Paris Barclay Movies

Real-life rap artist Snoop Dog guests in this episode as fictional rapper Murderuss, who is accused of killing his musical rival Extra Large (Marcello Thedford). Monk (Tony Shalhoub) does his best to clear Murderuss, but all the circumstantial evidence is against the singer: his trademark pocket watch was used to trigger the bomb that wiped out Extra Large, and Murderuss' famous gold chain was used to strangle the first victim's chauffeur. Before long, even Monk is persuaded of Murderuss' guilt--but he's afraid to drop the case for fear of incurring the rapper's rath--er, wrath. The solution to the crime...comes in a rhyme...in the nick of time. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Sela Ward makes her first appearance as Stacy Warner, former lawyer for the Princeton-Plainsboro clinic--and ex-girlfriend of Dr. House (Hugh Laurie). Stacy's husband has fallen mysteriously ill, and she hopes that House can find out why. But House seems more preoccupied with delivering a lecture to three medical-school diagnostics--an assignment he was forced to accept, but one which he tackles with his usual mean-spirited gusto. As he presents the trio with a hypothetic medical dilemma involving three patients with aching legs, we are treated to a succession of bizarre fantasy sequences. Carmen Electra appears as herself in this episode, which won both an Emmy award (for "best writing") and the Humanitas Prize. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

A maimed Ronnie (David Rees Snell) tells Mackey (Michael Chiklis) that Armadillo (Danny Pino) did it. Claudette (CCH Pounder) tells Mackey she wants to help him find Armadillo, but Mackey doesn't want her help. The Strike Team dips into their retirement fund, spreading money out on the street to get info on Armadillo's whereabouts. Aceveda (Benito Martinez) tells Julien (Michael Jace) he's up for a promotion, and Julien marvels to Danny (Catherine Dent) about how well his life seems to be going. With Claudette busy trying to figure out what Mackey is up to, Dutch (Jay Karnes) enlists Danny's aid in solving an assault case. The Strike Team finds an informant, Little Pop (Frank Gallegos), who wants to get back at Armadillo for cutting him out of the drug trade. Corinne (Cathy Cahlin Ryan) shows up at the station after someone tries to break into her house, and ends up having an informative conversation with Claudette, which makes Mackey very angry. The Strike Team finds Armadillo, but before they can get to him, he turns himself in. ~ Josh Ralske, Rovi

The hectic early days of live television are spoofed in this irreverent made-for-cable movie. The story is told from the viewpoint of Audrey Drummond (Christina Hendricks), a naïve young script girl hired by the newly formed Empire Television Network in 1948. Among Audrey's colleagues are the network's owner, eccentric scientist Doc Powers (Christopher Lloyd); Doc's blonde, pneumatic young "trophy wife" Marion (Molly Ringwald); the Colonel (Dylan Baker), Empire's visionary programming chief; and Walt Kaplan (Michael B. Silver), a studio floor manager who aspires to be a director. The story revolves around Empire's efforts to stage the first live TV production of Thornton Wilder's Our Town, while trying desperately to adhere to Doc Powers' cast-in-stone broadcast edicts: "No profanity, no suicide, no cleavage." Amidst a flurry of missed cues, fainting actors, collapsing scenery, and malfunctioning equipment, the network also manages to outrage its sponsors by allowing a black musician (Sharif Atkins) to actually (gasp! egad!) speak directly into the camera. Co-executive produced by The West Wing's John Wells and ER's Carol Flint (who also wrote the script), The Big Time debuted October 21, 2002 on the TNT network. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

At the end of NYPD Blue's eighth season, Danny Sorenson (Rick Schroder), the troubled young partner of the 15th precinct's Detective Andy Sipowicz (Dennis Franz), had disappeared under sinister circumstances after a botched undercover operation. It was not until season nine got under way that Danny's murder was confirmed, sending Sipowicz -- not to mention the rest of the 15th -- into an emotional spiral. In the fine revolving-door tradition of NYPD Blue, Danny was immediately replaced by another handsome young detective with personal issues: John Clark Jr. (Mark-Paul Gosselaar), the son of a veteran cop (Joe Spano) who happened to be an old enemy of John's new partner Andy. To compensate for the defection of another longtime series regular, Kim Delaney (Detective Diane Russell), Jacqueline Obradors was added to the cast as Det. Rita Ortiz, formerly of the vice squad who had transferred to the 15th at the insistence of her jealous, possessive Assistant DA husband, Don Harrison (Stan Cahill). Inasmuch as the series was falling into a pattern of predictability by this time, it was hardly surprising that Rita Ortiz would have been minus one husband and plus one new boyfriend (John Clark Jr., of course) by the end of season nine.

