NYPD Blue - Second Series

Instead of putting out this seminal DVD on its own, extras free and clean as a spring morning, the producers have added special treats for aficionados, which they didn't have to do. It's just another example of the quality of care surrounding this Second Series.

Season Two: A Season Of Change is an hour-long documentary, which is absorbing. As with so much connected to David Milch and Steven Bochco, creators of NYPD Blue, there is a strong sense of commitment from everyone involved. All the main actors are here, with the exception of Jimmy Smits, surprisingly, and some directors, a producer and a costume director. They go through the episodes, not like with a commentary, but talking about them objectively a few years later.

Milch and Bochco speak of their worries about how to release David Caruso, without killing him off. He asked to leave, not the other way around. He was difficult to work with, apparently, and listening between the words it is possible to discern a sigh of relief after he's gone. His replacement was a different story: "Jimmy was so elegant, so friendly, so accessible to people."

In the final scene of Caruso's last day, he has to walk down the stairs inside the precinct building, pause at the door, look back and then leave. He did it. There was a limo waiting outside. He didn't return, in case they needed a second take. He drove off.

Dennis Franz thought Bombs Away the strongest episode and Nicholas Turturro remembers when he had to spar in a boxing ring with James McDaniel. "I had a headache for two days." McDaniel can't stop laughing.

The featurette entitled Wedding Bell Blues is all about the final episode when Andy marries Sylvia. "It took 300 hours to make the dress," the designer says. "It was a good shoot," the producer says. "It felt alright." Someone else remembers it as "the most memorable moment in the entire season." Franz and Sharon Lawrence, who plays Sylvia, are happy to talk about it. This was their special day and they remember it with affection.

The Music Of Mike Post has Mike Post talking about what he does. He is completely straight, never tries to blow his own trumpet and is funny. Buchco says, "You can't say enough about Mike's contribution." Post remembers when he met Buchco for the first time and thought he looked like "the preppy Jew prince of the West Side." But when he got to know him, he said, "He was a dirt bag like the rest of us," and laughs. He's interesting about why he chose drums as the main instrument for the title sequence. He's pretty damn interesting about everything.

Script To Screen Comparison shows written pages of script and plays the scene to see how far the words have drifted from the action. Definitely a film geek moment, this. Hours of pleasure? Not quite.