4.3. What connections are there to other Steven Bochco shows? (NYPD Blue)
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This article is from the NYPD Blue FAQ, by Dave Chapman, Alan Sepinwall and Jeff Knapp with numerous contributions by others.
4.3. What connections are there to other Steven Bochco shows? (NYPD Blue)
Steven Bochco has produced dozens of series over the years,
and writers and performers from his previous shows often turn
up on NYPD Blue, and several of the cast of Blue came from
other Bochco shows.
See question 3.7 for more info on Dennis Franz and Hill Street
Blues. Franz also appeared in the debut episode of Bochco's
short-lived legal series Civil Wars as a man whose Elvis
fixation drove his wife to divorce.
David Caruso guest starred in some early episodes of HSB
(including the one where the President was supposed to visit
the Hill) as Tommy Mann, the leader of the Shamrocks (the
Irish gang).
Jimmy Smits played attorney Victor Sifuentes on L.A. Law.
James McDaniel guest-starred as a militant black patrolman in
a seventh-season episode of HSB. By then, Bochco had left the
show (David Milch was running it), but McDaniel got cast as
one of the singing cops on Bochco's short-lived musical drama
"Cop Rock."
Kim Delaney appeared in several episodes of L.A. Law as a
prospective associate at McKenzie, Brackman who seduced Arnie
Becker to help research a book she was writing about high-
powered attorneys.
"Buck Naked" was a quasi-recurring character on Hill Street.
He was an old vagrant who kept on flashing everyone while
screaming "I'm Buck Naked!". He has appeared twice on NYPD
Blue, but only said his trademark catchphrase the first time.
Also, Charles Haid, who played Andy Renko on HSB, guest-
starred on NYPD Blue as John Kelly's alcoholic rich buddy
Charlie Lear in a first season episode. Haid also directed
several episodes of Blue, as well as Murder One (and Cop
Rock), before going off to run his own cop show, High
Incident.
Robert Clohessy, who played beefy uniformed cop Patrick
Flaherty in HSB's final season, guest-starred in the third
season as retarded murder suspect Frankie Wuthrich.
Bruce Weitz, growling undercover cop Mick Belker on Hill
Street, appeared in the fourth season as murder witness
Lawrence Curry.
Barbara Bosson, Bochco's wife, has appeared on virtually all
his series, including her regular roles on Hill Street (as
Faye Furillo), Hooperman (as Capt. Stern), and Murder One
(District Attorney Miriam Grasso), plus guest spots on most of
the other shows. She appeared on Blue in the second season as
Mrs. Davis, the wife of a man who was molesting their teenage
daughter.
Three other former Hooperman castmembers all turned up on Blue
during the first season: Clarence Felder, who played a
corrections officer filing assault charges against a friend of
Kelly's; Felton Perry, who played the angry father of a
murdered teen; and Debrah Farentino, who had a recurring role
as Kelly's friend and subsequent lover Robin Wirkus.
Louis Giambalvo, who appeared frequently on HSB as JD LaRue's
sleazy used-car salesman brother-in-law, played a used-car
salesman of a different sort in the first season of Blue:
grief-stricken Dom Bucci, whose daughter had been missing for
years before Andy found her..
Dan Hedaya, who was nominated for his guest turn as Lou the
Werewolf in a first season episode, appeared several times in
HSB's first season as a cop on the take named Phil Macaffee.
Hedaya appeared again in the middle of HSB's run as a homeless
man who beat up Belker, stole his clothes, badge, and gun, and
left him handcuffed in the basement of a condemned building.
Markus Redmond, who played a gangmember turned orderly on
"Doogie Howser, M.D.," appeared frequently during the first
season as uniformed Officer Lucas.
Larry Joshua who plays Captain Bass was on "Cop Rock"
One connection that may or may not be intentional is that the
two main characters on NYPD Blue are named Andy (Sipowicz) and
Bobby (Simone), which were also the first names of two of
HSB's more notable characters, uniformed partners Andy Renko
and Bobby Hill.
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