NYPD Blue (season 4)

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The fourth season of NYPD Blue premiered on ABC on October 15, 1996, and concluded on May 20, 1997.

NYPD Blue
Season 4
NYPD Blue S4.jpg
Season 4 U.S. DVD Cover
Country of originUnited States
No. of episodes22
Release
Original networkABC
Original releaseOctober 15, 1996 (1996-10-15) –
May 20, 1997 (1997-05-20)
Season chronology
← Previous
Season 3
Next →
Season 5
List of episodes
Actor Character Main cast Recurring cast
Jimmy Smits Bobby Simone entire season N/A
Dennis Franz Andy Sipowicz entire season N/A
James McDaniel Arthur Fancy entire season N/A
Nicholas Turturro James Martinez entire season N/A
Sharon Lawrence Sylvia Costas credited in all episodes but only actually appears in episodes 1, 7, and 15 N/A
Gordon Clapp Greg Medavoy entire season N/A
Kim Delaney Diane Russell entire season N/A
Andrea Thompson Jill Kirkendall N/A episodes 6-8,10-14,17-18,20

Episodes[]

No.
overall
No. in
season
TitleDirected byWritten byOriginal air dateProd.
code
U.S. viewers
(millions)
671"Moby Greg"Mark TinkerStory by : David Milch & Bill Clark
Teleplay by : Theresa Rebeck
October 15, 1996 (1996-10-15)0H01/540121.60[citation needed]
Sipowicz and Simone catch the case of a dead man found in a trunk; evidence indicates the trunk had been dragged over precinct lines from the 13th. Greg and Andy, concerned over their expanding waistlines, declare a weight-loss contest, which Andy keeps postponing. Geri Turner is the new PAA. Bobby is surprised when he finds he has inherited an apartment building; he asks Diane to marry him and she says she is not ready for that.
682"Thick Stu"Brad SilberlingStory by : David Milch & Bill Clark
Teleplay by : David Mills
October 22, 1996 (1996-10-22)0H02/540219.40[citation needed]
Det. Stu Morrissey has hit a dead end in his case of a missing baby girl and asks Sipowicz and Simone for help. Bobby tries to make peace with the tenant, Henry Coffield, in his new building who believes Bobby screwed him out of inheriting the building. Andy and Greg start their weight-loss competition. Martinez is running for Delegate against night-watch detective Vince Gotelli. Geri gets a little touchy-feely with Andy.
693"Yes, We Have No Cannolis"Mark TinkerStory by : David Milch & Bill Clark
Teleplay by : Leonard Gardner
October 29, 1996 (1996-10-29)0H03/540320.40[citation needed]
A young woman was shot dead in Bobby's apartment building, in a manner Henry Coffield described as his likely fate only 24 hours before. An ex-con whom Simone put away years ago comes to him and says another man is in jail for a crime he did not do. Sipowicz remembers the case, a robbery where the getaway car hit and killed a female pedestrian. James wins the Delegate election by three votes. Diane calls Bobby selfish for wanting more than she can give. Geri makes another wholly inappropriate advance on Andy.
704"Where’s 'Swaldo"Mark TinkerStephen Gaghan, Michael R. Perry & David MilchNovember 12, 1996 (1996-11-12)0H05/540518.90[citation needed]
Activist Kwasi Olashula (Episode 3.10) is found shot to death in his car in the company of a drug dealer. James and Greg investigate a murder at a bodega.
715"Where’d the Van Gogh"Michael M. RobinStory by : David Milch & Bill Clark
Teleplay by : Nicholas Wootton
November 19, 1996 (1996-11-19)0H04/540417.80[citation needed]

Sipowicz and Simone catch the case of an art burglary at the residence of an impovrished European prince and his well-to-do American wife. Her life hangs in the balance as the result of the beating she sustained at the hands of the burglars. James' first case as delegate is a sticky one when he has to deal with a detective who seems to have two wives. Diane gets an offer to return to OCCB work and reconnect with an arms dealer named Jimmy Liery who might have gone active again.

