TVSquad

(S01E09/S01E10) This was a pretty interesting episode pairing. The first one, "Ice Follies," was probably the best episode of the season so far. It was tense. It held my attention and I didn't yawn. That's saying something. Before I get to the good stuff though, let's get rid of the boring junk. Once again, Sherry Stringfield's character serves no purpose. Either she's not around at all (which is great) or she randomly enters a scene and you're caught off guard. Since transferring at the DA's office, she's now working in a new role which places her at the station with John. Wonderful. Now we can't avoid her. All I can say is that Stringfield must have sighed with delight when Caruso decided to leave at the end of the season. If she had to hang around as his ex-wife for a second season? That would have been tough. Plus, the first season of ER just wouldn't have been the same.

(S01E08) It's not that I'm against fancy one-liners for episode titles. I just find it sort of disappointing when you read one that sounds interesting and the episode barely has anything to do with it. The Sopranos and Deadwood are notorious for this. I like my episode titles to be simple, but descriptive. Take Seinfeld and "The Puffy Shirt." Going into that, you got a pretty good idea about the focus of the episode.

Alright, you can tell I'm reaching here because eight episodes in, and we finally got to one that I didn't really enjoy. It was just slow. But we did get a new character. Donna Abandando (played by Gail O'Grady) got hired by Lt. Fancy to be the new detective's secretarial assistant. She seems a little loopy, but it's the type of character that can lighten up some of the more serious scenes. The "tempest in a c-cup?" That would be her and she was in the episode for only a couple of minutes. It would have made far more sense to call this one something along the lines of "The Taxi Cab Butcher." What, too much?

(S01E07) This had to be the first point in the season where the writers for this show just said, "What the hell? Let's go nuts." So they did. People got whacked. Children went missing and there was a guy who thought he was a werewolf.

Martinez (to the wolf guy): "So, uh, what do you like to be called? Mr. Wolf?"

The wolf guy would be Lou (hence the title). He's a bum who seems to think he's a werewolf and he uses it as an excuse to get locked up for the night (hey, it's a bed). What had me excited about it was who played the wolf guy: Dan Hedaya! He's one of my favorite character actors. Check out his IMDb page because he's been in a ton of stuff. This had to have been a crowning achievement for him though because he was actually credited as "Lou the Werewolf."

(S01E04) Since I started watching this show (I had never seen an episode before), I've been doing my best to avoid reading about the episodes on fan websites and places like IMDb. For whatever reason though, I went ahead and read something on this particular episode. That was stupid because I would have much rather preferred that the ending were a surprise. Some shows I don't care if I know stuff in advance but I like to be in the dark with NYPD Blue.

So here goes. David Schwimmer's guest stint has come to an end. Josh "4B" Goldstein was gunned down as he tried to stop some thug from stealing a lady's purse on the subway. Kelly made it to the hospital just in time to see 4B take his last breath. It was actually kind of sad. Schwimmer wasn't half bad in the dramatic role and it's too bad we probably won't see that side of him again now that he's typecast as that bumbling schmuck from Friends. Anyway, that's how the episode ended but there was plenty more in between.

Do not adjust your web browser. You are now entering the Retro Squad, where we are reviewing past episodes of your favorite shows, in order, every week.

(S01E01) Ahh, the glory days. When men were men, gas was cheap(er), and David Caruso wasn't aging like a raisin while patrolling the beaches of Miami. Of course, I'm talking about NYPD Blue when Caruso (as Detective John Kelly) was scouring the streets of Manhattan with the best bad New York accent I've ever heard. The year was 1993 and Steven Bochco and David Milch's new ABC cop drama would ensure that television would never be the same. It was, after all, dubbed the first ever "R-Rated" TV series.