Ending His ‘Blue’ Period

Television is a business where writers are accustomed to changing venues. Almost as soon as they become associated with one successful program, pressure starts mounting to create another, providing the ever-hungry networks with something new.

It’s something of an event, then, for David Milch to finally scale back his involvement with “NYPD Blue,” the series he co-created with producer Steven Bochco and has shepherded through seven seasons, culminating with Tuesday’s two-hour season finale.

Heralded by his peers as one of the medium’s finest writers, Milch has notoriously put his stamp, whether credited or not, on virtually every episode of the series. He shared Emmy Awards for writing the show in 1997 and ’98 and has received nominations every year since its premiere in 1993.

Milch blocks out the program’s plot lines with producer Bill Clark, a former New York detective, who culls stories both from personal experience and his ongoing relationships with those still on the force.

Like the program’s flawed central character of Det. Andy Sipowicz, played by Emmy-winner Dennis Franz, Milch has struggled with addiction. In fact, as Franz once noted, during the show’s early years he seemed to use the series as a means of “purging himself of a lot of demons--and emotions and thoughts and things--from his past through the Sipowicz character.”

Given how entwined his life has been with “NYPD Blue,” there’s reason to wonder if Milch can really step away from the series--in essence, leave behind his baby--and how the show will fare without him.

“There has to come a time when you do stand back,” he said, picking up the parenting metaphor. “Otherwise, you become stultifying and your presence inhibits the growth of the kid. . . . This show can accommodate other visions.”

In terms of picking up the creative slack, Bochco--also supervising CBS’ “City of Angels”--intends to assume a more hands-on role next season and says he has faith in the rest of the writing staff.

“David’s voice was so unique and so individual, no one’s going to be looking to duplicate what David did,” he said. “What I’m asking everybody to do is locate their own voices and trust their own voices. . . . The show has such a strong, beating heart, we’re going to be fine.”

Milch said he will be “involved in the stories at some level,” but his focus will shift to creating a new series, though he remains vague about when that might be ready.

“It depends on how long it takes me to get back on my feet from the show,” he said dryly.

Milch concedes the recent wrap party was emotional for him, and that he is already plotting ways to work again with his close friend Clark on one of the various projects “batting around in my head.”

Like other long-running drama series, such as “ER” and “Law & Order,” “NYPD Blue” has survived on-camera changes and in some instances benefited from the infusion of new blood. This season’s additions include Henry Simmons as Det. Baldwin Jones, replacing Nicholas Turturro, who chose to leave the program. Andrea Thompson, who plays Det. Jill Kirkendall, made a similar decision and will exit the series after Tuesday’s episode.

Good Writing Has Been a Constant

Most would agree that the constant in these shows has generally been the writing, and in “NYPD Blue’s” case, most of that is traceable directly to Milch.

“I’m proud of the whole season, that we were able to sustain the quality of the work,” Milch said. “I just didn’t think I was going to make it.”

While the show was an immediate ratings success, Milch almost didn’t get to enjoy it. Not long after the series premiered, the 55-year-old writer and former Yale creative writing professor underwent multiple angioplasty procedures to clear coronary blockages.

Milch’s ordeal--as well as his slightly jaundiced views of organized medicine--found their way into the show’s arc of episodes leading to the death of Jimmy Smits’ character. Tuesday’s plot also involves a health scare involving Andy’s young son, Theo.

Despite concerns about his health, Milch has maintained a frenetic pace, not only overseeing “Blue” but collaborating on another cop show, “Brooklyn South,” which lasted just a single season on CBS.

Both Milch and Bochco have entered into lucrative agreements with Paramount Television to develop new series through the studio, and Milch has a separate commitment to create his next show for CBS--deals made prior to the merger bringing CBS and Paramount together under the Viacom umbrella.

In a sense, the current season of “NYPD Blue” has had its own happy ending after beginning on an awkward and acrimonious note. ABC delayed the program to nurture a new show, “Once and Again,” in its time slot, prompting Bochco to charge that the network was “kissing off” the show and seeking to bolster a series produced by its corporate parent, the Walt Disney Co., at its expense.

Series Arrives Late, Runs With Few Repeats

Bowing to criticism, ABC agreed to bring “Blue” back to the beat it has always occupied starting in January, allowing this season’s complement of 22 episodes to run without the usual need for reruns. Due in part to that absence, the program approaches its finale averaging 15.6 million viewers, an 8% increase compared to last year, and 14th among all prime-time series.

ABC will employ a similar broadcast pattern next season, opening the fall campaign with “Once and Again” in the 10 p.m. Tuesday time slot, meaning “NYPD Blue” will again arrive late and run through May with few or no repeats.

“This worked out really, really well,” Bochco said. “Even though audiences had to wait a long time for the show to come back, once we did, they had enormous satisfaction about the continuity of the series.”

Milch called it an instance of “the right thing being done for the wrong reasons.”

Bochco and Milch began their collaboration on “Hill Street Blues” in the early 1980s. Milch later produced two failed series (a spinoff starring Franz, “Beverly Hills Buntz,” and newspaper drama “Capital News”), then worked as a script doctor before reuniting with Bochco--who shielded him from some of the more vexing aspects of network politics--on “NYPD Blue.”

Looking ahead, Milch said he hopes to be better able to delegate writing responsibility on subsequent programs, though probably not during the initial stages.

“The first year of a show, it’s very, very important to be hands-on in terms of the scripts,” he said. “Every sort of layer of paint you put down is important, and it dictates what comes later.”

Whatever his next project is, however, Milch acknowledged it will be hard-pressed to rival the years he has spent putting memorable phrases in Andy Sipowicz’s mouth. “I pray that I go on and do a lot of work,” he said, “but I know that I’ll never do this work again.”

* The season finale of “NYPD Blue” airs Tuesday beginning at 9 p.m. on ABC. The network has rated it TV-14-DL (may be unsuitable for children younger than 14 with special advisories for dialogue and language.)