726"Yes Sir, That’s My Baby"Davis GuggenheimRift FournierNovember 26, 1996 (1996-11-26)0H06/540619.30[citation needed]

Detective Jill Kirkendall joins the 15th and immediately picks up a case where a guy is being threatened unless he marries an overweight young woman her brother claims he impregnated. Andy tells Fancy that Geri's behavior is bothering him, and Fancy has Geri and Gina switch working locations at the 15th. A limo driver's murder is connected to a closeted businessman and his bad taste in male prostitutes. Diane remains in her undercover role. Bobby finally leans hard enough on Henry to find out the truth about the murder in his building.

Note:

  • First appearance of Andrea Thompson as Jill Kirkendall.
737"Ted and Carey’s Bogus Adventure"Daniel SackheimMeredith StiehmDecember 3, 1996 (1996-12-03)0H07/540718.50[citation needed]
A developmentally disabled young girl is sexually assaulted by a group of rich students. The girl's angry mom and the meddling Councilman father (from Season 2's "Innuendo") of one of the kids roil Andy and Bobby, but everyone shares heartbreak when the young girl kills herself. Bobby advises her mom to sue the kids, and Sylvia Costas rocks the students by pointing out they will never face any punishment and can look forward to a life of being disgusting and contemptible. Diane is out on UC with Liery when a rollerblader bumps into her and Liery beats the guy, leaving her unable to forcefully protect the guy, though she does keep Liery from killing him. Diane later tells her OCCB boss that the work is getting to her, and has an ugly argument with Bobby. A mentally disturbed young man named Fred comes to the house babbling about his mother, and Andy finds out she died of a heart attack and Fred tried to bury her in a Dumpster. Sylvia talks about how she does not want to leave her job because no one would have tried to get through to the students who did something terrible otherwise.
748"Unembraceable You"Michael M. RobinStory by : Bill Clark & Theresa Rebeck
Teleplay by : Theresa Rebeck
December 10, 1996 (1996-12-10)0H08/540817.80[citation needed]
Diane goes over to Bobby's and they sleep together, but Bobby is not impressed with her idea of a casual relationship and asks her to leave. She throws herself into her undercover work with Jimmy Liery and gets a strong idea of how he is moving stolen guns, but Jimmy has a nasty plan of his own in mind for her. Bobby and Andy catch a murder case where the prime suspect is Arthur Cartwell, a smart but obnoxious guy who was involved with the brutal murders in "Heavin' Can Wait". Neither cop wants to cut Arthur any slack, until a new witness puts the case in a different light. Lt. Fancy is rocked when his former foster son, Maceo, is arrested for running drugs. Fancy has to deal with Maceo's rude and sullen behavior, the evil actions of Maceo's biological mom, and worthless cop Ray Kahlins (from "Hollie and the Blowfish") to save Maceo from a long prison sentence. Greg asks Abby out on a date and she tells him she is a lesbian.
759"Caulksmanship"Donna DeitchStory by : David Milch & Bill Clark
Teleplay by : George D. Putnam
December 17, 1996 (1996-12-17)0H09/5409TBA
Diane wakes up in Jimmy Liery's apartment and has no idea what happened the night before. Jimmy denies he did anything, but he does not clarify what "anything" means until Diane fires one round about a foot to his left. Fancy is upset when the brass tells him Bobby is in line to get a promotion to Detective First Grade, but Andy will not, while his wife feels Andy is getting what he deserves. Fancy has to choose whether to green-light Bobby's good fortune. The two top cops, meanwhile, are tied in knots when an overbearing woman was strangled and her browbeaten employee and the employee's boyfriend both claim guilt. And the rest of the cops are not getting any information in a tight-knit neighborhood when a repairman is shot to death.
7610"My Wild Irish Nose"Bob DohertyHugh LevickJanuary 7, 1997 (1997-01-07)0H10/541017.80[1]