Of the holdover actors from previous seasons, Esai Morales had neatly settled into the role of Lt. Tony Rodriguez, the no-nonsense replacement of former 15th precinct skipper Lt. Fancy -- and had brought along his own emotional baggage in the form of a vengeful Internal Affairs Bureau captain (Casey Siemaszko) who had seemingly made it his life's work to force Rodriguez out of his job. The inner demons of Det. Connie McDowell (Charlotte Ross) surfaced to plague her when she attempted to touch base with Jennifer (Katie Fountain), the daughter whom she'd given up for adoption 16 years earlier. Homosexual administrative employee John Irvin (Bill Brochtrup) took a brief respite from his duties to embark upon an African "safari" with his new boyfriend. And the off-again, on-again relationship between Det. Baldwin Jones (Henry Simmons) and ADA Valerie Haywood (Garcelle Beauvais-Nilon) took on a new and slightly melancholy dimension when Valerie became pregnant. As usual, it was top-billed Dennis Franz as Andy Sipowicz who bore the brunt of the dramatic developments. In addition to having to adjust to the tragic loss of another partner, Dennis also found himself enmeshed in the financial intrigues surrounding wealthy old eccentric Mrs. Hornby (Elmarie Wendel), for whom he worked as a bodyguard in his off-hours. And, of more importance to future plot developments, Andy finally made a romantic decision between two of the women in his life, Connie McDowell and the very-much-younger Cynthia Bunin (Juliana Donald) -- or rather, the decision was made for him following a traumatic hostage crisis. With Steven Bochco replacing the departing David Milch as senior executive producer, NYPD Blue was poised to begin its ninth season in early October of 2001 -- thereby breaking the tradition established in the past two seasons, when the debut date had been moved up to January (or mid-season) due to backstage intrigues and scheduling conflicts. However, the tragic events of September 11 obliged both the producers and the network to delay the season opener until November 6, by which time several scripts had been rewritten to reflect the 15th precinct's reaction to the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Season eight of NYPD Blue began minus the services of longtime executive producer David Milch, who left to develop a project of his own. Steven Bochco, who'd co-created the series with Milch, took full charge of the series. This was far from the only eighth-season personnel change. Andrea Thompson (Det. Jill Kirkendall) had already quit the series in order to launch a new career as a TV news anchor. Kim Delaney, who played Kirkendall's partner, Det. Diane Russell, remained on the scene, the better to develop a new plot strand involving a steamy romance between Russell and her troubled colleague Det. Danny Sorenson (Rick Schroder). But by the end of the season, Delaney was gone -- as was Schroder. One of the series' mainstays since its 1993 debut, James McDaniel, announced his intention of leaving his role as 15th precinct skipper Lt. Fancy after the first 13 episodes of the season. Fancy's initial replacement, hypersensitive feminist Lt. Susan Falto (Denise Crosby), had such a negative effect on the 15th that she herself was quickly supplanted by Lt. Tony Rodriguez (Esai Morales), a by-the-book type who (surprise, surprise) almost immediately clashed with gonzo "I make my own rules" detective Andy Sipowicz (Dennis Franz). Andy's private life was no less turbulent than his professional one; the moment the bone-marrow tests of his son Theo (Austin Majors) came back positive -- thereby resolving one of the unresolved subplots set up by the previous season's cliffhanger finale -- Andy began considering a reconciliation with ex-wife Kate (Debra Monk), but instead became sidetracked with a blossomed May-December relationship with Cynthia Bunin (Juliana Donald), the niece of Andy's old cop pal Gibson (John F. O'Donohue).

