Word: nypd
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...rather than movies, because movies that are already written can be finished without writers. If television writers go on strike, you won?t see the effects right away. This season is in the can; studios have long since wrapped the finales of shows like "Friends," "Will and Grace" and "NYPD Blue." But if a strike drags on, next fall you?re going to see a lineup of "Survivor" clones, news shows, and "Millionaire"-type shows. Programming, in other words, that doesn?t require drama or comedy writers...
...chosen alternative is Big Apple, produced by David Milch, creator of that other seminal '90s drama, NYPD Blue. The premise: the FBI's New York City office is investigating the Russian mob (and perhaps persons much higher) when it runs into a snag--dogged N.Y.P.D. cop Mike Mooney (Ed O'Neill, who almost makes you forget he's Al Bundy and the 1-800-COLLECT guy). When Mooney, looking into a stripper's murder, steps on the FBI's case, the bureau folds him and his partner into its team. But the two cops find themselves steered wrong...
...first glance Big Apple is in the tradition of CBS policiers about morally conflicted cops and feds (at best, EZ Streets and Wiseguy; at worst, Falcone). But the series' NYPD Blue lineage becomes clear when those trademark, mannered Milchisms start flying ("Speaks well of you, the address comes so quickly to mind," Mooney says when his partner recognizes the location of a strip club...
...Apple has the makings of an absorbing, complex intrigue, although so far its psychologically flat characters are nowhere near as intriguing as EZ Streets' (or even NYPD Blue's). We've seen O'Neill's bulldog lawman too often, as well as the hackneyed Noo-Yawk elements: the title, the waterfront scenes, the fast-talking thugs constantly declaring their ethnicity, swearing, spouting colorful cliches or all three ("Kiss my underpaid Irish ass!"). The dank, moody tone is dead-on, though, and a strong cast includes the welcome David Strathairn as the stressed-out head of the FBI force...
Iris Baez, whose son was fatally choked by a NYPD officer in 1994, started the discussion by saying that police seem to be above...