Bochco Under Fire

His racy NYPD Blue finally airs after a summer of controversy and a wave of affiliate defections

"For 20 years," Steven Bochco told an interviewer recently, "I've made a living swimming upstream." But for the past three or four of them, TV's brash experimenter has been thrashing mostly in dry creek beds. The creator of Hill Street Blues and L.A. Law tried a musical police show (Cop Rock), an "adult" cartoon (Capitol Critters) and a sexy law show (Civil Wars). Now, with his new ABC series, NYPD Blue, Bochco is back where he is most comfortable: chronicling the dark, turbulent world of big-city law enforcement. And fighting a raging current.

Bochco's show, which he invented partly to test...

Want the full story?

Subscribe Now

Subscribe
Subscribe

Learn more about the benefits of being a TIME subscriber

If you are already a subscriber sign up — registration is free!