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Actors and Scenes From Out of the 'Blue':
Series' candid cast members help steer twists in plot
Newsday - September 6, 1994
By Janice Berman, Staff Writer
HERE'S WHAT makes Steven Bochco happy: 26 Emmy nominations for his ABC series, "NYPD Blue." Here's what
makes Steven Bochco unhappy: reporters who divulge information about storylines for the upcoming season. Such as
what he said to a reporter who wrote that Det. Andy Sipowicz (played by Dennis Franz) is going to propose to
assistant D. A. Sylvia Costas (played by Sharon Lawrence).
"Why do you want to spoil it for the viewers?" Bochco demanded.
Maybe because the viewers want to know what's happening on one of their favorite shows.
Those who don't want to know from storylines ought to turn the page - right now.
Late last month - two days before David Caruso's impending departure went from rumor to fact, five "Blue"
Emmy nominees - Lawrence, Amy Brenneman, Gordon Clapp, Gail O'Grady and Nicholas Turturro - gathered in a
subterranean conference room on the 20th Century Fox lot, where the first show was shooting. (The series returns on
Oct. 11.) Talk rambled from Emmy nominations to story lines, with a little time out for banter, including some about
Caruso, whose character, John Kelly, attracted significant attention last season for displaying his nude backside in
a love scene.
With that thought in mind, Brenneman - who bared her bod as Det. Kelly's first love interest, Det. Janice Licalsi -
had some shocking news for fellow cast member Clapp. "You have a love scene with David coming up, simply
because he wants to get naked with everybody," she said.
"We're undercover," joked Clapp, who plays Det. Greg Medavoy, administrative aide Donna Abandando's
(played by O'Grady) shy guy.
Brenneman will be leaving the series after the second episode, even though she was nominated for Outstanding
Supporting Actress in a Drama Series. But she predicts that confessed killer and ex-detective Licalsi will be back:
"I heard from the grapevine that Janice gets the least amount of time she can possibly get, without going to
trial so I think they should use her. It would be good to get her back and have her do some undercover."
Because Licalsi killed a mobster and his driver, "she's a felon and she isn't. Her perspective is so
wonderful," Brenneman said. As a guest, Licalsi could get to do more police work, which took a back seat last
season to her heated affair with Kelly.
"I'd love that," Brenneman said, adding that being an occasional visitor is like "going to a party, a
chance to come back and play."
Deadpanned Clapp, "I think they should tell David [Caruso] that, too. 'David, if you want to drop by for a
couple of weeks, come on in, the party's always open.' "
So what will happen to Medavoy? Clapp says he wants his character to "move in with Donna, get taken to the
cleaners by his wife, and then they win the lottery."
But he also wants to deal with Medavoy's relationship to his kids. "I'd like to see it addressed," said
Clapp, an Emmy nominee for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series. "They took me off the hook by having
my wife have the affair. In a way I think it would have been more interesting to deal with me initiating the split,
saying 'I'm the one that's unhappy, I have to do this,' and then defending my character. But it was too risky."
The writers, he said, "didn't want me to be a deadbeat and Donna to be the homewrecker."
ONE SCENARIO Clapp has heard about has Donna's sister moving into the apartment she's sharing with Medavoy. The
sister takes a shine to Medavoy, and "Donna gets upset about that.
"I don't want to jinx it," he added. "The writers change their minds about these things. They get
wonderful ideas and then put them on the back burner."
Many of the best ideas, said Brenneman, come from executive producer David Milch. "It's his mind. So much of it
is his."
Added Clapp: "You bring David a scenario and he'll do a hundred different variations on it and come up with a
great story. That's what he did withNick's (Turturro) friend who was involved in a shootout." The result was
the episode in which Nicholas Turturro, as Det. James Martinez, shot a man - a showcased performance that helped
earn Turturro an Emmy nomination, too.
Turturro says he'll miss fellow Queens native Caruso, but anticipates no problem working with his replacement,
former "L. A. Law" star Jimmy Smits. This season, he added, Martinez - the only character without a love
interest last season - will be looking for romance. "He may get a crush on somebody he's guarding," he
said.
With or without Caruso, predicted Brenneman, "the show will land on its feet. It has integrity and energy and
these guys" - Bochco and Milch - "are so smart."
The women, said Lawrence, are smart, too. Even though Det. Sipowicz is proposing ("I don't know whether she
says yes or not"), Lawrence wants Costas to "do more legal stuff and continue to grow in her job."
Whatever happens Sunday night at the Emmys, Lawrence is pleased with how the show has developed. When the audience
tunes in Tuesday nights at 10, she says, "it's the characters they're responding to, and that's a cool
thing."
Copyright © 1994 Newsday Inc. All rights reserved.
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