22 Episodes . . . ah, the possibilities!

[maggiethecat]

mlm828 said:

housemouse said:

This whole DVD release/22 episodes thread is starting to give me a headache. I am just going to enjoy the 13 episodes I have on my TIVO, pretend RE said nothing about 9 more episodes, and believe that we will never have an official DVD set.
I know one should never give up hope, but at this point all the speculation is pure torture. Up on the Roof discussion anyone?

I'm basically on the same page with you, mouse. Maybe we have the same headache. But I'm a little concerned about how many viewings are left in my homemade DVDs -- especially "Up on the Roof."
About the only thing we know for sure about a possible DVD release is that there's a lot we don't know.

Amen to both of ya'll. This speculation is making us all NUTS, and, when you get right down to it, we don't anything more about the DVD release than we did six months ago. (Fox said it wasn't theirs on their online request site, Paramount said it wasn't theirs when Housemouse called them, and when longlashes called Bochco productions she was told ABC was showing no interest.)

So let's just enjoy the thirteen and if one day we get nine more? Dancing in the streets!

Besides, who wants to write nine more recaps? Not me.

So maybe I'll see you in "Up on the Roof" sometime soon . . . .

[hoosier]

Just to throw something else into the mix, maybe Bochco used some of his own money to finance the filming of BJ if it really was his 'pet project", kind of like George Lucas. He wanted to get it done and was willing to put some of his own $ up front and that could have been why there were 22 eps.in the can--he bankrolled it.

Luckily, I now have my own dvd set thanks to Anita and throughly enjoy them. I will just have to keep my fingers crossed and believe that we will one day have good news.

[maggiethecat]

Uh . . . hoosier, honey? You need to read Steven Bochco's book Death by Hollywood. You don't last as long as he has by using your own money. He may have bankrolled The Pilot, which producers often do, but the whole series? Not bloody likely. ;D

[hoosier]

Duh, call me naive I also assumed cable programs were more expensive to produce. Thats why they were on cable, that (more money) and some questionable content!

[doobrah]

hoosier said:

Duh, call me naive I also assumed cable programs were more expensive to produce. Thats why they were on cable, that (more money) and some questionable content!

It depends on the network. There's basic cable -- like FX, USA, Sci Fi -- and there's subscriber-pay cable -- like HBO, Showtime, Starz.

HBO pumps a sh!#load of $$$ into Sopranos, Deadwood, Sex in the City, etc., but because HBO owns them, they can run them ad nauseam, sell them on DVD and syndicate them to recoup the back end. And don't forget about overseas sales.

But networks like FX don't have the $$ to bankroll something like BJ, Desperate Housewifes or Lost. I'm surprised they can afford Rescue Me. With Over There, the cast was a bunch of unknowns playing soldier in the SoCal desert. It was done on the cheap and it looked it.

[maggiethecat]

doobrah said:

But networks like FX don't have the $$ to bankroll something like BJ, Desperate Housewifes or Lost. I'm surprised they can afford Rescue Me. With Over There, the cast was a bunch of unknowns playing soldier in the SoCal desert. It was done on the cheap and it looked it.

Truer words were never spoke, doobrah! Rescue Me works because it's all about the script, but keen eyes notice there's no fancy editing and everything looks like a one-camera set up. The sets? New York City, which never looks bad on film, and a few interiors. Plus, Denis Leary and Peter Tolan write and produce every episode, so no need to hire writers. A great example of a low budget show that doesn't look it.

Blind Justice, on the other hand, was high budget -- cast, directors, writers -- and every penny showed. Not your average low-end cable fare. Sigh.

[Dreamfire]

maggiethecat said:

mlm828 said:

I'm basically on the same page with you, mouse. Maybe we have the same headache. But I'm a little concerned about how many viewings are left in my homemade DVDs -- especially "Up on the Roof."
About the only thing we know for sure about a possible DVD release is that there's a lot we don't know.

Amen to both of ya'll. This speculation is making us all NUTS, and, when you get right down to it, we don't anything more about the DVD release than we did six months ago. (Fox said it wasn't theirs on their online request site, Paramount said it wasn't theirs when Housemouse called them, and when longlashes called Bochco productions she was told ABC was showing no interest.)

So let's just enjoy the thirteen and if one day we get nine more? Dancing in the streets!

Besides, who wants to write nine more recaps? Not me.

So maybe I'll see you in "Up on the Roof" sometime soon . . . .

I'll write 9 more recaps. ;D

[carl1951]

It would be much welcome.


Later, Carl

[Dreamfire]

BJObsessed and I were talking on skype yesterday and we noticed that many other DVD sets come out with all their "missing episodes" so we think that when they do manage to release it it will be with a bonus of the 9 missing episodes!

