N.Y.P.D. (TV series)

N.Y.P.D.
The cast from left: Frank Converse, Jack Warden and Robert Hooks, 1969.
Genre	Crime drama
Created by	Arnold Perl David Susskind
Written by	Lonne Elder III Arnold Perl Albert Ruben David Susskind
Directed by	Robert Butler Alex March Daniel Petrie David Pressman
Starring	Jack Warden Robert Hooks Frank Converse
Theme music composer	Charles Gross
Composer(s)	Charles Gross
Country of origin	United States
Original language(s)	English
No. of seasons	2
No. of episodes	49
Production
Executive producer(s)	Daniel Melnick
Producer(s)	Bob Markell
Editor(s)	Lyman Hallowell
Running time	30 minutes
Production company(s)	Talent Associates, in association with the ABC Television Network
Release
Original network	ABC
Original release	September 5, 1967 – March 25, 1969

N.Y.P.D. is the title of a half-hour American television crime drama of the 1960s set in the context of the New York City Police Department. The program appeared on the ABC network during the 1967-68 and 1968-69 television seasons. In both seasons, the program appeared in the evening, 9:30 p.m. time slot. During the second season, N.Y.P.D was joined by The Mod Squad and It Takes a Thief to form a 2½ hour block of crime dramas.

Overview

The cast included Jack Warden as Lt. Mike Haines, Robert Hooks as Detective Jeff Ward, and Frank Converse as Detective Johnny Corso. Among the acting personalities who appeared in the series were Al Pacino, Jill Clayburgh, Jane Elliot, Ralph Waite, Harvey Keitel, James Earl Jones, Charles Durning, Gretchen Corbett, and Roy Scheider.

The show was a production of Talent Associates, Ltd., a company founded by Alfred Levy and David Susskind. Talent Associates had produced 14 years of the anthology program Armstrong Circle Theatre and The Kaiser Aluminum Hour, both highly respected shows. Television producer, movie producer, and talk show host Susskind created N.Y.P.D. with screenwriter Arnold Perl (Cotton Comes to Harlem). At the time of his death in 1971, Arnold Perl was working on a screenplay about assassinated black activist Malcolm X, which would later become the basis for Spike Lee's 1992 film, Malcolm X. Daniel Melnick, the show’s executive producer, was a partner with Susskind in Talent Associates and had brought Mel Brooks and Buck Henry together to create the TV comedy Get Smart in 1965. Producer Susskind and actor Harvey Keitel would work together again on Martin Scorsese's Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore (1974). Scripted by writers like Lonne Elder, who would later be the first African-American nominated for a Best Screenplay Oscar (for 1972's Sounder), the stories came with such titles as "Cruise to Oblivion," "Which Side Are You On?," "The Screaming Woman," and "Deadly Circle of Violence." In N.Y.P.D. scripts, there were white cops and black cops, white suspects and black suspects, white witnesses and black witnesses, an unselfconscious racial blend that would not be seen for years to come on network television.

In 1967, N.Y.P.D. was the first television series in America to air an episode with a gay theme ("Shakedown"). The police track down a man blackmailing gay men, prompting several suicides.

Episode list

Season 1

Episode #	Episode title	Original airdate	Episode summary
1-1	"Shakedown" (pilot)	September 5, 1967	A blackmail ring that targets homosexuals is investigated after it leads to a series of suicides.
1-2	"Fingerman"	September 12, 1967	Ward receives a series of hysterical calls from an informer who believes he's being followed by friends of a man who helped put in jail.
1-3	"The Screaming Woman"	September 19, 1967	Corso is suspended after being charged with attempted rape after he and Ward investigate complaints from a woman about noisy drunks.
1-4	"Fast Gun"	September 26, 1967	A man with a quick trigger finger kills a detective and then taunts the police department.
1-5	"Walking Target"	October 3, 1967	A high-ranking foreign police official is nearly shot by a sniper during an award ceremony at city hall.
1-6	"Money Man"	October 10, 1967	The presence of a loan shark results in Ward and Corso going undercover in the construction industry to find out the reason for a series of unexplained deaths.
1-7	"Old Gangsters Never Die"	October 17, 1967	A professional hijacker (Howard De Silva) emerges from a lengthy prison term and immediately resumes his old bad habits.
1-8	"To Catch A Hero"	October 31, 1967	Haines breaks down a girl's alibi whereby she incriminates her boyfriend in the brutal killing of a drunk.
1-9	"Murder For Infinity"	November 7, 1967	A sculptor wanted for murder contacts Haines' friend and bargains for a top defense lawyer.
1-10	"The Pink Gumdrop"	November 14, 1967	An attractive ex-convict who is a passenger in a stolen sports car, provides the lead in helping capture the head of a car theft ring.
1-11	"The Witness"	November 21, 1967	Ward is accused of accepting a bribe from a frontman during a crackdown on the numbers racket.
1-12	"The Boy Witness"	November 28, 1967	A 13-year-old boy is the only witness in the murder of an attractive young woman.
1-13	"Joshua Fit the Battle Of Fulton Street"	December 5, 1967	After a crime wave strikes a New York neighborhood, residents form a vigilante group.
1-14	"The Bomber"	December 12, 1967	A fanatical anti-Communist (Jon Voight) and his fiancee bomb multiple Iron Curtain consulates, killing and injuring a number of people.
1-15	"Wire Finish"	December 19, 1967	A jockey (Robert Salvio) is told during mysterious phone calls that two murders were committed in his name.
1-16	"Cruise To Oblivion"	December 26, 1967	Haines gets a tip that a passenger aboard an incoming ocean liner is carrying narcotics into New York.
1-17	"The Patriots"	January 2, 1968	The wife of an exiled Latin American dictator is murdered, with the prime suspects being the dictator's political enemies.
1-18	"Red Headed Pigeon"	January 16, 1968	An elusive rapist who always attacks young women with long hair results in the police department using a young policewoman just out of the academy as a decoy.
1-19	"Which Side Are You On?"	January 30, 1968	After an elderly African-American high school teacher is killed, Ward goes to the neighborhood where the killing took place, but is met with cold hostility from the residents.
1-20	"Cry Brute"	February 6, 1968	Corso is accused of police brutality and is the central figure in a $100,000 lawsuit against the city.
1-21	"Last Port of Call"	February 13, 1968	A merchant seaman is accused of molesting children and instructed to stay aboard his ship, but he makes an effort to clear himself by visiting the parents of one of the children.
1-22	"Macho"	February 20, 1968	A Puerto Rican grocer's life is threatened and his store is boycotted after he saves a policeman from an attack by a gang of neighborhood boys.
1-23	"Stones"	February 27, 1968	Corso infiltrates a gang of "thrill muggers" who victimize elderly vagrants in Central Park.
1-24	"The Private Eye Puzzle"	March 5, 1968	A former private eye reports that he was robbed of a large sum of money, but has no witnesses to back up his story.
1-25	"Nothing Is Real But the Dead" (Part 1)	March 12, 1968	Haines and Corso search for a young girl who left her wealthy parents to take up life as a Greenwich Village hippie.
1-26	"Nothing Is Real But the Dead" (Part 2)	March 19, 1968	Two Greenwich Village hippies who can identify a killer go into hiding out of fear of him.

