N.Y.P.D.

I sat through many episodes of NYPD 1967 when I was a kid which kept me riveted and in suspense. I just thought it was so exciting to look at and I can clearly remember talking about it the next day after it aired with my 3rd Grade schoolmates who were watching also. As i remember, the show was basically about 3 NYPD detectives cracking interesting cases in NYPD. Each show was 30 minutes which made them brisk and right to the point !

Some of the episodes i remember clearly remember which were great was one with Jon Voight as a mad bomber. Then there was one when Detective Corso posed as a bum to entrap some muggers. There was another one with the guy who was on Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman (I think the actor's name was Graham Jarvis) who was troubled (i forget why) but decides to take his aggression out on a rooftop with a high powered rifle. This was suspenseful stuff.

The opening of the show with the theme song and camera close up of the the flashing red siren and the announcer saying "NYPD......in color) is classic 60's nostalgia.

As a Native New Yorker I could definitely relate to this show. The old green and white cruisers with the cherry globe spinning around on the roof of those squad cars. But what really stood out to me in these series was the realities of a cops life on the beat. Most cop shows back then always showed the safer side (if u will) of dealing with cops and robbers. Until I saw an episode on NYPD where a beat cop was trying to break up a dice game in front of this tenement and the thugs playing the game jumped the cop and mercilessly beat him down. Had not one of the detective squads happen to be in that neighborhood and saw what was happening, that cop might not have made it. When I saw that, it shook me as a kid seeing this defenseless police officer getting the worst of it from the bad guys. But I really liked Hooks and the fact that we had a Black detective on the force which was pretty groundbreaking for the 60's. All in all I thought it was a great series. I wonder why it didn't last longer? If anyone out there can lend insight to this by all means e mail me at: rsanch8695@yahoo.com. Also where can I get DVD's from this series or does some foreign entity owns it?

Shows like Homicide owe a debt of gratitude to NYPD. This show was gritty and felt real as the detectives worked NYC fighting crime. The always reliable Jack Warden was the boss, Frank Converse was young Johnny Corso, and the under-rated Robert Hooks was Jeff Ward (whose wife Ethel was played by Denise Nicholas). And many, many later famous faces showed up on this show each week. It was a great show and it deserves a more than honorable mention!

One of the most underrated crime drama shows of the mid-to-late 1960's, "N.Y.P.D.",ran for two seasons on ABC-TV from September 5,1967 until September 16,1969. Produced by Talent Associates/Paramount Television. A total of 49 episodes were produced. This was a brilliant series that was filmed on location in various parts of New York City and was shown in full color with full cooperation of the New York Police Department and it was based on actual cases. Created by David Susskind and Arnold Perl("Naked City","East Side/West Side")this was a grand detective/crime drama series that shows the gritty side of New York and the cops who confronted it. Since much of the filming was done on location,the series showed a darker sinister side of the city's underworld denizens are realistically portrayed. This was a show that went totally beyond the norm and it set the standard for the police shows that emerged during the mid-1960's and was the forefront of other great detective shows that would follow it.

The series focused on three N.Y.P.D. plain detectives who were assigned various cases within the department. Detective Lt. Mike Haines (Jack Warden)was the oldest of the trio,with more than 18 years on the force and the more experience;his counterpart African-American officer Jeff Ward(Robert Hooks),and the young fresh behind the ears rookie Detective Johnny Corso(Frank Converse),fresh from the Police Academy and his first taste of police work. Together,they tracked the worst of the scum of the city--murderers,extortionists,corruption within the ranks,drug pushers,bombers,rapists and other thugs that terrorized the city. From locations that consisted of The Bowery,Hell's Kitchen to Wall Street to Shubert Alley all the way to Times Square to Broadway to the Empire State Building to the slums of the East Side and West Side of the city and Harlem. Spectacular production values from producers Bob Markell,Daniel Melnick and George Goodman since some of the writers who wrote for "Naked City" and "East Side/West Side" were behind the scripts of the short-lived series from the mid-1960's.

And speaking of the guest stars that were on this show--came on board or just starting out that really made there mark on this series which consisted of Denise Nicholas,William Devane,Victor Arnold,Ralph Waite, Tony LoBianco,James Earl Jones,Ossie Davis,Verna Bloom,Jon Voight,not to mention Robert Forester,Beverly Todd,Nancy Marchand,Jean Stapleton, and Richard Dreyfuss. Some of the episodes really stick out as some of the best out of the series' two year run on ABC. Brilliant episodes that are astounding to behold which was breathtaking drama at its finest which included "Shakedown","Walking Target","Money Man", "The Bombers","The Witness","To Catch A Hero","Naked In The Streets", "Which Side Are You On?","The Face Of A Dart Board","Candyman",and so much more. When it premiered in September of 1967,it was one of ABC's new shows for the 1967-1968 season,and since the show ran a half-hour it was placed opposite CBS' short-lived comedy series "Good Morning World",and "The NBC Tuesday Night Movie". It was placed at the 9:30 time slot after the Quinn Martin produced Science Fiction series "The Invaders",and it did very well in the ratings. When it came back for a second season for the 1968-1969 season,it was placed opposite CBS' "The Doris Day Show",and "The NBC Tuesday Night Movie",and came on after the Robert Wagner espionage series "It Takes A Thief". When it was cancelled in September of 1969,the show that ABC replaced with became one of the surprise hits of the late-1960's,early-1970's-the medical drama "Marcus Welby,MD" starring Robert Young.

N.Y.P.D is not a well known television series, and it is often confused with the NYPD Blue series from the 1990s. This is unfortunate, because this original series represents some of the best writing from 1960s television.

American network television was still pretty timid in the 1960s, often refusing to deal with the more unsavory realities of the nation; urban decay, corruption, poverty, racism, sexism and homophobia.

N.Y.P.D featured a racially integrated cast - as criminals and cops - and is probably one of the first network T.V. shows in America to look at gay Americans as a civil rights issue, through two episodes.

Many - if not most - of the episodes were based on actual criminal cases, and the overall result is an incredibly well done crime drama that was way ahead of its time.

Yes, you can certainly tell that this television series is a product of the 1960s. The series only lasted two seasons, which may help explain why it fell into relative obscurity.