'NYPD Blue' Producer Deems TV Too 'Conservative'
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From Hollywood Reporter, via Yahoo! news (headline is linked)
Friday January 21, 07:57 PM
'NYPD Blue' Producer Deems TV Too 'Conservative'
LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - In 1993, many ABC network affiliates and conservative watchdogs told Steven Bochco that an adult-themed drama like "NYPD Blue" had no place on network television.
Bochco, the man behind such hits as "Hill Street Blues" and "L.A. Law," prevailed and got his gritty cop show on the air, but he thinks that wouldn't be possible in today's politically charged media landscape.
"The medium has become increasingly conservative," he told reporters who visited the "Blue" set on the 20th Century Fox lot Thursday as part of the Television Critics Assn. winter press tour.
The Emmy-winning police drama, co-created by Bochco and David Milch, will conclude its 12-season run March 1. "I don't think today we could launch or sell a show like 'NYPD Blue,"' Bochco said.
He had hoped the series would pave the way for more sophisticated drama, but said the pendulum has swung in the opposite direction in the past five years. After the controversy generated in large part by Janet Jackson's "wardrobe malfunction" during last year's Super Bowl halftime show telecast on CBS, "NYPD Blue" has had to fight with ABC over content issues that never were questioned in the past, Bochco said.
"So you stop doing them," he said. "It's a setback."
Ultimately, he said, TV will go back to allowing more adult drama. "You're never going to put the genie back in the bottle," Bochco said. "We're never going to see television go back to what it was 20 years ago."
... more at linked article, mostly on NYPD show news, etc. - some potential spoilers included...
I don't know that I agree with Mr. Bochco on this one.
In some ways, perhaps, he may be right, but in many others, I think he's just dead wrong.
Too 'prudish' might be a more appropriate comment, and that is probably true. There's been a lot of nervousness over words, and actions and nudity, but by the same token, there's still stuff like Fear Factor on the tube. There's still lots of showing of cleavage, plenty of talk about sex, and plenty of maybe not so clinical talk on shows like Oprah. There's also Will and Grace, and other shows that are trying to "main stream" acceptance of gay's in society.
Mr. Bochco may be correct that we're in a more conservative trend in the cycle lately, but it's certainly not going to last, and the genie is definitely not going back entirely into the bottle.
Friday January 21, 07:57 PM
'NYPD Blue' Producer Deems TV Too 'Conservative'
LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - In 1993, many ABC network affiliates and conservative watchdogs told Steven Bochco that an adult-themed drama like "NYPD Blue" had no place on network television.
Bochco, the man behind such hits as "Hill Street Blues" and "L.A. Law," prevailed and got his gritty cop show on the air, but he thinks that wouldn't be possible in today's politically charged media landscape.
"The medium has become increasingly conservative," he told reporters who visited the "Blue" set on the 20th Century Fox lot Thursday as part of the Television Critics Assn. winter press tour.
The Emmy-winning police drama, co-created by Bochco and David Milch, will conclude its 12-season run March 1. "I don't think today we could launch or sell a show like 'NYPD Blue,"' Bochco said.
He had hoped the series would pave the way for more sophisticated drama, but said the pendulum has swung in the opposite direction in the past five years. After the controversy generated in large part by Janet Jackson's "wardrobe malfunction" during last year's Super Bowl halftime show telecast on CBS, "NYPD Blue" has had to fight with ABC over content issues that never were questioned in the past, Bochco said.
"So you stop doing them," he said. "It's a setback."
Ultimately, he said, TV will go back to allowing more adult drama. "You're never going to put the genie back in the bottle," Bochco said. "We're never going to see television go back to what it was 20 years ago."
... more at linked article, mostly on NYPD show news, etc. - some potential spoilers included...
I don't know that I agree with Mr. Bochco on this one.
In some ways, perhaps, he may be right, but in many others, I think he's just dead wrong.
Too 'prudish' might be a more appropriate comment, and that is probably true. There's been a lot of nervousness over words, and actions and nudity, but by the same token, there's still stuff like Fear Factor on the tube. There's still lots of showing of cleavage, plenty of talk about sex, and plenty of maybe not so clinical talk on shows like Oprah. There's also Will and Grace, and other shows that are trying to "main stream" acceptance of gay's in society.
Mr. Bochco may be correct that we're in a more conservative trend in the cycle lately, but it's certainly not going to last, and the genie is definitely not going back entirely into the bottle.