Cops: NYPD Blue

This is one of the best cop dramas of all time. Gritty, raw in your face. Sad, violent and addicting.

This masterpiece is good from beginning to end. It will make you a better human being. It will bring you to a certain maturity about life and what are the most important parts of it. The acting is out of this world amazing. This is an all-star cast and don't you worry about loosing some great characters along the way, they are replaced by other very talented and interesting ones. The core actors of the show stay on for long periods of time and this allows you to truly feel as if they are your close friends. This show will make you laugh, it will make you cry, it will make you think and most importantly, if there is something going on in your life and you need certain guidance, Andy is there for you and he will most definitely have the answer you are looking for during one episode or another.

No doubt in my mind : If this TV show was a mandatory watch in high schools, the world would be a better place.

Three things that keep this show in my top 5 of all time. One, is the language. The way the people talk is Shakespearean poetry. They re-invent the English language every episode. Magnificent.

Two, how emotionally real the show can get. The relationships between the people, between the races, between the sexes, between the cops, is beautifully done. Top drawer. Andy's speech about Bobby, how he never thought he'd ever have a friend again, just the best you'll ever see.

Three, the single best piece of film I've ever seen is the scene in the last season where Bobby's ghost comes back and has a short conversation with Sipowicz in the bathroom. Stunningly good scene, best ever.

But every minute of every episode is spectacular. No bad moments ever. How you keep a series on such a consistently high level is beyond me.

Consider that in the first 50 years of ABC television, NYPD Blue was on for 12 of them. Was it better, more edgy the first couple of seasons? Yes. Was it at the end? Not so much. Yet, it was still appointment television. It was ground-breaking, and if you missed it from Day One, sure you can buy the DVD's as they come out, but it was so different than anything on TV then, and it changed what we expect out of television dramas.

The character of Andy Sipowicz, played by 4 time Emmy winner Dennis Franz, was the most realistic character ever created on television, faults and all. He was a modern-day everyman, and that was why we rooted for him, even when he was in one of those moods. It was why we continued to watch right up until it's triumphant end.

It came along when the one-hour drama on network television was all but dead; it re-defined the look of prime time drama with language and wardrobe (or lack their of), as well as how it was filmed; and when you speak with anyone that is or ever has served in law enforcement in this country, they'll tell you it was the best show at capturing "The Job" from a realism and accuracy standpoint.

Thank God for re-runs.

Great acting, excellent character development, etc. I particularly liked the Jimmy Smits years, but all of them were great.

One of the bet shows ever on TV---lasted 12 seasons---but only the first 5 are available on DVD.

Does anyone know why? Is there some sort of contract problem or lawsuit? Are they scheduled to be released at some time in the future? I would like to know----the first 5 seasons came out quite some time ago (8 years?) and then nothing! You would think that a show with the kind of legs this one had and the audience to keep it on the air for 12 seasons would represent excellent potential for the DVD sales. SO---what's up with that? Anybody know?