Bobby finds out about Diane shooting at Liery when his neighbor makes a complaint, so Bobby visits Jimmy, beats him, and illegally seizes an AK-47 from the place. Diane is livid that Bobby interfered with her work, and Bobby is mad that Diane is acting like she has lost her mind. He asks for a day to deal with the case, and he and Andy proceed to tell one of Jimmy's contacts he is cooperating with the cops. At Bobby's promotion ceremony, Diane confronts Bobby with the news that Jimmy is dead. Bobby not only is not sorry about that, he tells Diane that if she wants to cry over Liery, then she should not even stay for the ceremony. Bobby tries to make Andy's case for advancement to the NYPD Commissioner, who is not receptive to the idea, but Andy ends up attending the ceremony anyway to support his partner. Andy and Bobby earlier try to help out a witness to a Mob killing who has had his prized paintings stolen, and have to save his life before they convince one of the killers to flip on his partners. James is reminded of his brother's problems when a young runaway witnesses a murder and he has to deal with the kid's abusive father.
7711"Alice Doesn’t Fit Here Anymore"Mark TinkerStory by : David Milch & Bill Clark
Teleplay by : Leonard Gardner & Nicholas Wootton
January 14, 1997 (1997-01-14)0H11/541119.60[2]
Gina the PAA is slashed and nearly raped by a vagrant, and James is ready to burn down the precinct to catch the guy. Greg and Diane convince him to be by Gina's side as she is treated for her injuries, and they later bring the creep in. When Greg's low-key approach does not work, Fancy sends in Andy, subtly suggesting he beat a confession out of the creep (who is guilty). Greg and Andy then have a conversation about the use of violence on the job, which does not make Andy feel all that good about himself. Diane remains on a knife's edge in the aftermath of Jimmy Liery's death and her growing estrangement from Bobby, not least after Bobby has a friendly dinner date with Jill Kirkendall. Diane later calls Andy from a diner because she is on the verge of relapsing into alcohol. The main case involves a diamond dealer's sister, who went missing with a large quantity of stones alongside her no-good boyfriend. And Sylvia decides to take an indefinite leave from work to care for baby Theo, leading Andy to say he will do moonlighting to earn extra money.
7812"Upstairs, Downstairs"Paris BarclayStory by : Bill Clark & David Mills
Teleplay by : David Mills
January 21, 1997 (1997-01-21)0H12/541218.89[3]
A popular uniform cop who was bodyguarding a local Italian crooner says the crooner was shot to death by two men, but Andy and Bobby find themselves in serious conflict with the 15th's uniformed officers as this story produces more and more questions, egged on by a bully of a sergeant. Elsewhere, a teenaged girl's murder is connected to a grotesque fetish video and drugs, and Diane breaks down in Bobby's arms as she finally relates how her father sexually abused her for years.
7913"Tom and Geri"Adam NimoyStory by : David Milch & Bill Clark
Teleplay by : Meredith Stiehm
January 28, 1997 (1997-01-28)0H13/541318.56[4]
A construction site that is a battleground between shady outfits led by African Americans and Puerto Ricans becomes a murder scene when the number-two man from the latter coalition is shot to death. Andy and Bobby find out he was a good man who was targeted by a wide-ranging group of scummers, and they are not able to arrest anyone but a perfect patsy. Andy is disgusted when PAA Geri wants to talk to him, but she has news about a man's death. Diane and Jill are assigned to the case and learn the victim was close to Geri and into domination and S&M, but it falls to Andy to see through Geri's facade and help her avoid jail time. Elsewhere, Diane and Bobby's relationship finds a new solid ground on which to continue, and James and Gina have their first sleepover.
8014"A Remington Original"Michael M. RobinStory by : David Milch & Bill Clark
Teleplay by : Nicholas Wootton
February 11, 1997 (1997-02-11)0H14/541418.29[5]
A junkyard car's trunk yields the body of a tortured female bartender. Andy and Bobby find a suspect in a nerdy guy with a porn fetish, and cook up a plan to insult him into confessing. Greg and James get a very odd death when a guy had his head crushed by a flying typewriter. Diane tells Bobby she is having therapy sessions, while Bobby gets sucked back into Henry Coffield's orbit when a crotchety old woman with a rent-controlled place in the building demands Henry do all of her household chores.
8115"Taillight's Last Gleaming"Randy ZiskDavid MillsFebruary 18, 1997 (1997-02-18)0H15/541517.22[6]

Fancy and his wife are pulled over in Bayside, Queens, by two uniformed officers on the basis of driving in an all-white neighborhood. Fancy angrily plans to transfer the senior officer Szymanski to a precinct in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn as punishment for his profiling actions, before some criticism from Captain Bass leads to Officer Szymanski's arrival at the 15th. Andy begins having dreams where he see his dead son, Andy Jr., but he is confused and angry about the uneven and pointed nature of their conversations. The dreams play into Andy's psyche when he and Bobby investigate a real life string of bar robberies. They have to deal with a stolen .45 automatic, the involvement in one robbery of Vince Gotelli, and a too-eager cop who is trying to solve the case on his own before they get a break and make arrests. Diane and James come up with a plan to bust scam artists who are ripping off disabled women. Andy learns he will need to find a different outlet to see his dead son in the future.

8216"What A Dump!"Perry LangStory by : David Milch & Bill Clark
Teleplay by : Leonard Gardner
February 25, 1997 (1997-02-25)0H16/541617.62[7]

Sipowicz and Simone catch the case of a woman's body found in an alley, strangled and apparently raped. Medavoy, on edge over a mystery dinner with Abby, is umcharacteristically violent as he and Martinez investigate a drive-by where the vehicle was a city bus. Sipowicz has a night job as a marshal, and his first assignment has him thrilled: baby-sitting drug mules until they pass the drugs.

8317"A Wrenching Experience"Michael WatkinsStory by : David Milch & Bill Clark
Teleplay by : Meredith Stiehm
April 15, 1997 (1997-04-15)0H17/541717.83[8]

Simone and Sipowicz investigate the case of a young Latino shot on the street in front of his pregnant girlfriend. Nobody, including the girlfriend, is interested in being helpful; the likely reason develops when it turns out a local gang head honcho was involved. Medavoy and Martinez catch a shooting at an auto repair shop where the partner's son, who happened to be out of the shop at the time, acts hugely suspicious. Russell and Kirkendall are assigned the case of a shaken baby who the doctor says isn't likely to make it. Greg, Abby, and Kathy finally have dinner together.

8418"I Love Lucy"Kathy BatesStory by : David Milch & Theresa Rebeck
Teleplay by : Theresa Rebeck
April 22, 1997 (1997-04-22)0H18/541815.88[9]
Peaches and Angela (Episode 4.8) show up to complain that Angela's boyfriend is threatening her life if s/he doesn't have a sex change - but when they find out he will be arrested have second thoughts. Kirkendall solos on a case brought to the 15th by the parents of an old friend of hers when she steals a valuable pen from her father that was a graduation gift. Lt. Fancy reluctantly offers Amway-type products, that his wife is selling, to the squad. Bobby and Diane celebrate their engagement.
8519"Bad Rap"Matthew PennThad MumfordApril 29, 1997 (1997-04-29)0H19/541916.99[10]
Andy and Bobby investigate the shooting of a rap star who does not want to cooperate and is much more hostile to the cops than to whomever shot him. It takes some stakeout time and a guilt trip, but the truth comes out in time. Fancy is upset when Officer Szymanski, whose actions in "Taillight's Last Gleaming" led to him being moved to the 15th, refuses to save himself when he is falsely accused of stealing drug money. Greg asks Abby exactly what she wants from him, and she says she wants him to be a sperm donor so she can have a baby. Bobby gets an unwanted visit from an FBI agent who wants him to do some undercover work regarding his old "friend" Joey Salvo, and Bobby later tells Diane a story that illustrates just what a bad guy Salvo is.
8620"Emission Impossible"Bob DohertyStory by : David Milch & Bill Clark
Teleplay by : Bill Barich
May 6, 1997 (1997-05-06)0H20/542015.16[11]

A jumpy waiter leads Simone and Sipowicz to the killers of five Ecuadorians at a social club; a nervous Medavoy awaits Abby's ovulation and hampers Russell's interview strategy with a child molester; and Simone must withhold information from Sipowicz, who disapproves of his partner's undercover wardrobe.