Along with Esai Morales and Juliana Donald, Charlotte Ross, and Garcelle Beauvais-Nilon joined the series, respectively cast as Det. Connie McDowell and new Assistant DA Valerie Haywood. Initially shunned as a possible "spy" from Internal Affairs, McDowell quickly proved her mettle and earned the right to remain at the 15th -- and in the process set the foundation for future plot complications by revealing that, 15 years earlier, she had had a daughter out of wedlock whom she had given up for adoption. As for Haywood, she almost immediately got off on the wrong foot with the extremely touchy Det. Baldwin Jones (Henry Simmons), in the tradition of the first-season flareups between Andy Sipowicz and the late ADA Sylvia Costas. But also like Andy and Sylvia, Baldwin Jones and Valerie Haywood quickly found themselves extremely attracted to one another.

The opening episodes of season eight resolved a dilemma left hanging during season seven, that of the 15th precinct's possible complicity in the drug-smuggling operations of Don Kirkendall, ex-husband of the beleagured Jill Kirkendall. The closing episodes established a brand-new crisis, concerning a botched undercover operation which may or may not have cost the life of the missing-in-action Danny Sorenson (Rick Schroder). Viewers would have to sweat it out until the beginning of season nine before Danny's ultimate fate would be revealed. For the second year in a row, NYPD Blue's season opener was not seen until January, due to backstage hagglings between the ABC network and the producer. Also, only 20 new episodes were produced, rather than the standard 22, reportedly an economical rather than artistic decision. The late start and diminished output did not affect the series' popularity, nor prevent it from garnering another Emmy Award nomination for series star Dennis Franz. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

On his first day back at work in the ER, Carter (Noah Wyle) befriends a paraplegic youngster named Dennis (Alex D. Linz). Elsewhere, several patients are brought in after a freak accident at a sci-fi convention -- and are promptly placed under arrest. During an acute shortage of surgeons, Greene (Anthony Edwards) performs a delicate operation while receiving instructions via intercom hookup with Corday (Alex Kingston). Malucci (Erik Palladino) demands to know who the father of Chen's (Ming-Na) baby is. And Romano (Paul McCrane) fires Benton (Eriq La Salle). ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

As Sipowicz (Dennis Franz) prepares for his courtroom confrontation with Sinclair (Daniel Benzali) during the Cullinen trial, John Irvin (Bill Brochtrup) tries again to mollify the father (Bob Glaudini) of Cullinen's possible victim Dolores Mayo. Back at the 15th, Danny (Rick Schroder) tries to get an obviously abused 13-year-old boy to open up -- leading to a horrifying revelation. The conclusion of this 90-minute episode is a burst of gunfire, and the sudden, startling demise of yet another familiar NYPD Blue character. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Recovering alcoholic Andy Sipowicz (Dennis Franz) takes a personal interest in the case of hard-drinking Detective Mike Walsh (Larry Brandenberg), who is mixed up in a shooting at a bar. Walsh also becomes the center of a turf battle between Lt. Fancy (James McDaniel) and the skipper of the 27th precinct. And while assisting in an investigation, Bobby Simone (Jimmy Smits) exhibits more symptoms of an illness more serious than a mere respiratory ailment. Visiting the doctor, Bobby is hit with a bombshell when he is diagnosed with an enlarged heart. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

One of the most intensely dramatic episodes in the history of NYPD Blue begins as the ex-wife (Debra Monk) of Andy Sipowicz (Dennis Franz) prepares to defend herself against a DWI charge. As this plot strand plays itself out (with indications that the story is far from over), Bobby Simone (Jimmy Smits) emerges from heart-transplant surgery. At first, his recovery seems imminent, but complications quickly ensue. Ultimately, Bobby's wife, Diane (Kim Delaney), is given the bad news: it is only a matter of time. While fans of NYPD Blue were well aware that this episode (which earned two Emmy awards) represented the final appearance of series star Jimmy Smits, few were prepared for its shattering conclusion. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Having run out of excuses and exhausted his supply of self-denial, Andy Sipowicz (Dennis Franz) undergoes prostate surgery. Martinez (Nicholas Turturro) returns to the 15th, acknowledging that he is father of Gina's baby, while Abby (Paige Turco) herself gives birth. Back on the job, the cops investigate the death of a one of five army buddies during a reunion -- leading to the disturbing conclusion that a major act of terrorism has been planned for "Y2K" on New Year's Eve of 1999. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi