Pavan
02-09-2004, 10:58 AM
"NYPD Blue" will return to ABC next season for its 12th -- and final -- year on the beat.
Alphabet and Steven Bochco Prods. are expected to announce as early as today that they've reached agreement on a deal to bring "Blue" back for a final season of 22 episodes. Dennis Franz will return as Andy Sipowicz, the show's emotional core.
In conjunction with the "Blue" renewal, ABC has greenlit "Blind Justice," a Bochco-produced drama from scribes Matt Olmstead and Nicholas Wooton that will now star Ron Eldard ("House of Sand and Fog") as a blind detective. "Justice," from Paramount and Steven Bochco Prods., is being targeted for a midseason 2004-05 debut.
ABC and Bochco have been talking about a pickup for weeks but only closed in on a deal late Friday. The biggest surprise is that next season will be promoted as the last for "Blue": Bochco had made it clear that he believed the franchise could have a few more years left in it.
Still, if ratings are good next season, there's nothing that says ABC and Bochco couldn't change their minds, as NBC and the cast of "Friends" did two years ago.
"I've always thought that this show is for sure a 12-year show," Bochco said in 2002, when "Blue" was renewed for its 11th season. "Then you have to wait and see (beyond that)."
ABC was able to negotiate a somewhat lower license fee for "Blue," network insiders said. Net had been paying around $2.2 million for the show.
Ratings for "Blue" have been solid this season, particularly compared with "Line of Fire," the midseason drama ABC aired in "Blue's" timeslot in December and January. "Blue" returns from hiatus Tuesday.
Bochco and David Milch created "Blue," which premiered Sept. 21, 1993. The skein has won 19 Emmys through the years and has been nominated for more than 80 trophies. "Blue" still holds the record for most-ever Emmy noms in a single season, 27, which it scored in its frosh year.
Alphabet and Steven Bochco Prods. are expected to announce as early as today that they've reached agreement on a deal to bring "Blue" back for a final season of 22 episodes. Dennis Franz will return as Andy Sipowicz, the show's emotional core.
In conjunction with the "Blue" renewal, ABC has greenlit "Blind Justice," a Bochco-produced drama from scribes Matt Olmstead and Nicholas Wooton that will now star Ron Eldard ("House of Sand and Fog") as a blind detective. "Justice," from Paramount and Steven Bochco Prods., is being targeted for a midseason 2004-05 debut.
ABC and Bochco have been talking about a pickup for weeks but only closed in on a deal late Friday. The biggest surprise is that next season will be promoted as the last for "Blue": Bochco had made it clear that he believed the franchise could have a few more years left in it.
Still, if ratings are good next season, there's nothing that says ABC and Bochco couldn't change their minds, as NBC and the cast of "Friends" did two years ago.
"I've always thought that this show is for sure a 12-year show," Bochco said in 2002, when "Blue" was renewed for its 11th season. "Then you have to wait and see (beyond that)."
ABC was able to negotiate a somewhat lower license fee for "Blue," network insiders said. Net had been paying around $2.2 million for the show.
Ratings for "Blue" have been solid this season, particularly compared with "Line of Fire," the midseason drama ABC aired in "Blue's" timeslot in December and January. "Blue" returns from hiatus Tuesday.
Bochco and David Milch created "Blue," which premiered Sept. 21, 1993. The skein has won 19 Emmys through the years and has been nominated for more than 80 trophies. "Blue" still holds the record for most-ever Emmy noms in a single season, 27, which it scored in its frosh year.