YMMV / NYPD Blue

• Complete Monster: The most heinous and irredeemable criminals have their own page.
• Ensemble Dark Horse: Medavoy (Gordon Clapp), who quickly went from a borderline extra to a fan favorite and became the only character (besides Sipowicz) to last all twelve seasons of the show.
  • PAAs Donna (Gail O'Grady) and John (Bill Brochtrup) were both originally signed for only a handful of episodes. Both were so popular with viewers that they were eventually made members of the regular cast (though for Brochtrup, it took several seasons as an infrequently recurring character before that).
• Fanon: Although it isn't explicitly depicted, fans like to think that Kelly and Janice did end up together after he had to leave the police force and once she got out of jail, as he leaves the show only two episodes after she does and Janice's last scene had her theorizing that she would only be in for six months, with the implication that Kelly would visit her in the meantime.
• Growing the Beard: Season 12 is seen as an improvement over several of the preceding seasons. Most would agree that, even if it didn't reach the heights of the first six seasons, it at least allowed the show to go out with some dignity.
• Harsher in Hindsight: Diane Russell's alcoholism is this since her actress, Kim Delaney, has struggled with alcoholism herself, including three notable incidents in 2002, 2005, and 2011.
• Jerkass Woobie: Sipowicz, eventually evolving into merely The Woobie.
• Never Live It Down: Sipowicz has become famous for showing his butt. On the entire run of the show, it actually happened twice (and one of those was during a prostate exam).
  • Family Guy even parodied it.
• Once Original, Now Common: When it premiered the show was ground-breaking not only for its gritty depictions of police work but also for the fact that it was willing to push the envelope with the stuff that could be shown on network television, making full use of a FCC clause that claims networks can show whatever they want after 11pm. The show earned the ire of conservative parent groups for its depictions of swearing, violence, sex and nudity (although why Parent groups would target something obviously not intended for children defies all logic). Whilst network television has (at least with regards to sex, nudity and profanity) never been as daring (Blue gained ABC some heavy FCC fines), all of the stuff it was known for can be seen almost ubiquitously on cable television.
• Retroactive Recognition:
  • David Schwimmer appeared in the first few episodes as John and Laura Kelly's divorce lawyer.
  • Laura herself was played by Sherry Stringfield.
  • You see pre-The Big Bang Theory Carol Ann Susi in a season one guest role.
  • Richard Schiff and Bradley Whitford appeared in early season episodes.
  • Donna's sister was Debra Messing.
  • Before Castle, Ruben Santiago-Hudson played a homeless guy named Otis.
  • Anthony Head was a pompous theater actor.
  • Michael Harney played Mike Roberts throughout the first five seasons.
  • Pedro Pascal played Dio in the episode "Oh Golly Goth", credited instead as Alexander Pascal. Coincidentally, he would eventually turn The Last of Us (2023) into the first show since NYPD Blue to boast a Latino nominee for the Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series Primetime Emmy award, following in Jimmy Smits' footsteps.
  • Jurnee Smollett appeared when she was around ten years old in "Where's 'Swaldo."
  • Adam Scott was in "The Nutty Confessor."
  • Jonah Hill appears as a clerk in the final season episode "You're Buggin' Me."
  • Paul Giamatti appears in the Cold Open of a first season episode as a homeless man.
  • Quite a few of the actors on David Milch's later series, Deadwood, appeared in small roles on this show, including W. Earl Brown, Dayton Callie, Jim Beaver (as Jesus), Titus Welliver, Anna Gunn, Keone Young, Pasha Lychnikoff, and Ray McKinnon.
• Seasonal Rot:
  • While there is a Vocal Minority that thinks the show was never as good as it was in the first season with David Caruso as the star, it's usually agreed that the show lost its luster somewhere between the departure of Jimmy Smits in season 6 and season 8, by the end of which the entire original cast (as well as the popular Kim Delaney) save Dennis Franz had left the show and Sipowicz had entered into a ludicrous Ugly Guy, Hot Wife relationship with Connie (Charlotte Ross). There's some other opinions floating around but there's very few fans that think all 12 seasons of the show are worth seeking out and watching.
  • Regardless of what you think of the quality of the later seasons, the show did lose some very colorful characters (and good actors), and its tone did change a lot, going from edgy and avant-garde to being one Crime Time Soap among many. How much of this is actually the show's own fault with respect to the latter point is debatable.
  • David Milch ending his active involvement with the show after season seven is seen by many as the end of the really great period.
  • The last few seasons (10 and later) also seem increasingly disconnected, with the writers throwing random problems at the characters, and then resolving them in one or two episodes, without this leading to further character or plot development.
• Tear Jerker:
  • Simone's Death Episode (though Andy Jr. and Sylvia's deaths hit hard as well).
  • The "Lost Israel" 2-parter. All of it.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character: Andy Jr. being killed for the sake of a Roaring Rampage of Revenge episode can feel this way. Making it worse is the show runners admission that they'd been trying to find a way to kill him off for years, since before he made such an emotional impact with the fanbase.
• Unintentional Period Piece: The fact that cars and fashions in the first six seasons are typical for The '90s is not unexpected. There are also the inevitable cultural references (for instance, billboards for Cats and Miss Saigon are visible in the original opening credits) that place the early seasons, in particular, into a particular timeframe. However, the show also documents the cellphone revolution: In the first seasons, the detectives don't have cellphones but have to look for payphones if they are not carrying a walkie-talkie. The squad later gets one cellphone that has to be checked out if a detective needs it, and towards the end of the series everybody has their own personal cellphone.

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