Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, November 14, 1995 TAG: 9511140041
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: FRAZIER MOORE ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: NEW YORK LENGTH: Medium
One of its stars, Jimmy Smits, intends to.
As ABC's much-acclaimed police drama settles into its third season Tuesdays at 10 (WSET, Channel 13), perhaps the Sturm und Drang that rocked it for so long has finally retreated.
Even before anyone had seen it, ``NYPD Blue'' was the target of a moral crusade whose leader branded the series ``soft-core porn.''
Rev. Donald Wildmon may have overstated the sway of his American Family Association when in September 1993 he forecast that ``NYPD Blue'' would last ``six to eight weeks, max.'' Still, the series was received with outrage as well as applause.
Then, as it resumed production for a second season, David Caruso blew off ``NYPD Blue'' to go make movies.
That's where Jimmy Smits came into the picture, as the new partner for Detective Andy Sipowicz (Dennis Franz). The ``L.A. Law'' alum was cast as Detective Bobby Simone, a hastily concocted character charged with making viewers forget Caruso's hard-to-forget John Kelly: the red hair, the ``hey, you OK?,'' the brooding intensity that seemed to issue straight from Caruso's own tempestuous soul.
Kelly was written out in episode four. Simone was introduced the next week.
Poor on-the-spot Smits. Was he up to the challenge?
Just ask Smits now and behold his dazzling smile. These days, he beams, his character ``feels like a comfortable pair of shoes.''
So does the show.
In Manhattan to film on-location scenes for upcoming episodes, Smits is on noon break in his trailer parked just off Madison Square. His lunch goes uneaten while he recalls his tense initiation to the series.
Back then, he largely avoided the press.
``First of all, I had a job to do,'' he explains. ``I was coming in to a character that was written on the fly, and I had to prep what being a cop was about.
``Besides, the main questions I was asked by reporters dealt with somebody else. I couldn't get involved in comparisons. I didn't know what had gone on before and I didn't want to know. It was better just not to talk.''
Now, with the pleasure of hindsight, he's eager to talk.
A warm, almost puppy-friendly man, he describes Bobby Simone's understated entry as ``really cool. My character was just eased into the story.''
Of course, figuring out how to play Simone wasn't quite so easy. Smits knew his character was a straight-arrow type and an outstanding cop whose wife, his first love, had died from a protracted disease.
But what else?
``I would have welcomed a bible on the guy this thick,'' says Smits, his thumb and forefinger stretched apart. ``There was a point in the middle of the season where I put a lot of undue pressure on myself.
``But by about my 12th show I started feeling really in the groove. The last five or six shows of the season, I'm really happy with them in terms of my character.
``Meanwhile, the other people on the show were really generous in adjusting to the new guy,'' he says. ``And I'm so blessed to be working with Dennis.
``The public stuck with the show, they gave us a chance. Then ...it won the Emmy [for best dramatic series]. That was great. That was GREAT!''
A year after Detective Kelly walked out of the precinct house and quit the force, the actor who quit the series is already dismissed by many ``NYPD Blue'' fans as David Who?
``I think this show can run a while,'' says the man who more than replaced him, ``and as long as they keep the quality up to snuff, which I trust they can, I'll be here for a while.''
by CNB