  • Currie Graham guest-stars as Frankie Lankersheim, seven years before playing Lt. Thomas Bale.
8721"Is Paris Burning?"Paris BarclayDavid ShoreMay 13, 1997 (1997-05-13)0H21/542115.56[12]

Bobby gets in trouble over the license plate he ran for Joey Salvo the previous week at the FBI's request when they will not stand up for him after IAB finds out about it, and he learns that the FBI suspects IAB of having someone on Salvo's payroll. Bobby's relationship with Andy gets worse as the secrecy about the case continues (though Andy learns Bobby has talked to Diane about it) and affects their investigation of a rape-assault. Andy tries to protect scared witness Steve Cameron, but indifference from ADA Leo Cohen and Bobby's focus being elsewhere leads to a horrible ending. The cops find out that Vince Gotelli hijacked a city bus while drunk and Fancy works to save Vince from jail time.

8822"A Draining Experience"Michael WatkinsJane WallaceMay 20, 1997 (1997-05-20)0H22/542217.26[13]
Bobby gets suspended by IAB and told to follow the FBI's playbook, but Bobby breaks bounds to tell Andy the whole sad story. Andy and Diane have serious conflict over Bobby's situation, only putting them aside to investigate the murder of a young woman who was seeing a psychiatrist after being raped. A reporter who has little admiration for the NYPD's tactics is the victim of crime himself, and Greg and James deal with his attitude while doing their investigation. Bobby tells Joey Salvo he is out of a job, and Joey says he wants Bobby to come work for him, but then Joey is shot three times and killed.

References[]

  1. ^ "National Nielsen Viewership (Jan. 6-12)". The Los Angeles Times. January 15, 1997. Retrieved June 8, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.Free to read
  2. ^ "National Nielsen Viewership (Jan. 13-19)". The Los Angeles Times. January 22, 1997. Retrieved June 8, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.Free to read
  3. ^ "National Nielsen Viewership (Jan. 20-26)". The Los Angeles Times. January 29, 1997. Retrieved June 8, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.Free to read
  4. ^ "National Nielsen Viewership (Jan. 27-Feb. 2)". The Los Angeles Times. February 5, 1997. Retrieved June 8, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.Free to read
  5. ^ "National Nielsen Viewership (Feb. 10-16)". The Los Angeles Times. February 20, 1997. Retrieved June 8, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.Free to read
  6. ^ "National Nielsen Viewership (Feb. 17-23)". The Los Angeles Times. February 26, 1997. Retrieved June 8, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.Free to read
  7. ^ "National Nielsen Viewership (Feb. 24-Mar. 2)". The Los Angeles Times. March 5, 1997. Retrieved June 8, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.Free to read
  8. ^ "National Nielsen Viewership (Apr. 14-20)". The Los Angeles Times. April 23, 1997. Retrieved June 8, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.Free to read
  9. ^ "National Nielsen Viewership (Apr. 21-27)". The Los Angeles Times. April 30, 1997. Retrieved June 8, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.Free to read
  10. ^ "National Nielsen Viewership (Apr. 28-May. 4)". The Los Angeles Times. May 7, 1997. Retrieved June 8, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.Free to read
  11. ^ "National Nielsen Viewership (May. 5-11)". The Los Angeles Times. May 14, 1997. Retrieved June 8, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.Free to read
  12. ^ "National Nielsen Viewership (May. 12-18)". The Los Angeles Times. May 21, 1997. Retrieved June 8, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.Free to read
  13. ^ "National Nielsen Viewership (May. 19-25)". The Los Angeles Times. May 29, 1997. Retrieved June 8, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.Free to read
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