[rducasey]

I found this picture googling Rena Sofer. This outfit does not look familiar for any of the episodes we know. Could it possibly be a pic from a 'lost' episode? Or I suppose it is possible that it is just a publicity shot. However most publicity shots seem to have familiar clothes in them. Karen's clothes are not familiar either, and her hair looks pretty long for early publicity photos. Also it is a reversed picture with hair parted on wrong side and badges on wrong side.
Detective Rducasey

[anna]

I believe that those are the same clothes that they were wearing in many of the early publicity shots - see below. I think that the one you posted just looks a bit different because the image has been reversed.

[rducasey]

anna said:

I believe that those are the same clothes that they were wearing in many of the early publicity shots - see below. I think that the one you posted just looks a bit different because the image has been reversed.

Oh Anna , you are a better detective than I am. thanks.

[Dreamfire]

I LOVE that you think like this!!

Yeah I know, I saw the later pic, But it was great thinking!
;D

Oh, what's that quote???


Detective Dunbar: "I've run it 50 times in my mind ...."
Fisk: It's a shame (I lost the exact words) but GOOD POLICE WORK.

rducasey said:

I found this picture googling Rena Sofer. This outfit does not look familiar for any of the episodes we know. Could it possibly be a pic from a 'lost' episode? Or I suppose it is possible that it is just a publicity shot. However most publicity shots seem to have familiar clothes in them. Karen's clothes are not familiar either, and her hair looks pretty long for early publicity photos. Also it is a reversed picture with hair parted on wrong side and badges on wrong side.
Detective Rducasey

[mlm828]

divinemrse said:

mlm828 said:

I've wondered about this, too, ever since we learned about the 22 episodes. It's my understanding that a full season is 22 episodes. The only explanation I can come up with is that maybe they didn't know, going in, that the show would be a mid-season replacement. But I'm just guessing.

They did know it would be a mid-season replacement and, from what I understand, "extra" episodes are always shot in anticipation of ratings; if the ratings are good, they air the season finale, if the ratings are pretty bad, the series finale gets aired. For example, I can go into a whole explanation about FF, my interpretation of what I saw, but I won't. However, this is what I know from my experience and from what my brother (who's worked for ABC forever) tells me.

I'm posting my response here instead of the "Seoul Man" thread, since it really doesn't relate to "Seoul Man."

Thanks for the "inside information." Are you suggesting that "Fancy Footwork" was always intended to be the series finale, regardless of whether it ended up as the 13th or 22nd episode? If so, I wonder about that. It always seemed to me that there was good continuity between it and the preceding episodes -- the gun issue and ballroom dancing, for example. To my mind, it wouldn't be easily moveable -- at least, not without moving several other episodes, too. I also recall reading somewhere that Frank Grillo said the episodes were aired in order. Edited to add: I just found the post I had in mind:

bluedelft said:

At one point fans were questioning if the episodes were being shown in the order that they were filmed and Frank Grillo commented that the order was correct.

On the subject of why the full 22 episodes were made, I found this post:

anna said:

I went back and reread some old articles. I found this:
Hollywood Reporter, May 18, 2004: Steven Bochco's "NYPD Blue" is said to be staying at 10 p.m., rotating with Bochco's new drama "Blind Justice."

As early as spring, 2004, the idea was that Blind Justice would rotate with NYPD Blue in 04/05, not that it would have a full season of 22 episodes. So why shoot 22 with no guarantee of a second season, even if you were covered financially? Was Bochco counting on his name with the networks to get a second season? Counting on the audience being won over? Just decided to go for because of his own passion for the show?

I realize anna didn't interpret the article this way, but maybe the original "rotation" idea called for the full 22 episodes.

[hoosier]

I will continue to hope.

I remember seeing that BJ was originally scheduled for the fall of 2004 and then held back for mid-season. Bochco had planned on retiring NYPB Blue and was convinced by the network to go for additional episodes, so he negotiated with ABC to put BJ in its (NYPD) time slot as payback. Long shot here, but could it be that he assumed or been promised (as part of his dealings with ABC) that he would be getting a full season for BJ, hence 22 episodes, when it initially was supposed to air the fall of 2004, regardless of ratings?? Before they talked him into extending NYPD?? I mean some shows stay on that are awful and pathetic. Ratings don't seem to count much there.

Maybe what is taking so long for a dvd release is putting those other nine episodes into some coherent form after chopping them up for filler in some other eps or editing them for continuity or whatever. That and airing the show in South Africa and Korea and Hungary...