TV SERIES · 1993– · USA
NYPD Blue
23 archived facts 4 topics 1 source Last reviewed Oct 2026
All facts (23)
- #001
The exterior of the 9th Precinct station house is used to represent the fictional 15th Precinct station house. It is the same building used to represent the station house in Kojak (1973).
- #002
According to Steven Bochco, Sherry Stringfield asked the producers to release her from her contract after the first season because she said she did not enjoy being a television actress and wanted to return to New York. Less than a week after the contract was terminated, she was hired as a regular on the new series ER (1994). In his book "True Blue," however, David Milch said Sherry's request to end the contract came because she had little to do, since the prominence of Andy Sipowicz's relationship with Sylvia Costas took up all the story time originally designed for scenes between David Caruso and Sherry, and the request was granted amicably; Milch also stated he was happy when she landed a major role on ER (1994).
- #003
Just like an earlier Steven Bochco series, Hill Street Blues (1981), most episodes were written to take place over the course of a single day.
- #004
Ricky Schroder (Detective Danny Sorenson) left the series because his wife had suffered a miscarriage and he felt he needed to return home with her, so they wrote him out.
- #005
The man seen playing the violin just before the end credits of this series (and many other Steven Bochco productions) is Bochco's father. They animated a portrait of him on a computer to make it appear he was playing the violin.
- #006
Sharon Lawrence later married in the church where her character Sylvia's wedding was filmed.
- #007
John F. O'Donohue (Detective Eddie Gibson) was a real-life N.Y.P.D. detective before retiring to continue his acting career.
- #008
Jimmy Smits left the series when his initial contract ended. During the show's run he found the constant last-minute rewrites frustrating and chose not to extend, but he stayed for a five-episode arc at the start of the sixth season to allow his character a clear departure.
- #009
Before and immediately after the series premiere, there was major controversy over what was perceived as highly offensive language and nudity. Many affiliates refused to air the series and several advertisers boycotted it. Steven Bochco negotiated intensely with the network to allow a certain amount of language and nudity. He said that, because of the pressure this criticism put on the network, the series probably would not have survived if it had not been an instant hit.
- #010
The Color of the Day is listed at the top of the squad room board. Plainclothes officers are required to wear or display something bearing the color of the day so that uniformed officers can identify them when necessary. Members of the 15th Precinct detective squad are rarely seen wearing the color of the day.
- #011
Despite appearing in the series since the second season, Scott Allan Campbell's character, Internal Affairs Bureau Sergeant Martens, did not receive a first name (Jerry) until the final season.
- #012
Dennis Franz (Detective Andy Sipowicz) and Gordon Clapp (Detective Greg Medavoy) are the only actors to appear in all twelve seasons.
- #013
The footage of the Chinese parade shown in the opening title sequence (the dragon, fireworks and drums) was used in the opening scenes of Year of the Dragon (1985).
- #014
The character Detective John Kelly was originally named Flinn, and the role was intended for Jimmy Smits, who turned it down. Smits later played Detective Bobby Simone, Kelly's replacement.
- #015
Steven Bochco came up with the idea for the famous camera zoom scenes.
- #016
The New York street sets for this series were on the Twentieth Century Fox backlot and had originally been built for Hello, Dolly! (1969). For most of the show's run, some location work was done in New York City, mixed with generic location footage used for specific scenes, scene transitions and the opening credits sequence. In the final seasons, however, the high cost of location shooting and the show's declining ratings meant that one hundred percent of filming was done in Los Angeles.
- #017
Terms used around the station house: * The House: shorthand for the station house * Up/Catching: baseball metaphors used to describe the system by which cases are assigned; * Riding D.A.: an Assistant District Attorney assigned to a particular area.
- #018
Before joining the cast as Lieutenant Thomas Bale in the twelfth season, Currie Graham appeared in the fourth season's twentieth episode, "Emission Impossible," as a street-thug killer.
- #019
Sharon Lawrence did not have to worry about the series' nudity clause during the first half of the first season because she was not a full cast member. In January 1994, however, she was made a series regular. She was later told that her character would become involved with Andy Sipowicz. At that point she knew the producers would eventually tell her she had to appear nude, and she was right. In an interview she said being nude on national television did not bother her, because "I had no qualms about doing it. In terms of television, I was working with the best this industry has to offer." She added that she knew they would film her nude in a tasteful way.
- #020
Before joining the cast as Detective Connie McDowell, Charlotte Ross played the abused wife of a police officer in the fifth season, in an episode where Detective Bobby Simone (Jimmy Smits) and Detective Diane Russell (Kim Delaney) suspected the officer of killing a prostitute. When Andrea Thompson left the series, producer Steven Bochco remembered Ross and wrote the role of McDowell for her.
- #021
The records of old B numbers were kept by the BCI (the New York Police Department's Bureau of Criminal Investigation). B numbers were the 1950s equivalent of today's NYSID numbers, the number given to everyone arrested in New York for a felony and certain misdemeanors. The BCI also kept photographs of everyone who had a B number, also known as a booking number.
- #022
Jimmy Smits and Kim Delaney appeared in The Broken Cord (1992).
- #023
The series is famous for its distinctive camera zoom shot, in which the camera zooms in on a character.
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