New York Undercover

I caught a few reruns back few years ago. If you are a fan of shows like the wire then you will love this. If only it was available to stream

This series was without a doubt, the best police drama made in the 90's. It was action packed, contemporary, well written, cutting edge material. The show evolved around the characters of J.C.Williams & Eddie Torres who were so connected with the gritty streets of N.Y.C., it made them naturals for the undercover work that they were assigned. Lt. Cooper was perfect as the no nonsense commander of the unit who gave them just enough flexibility to get the job done. The story lines read out of the newspaper of the day and every week, they would have whoever was the top current musical artist perform at "Natalie's", so the show stay current with the times.

The show went south when the stars tried to pull a "Friends" and demand higher salaries and wanted their contracts renegotiated. The producers responded by killing off Torres and replacing Cooper. It was a shame, because the show was a hit. After DeLorenzo & D'Arbanville left the show, it only lasted one more season, and it was not as good as the first three seasons. I'm not sure if it is on DVD, but if it is, it's worth the price.

My show is gone to re-runs to never be returned. This was the excitement of television on Thursday nights along with the shows that came on before it. The story lines were believable, the cast really bonded, and the music (the bomb) set the mood. Natalies' became a forefront for artists of all genre to show their stuff. The clothes were hip, the acting was excellent (until season 4, that is) and the blend made you come back for more. USA is threading the re-runs to pieces by chopping off scenes to make the hour. Cheap shots to Femme thing and their so called movies make/made watching the re-runs unbearable. I miss those days when 'Lou' was hollering at anybody who moved, Michael was confused per usual with the girls and Malik and Chantel or Sandy was going head to head about something. Adding Lauren to the cast was sketchy at first and then she worked in very well. As for Lapaglia, well, leave it alone. He tried, he had a job for a minute. The ever increasingly new faces (some came back as other characters) was well played in to work right along the toe-to-toe cast of old. Boy do I miss this show. Boy do I wish I had taped them, I would have something to treasure. Dick Wolf you truly messed up a good thing just for ratings and little black boxes sakes.

Show ruined in 4th season. Recently watched on Prime and the shows vibe drastically changed direction in the 4th season. I believe this was why in was canceled. Despite the last episode of season 3 being awesome and the first episode of season 4 action packed it lost it's appeal. It was if someone wanted it to be less ethnic and more main stream suburbia. The shows core was rooted in urban music, social economic hurdles, cultural differences, and complex dynamics of relationships encompassing the aforementioned. There are uncomfortable subjects and points of view in the series, but nothing outside the realm of reality. There were plenty of cop shows during that time depicting other ethnic and none ethnic groups. Why mess up a good thing....but the network did and the show never recovered. The show during it's time was a great starting point for exposing up and coming talent to a larger audience. So many actors and actresses show up in the episodes which makes it fun and interesting to watch. In the end, I'd still watch NYU knowing what I know. Kind of like life; you know you're going to get old if you life long enough and you know it'll suck, but you enjoy it as long as you can anyway.

I thought this show was very good. When I saw the first season, I was somewhat iffy about where it was going. The next season they added the beautiful Lauren Velez, and I think it was then that the show took off. I became a New York Undercover addict! I even enjoyed the episodes in which they brought in Detective Macnamara, played by Jonathan LaPaglia. The next thing I know, New York Undercover just went down hill due to the killing off of the characters Torres and Macnamara. I thought for sure that the season after Macnamara was introduced, that it would get better just as the show always seemed to do at the start of every new season. Well, Mr. Wolf handed fans a HUGE disappointment. I agree with the person who stated that this show could have survived at least two or three more seasons had they kept the Eddie Torres character. Dick Wolf should have seen disaster on the rise. Viewers were used to seeing Torres and Williams. You can't kill off one of the lead characters and expect to have a chance at good ratings. Not only did they kill off Torres and Macnamara, but they killed the spirit of the show. Tommy Ford as Lt. Barker looked more like a pimp than a cop. And who were these other rejects? Even Lt. Cooper left the show. I think fans only watched the very FIRST episode of the last season because they wanted to know if in fact Torres' character was really dead. Once they found out, that was it. Dick Wolf has learned his lesson I'm sure. When you've got a good thing, keep it the way it is. Nobody likes drastic changes to something that they're used to. He's learning that with Law & Order.