Season 2

Episode #	Episode title	Original airdate	Episode summary
2-1	"Naked in the Streets"	October 1, 1968	After a young married woman is raped, the detectives are stymied when she refuses to sign a complaint against the attacker.
2-2	"Encounter On A Rooftop"	October 8, 1968	Ward is accidentally shot by a rookie policeman after he's mistaken for a burglar.
2-3	"Day Tripper"	October 15, 1968	An attractive young girl is found murdered and all the evidence points to her boyfriend as the killer.
2-4	"What's A Nice Girl Like You..."	October 29, 1968	After the death of a beautiful young girl, the damaged relationship between a spoiled son and his wealthy father becomes part of the subsequent interrogation.
2-5	"Deadly Circle Of Violence"	November 12, 1968	A motive is sought for the attempted killing of a disreputable white southerner, with suspicions pointing toward black militants who are seeking revenge for the bombing of an African-American church in the South.
2-6	"Case of the Shady Lady"	November 19, 1968	A go-go dancer accuses an influential businessman (Robert Alda) of murdering her husband.
2-7	"The Golden Fleece"	November 26, 1968	Detectives have difficulty tracking down a con artist who has swindled an out-of-town businessman out of $5,000.
2-8	"The Peep Freak"	December 3, 1968	While investigating the murder of a young woman, the police discover a peeping Tom (Martin Sheen) who they believe is connected with the slaying.
2-9	"Walk the Long Pier"	December 10, 1968	Corso poses as a longshoreman in order to stop the theft of guns on the docks.
2-10	"The Witch of 116th Street"	December 17, 1968	An extortionist is threatening residents with his self-proclaimed powers of black magic.
2-11	"'L' Is For Love and Larceny"	December 24, 1968	Haines investigates the theft of an expensive pendant from the apartment of one of his friends.
2-12	"The Love Hustle"	December 31, 1968	A prostitute staggers into the squad room and just before she dies, she indicates that an unknown man is planning to kill her mother,
2-13	"The Body In the Trunk"	January 7, 1969	After the mysterious death of a young woman, the detectives are confronted with the woman's frightened boyfriend, her irate parents and an abortion doctor.
2-14	"The Night Watch"	January 21, 1969	The search is on for a health food addict whose fanaticism eventually leads to murder.
2-15	"Three-Fifty-Two"	January 28, 1969	Ward loses his gun and shield during a holdup, with the entire police squad taking action to apprehend the thieves.
2-16	"The Attacker"	February 4, 1969	A man who has been attacking women in a specific neighborhood eludes detection at first when he becomes part of a group that confess to all sorts of crimes.
2-17	"Candy Man" (Part 1)	February 11, 1969	The detectives head to a drug rehabilitation center in their search for a grocery store thief.
2-18	"Candy Man" (Part 2)	February 18, 1969	In an attempt to capture the grocery store thief, Corso observes a group therapy session at the rehab center.
2-19	"Who's Got the Bundle?"	February 25, 1969	Both police and criminals are in search of a valise that contains $150,000 in stolen money.
2-20	"The Face of the Dart Board"	March 4, 1969	Haines' wife is harassed by crank calls, obscene letters and other disturbances, which are attributed as part of a vendetta against him..
2-21	"Boys Night Out"	March 11, 1969	A number of neighborhood bartenders are being shaken down by extortionists.
2-22	"Everybody Loved Him"	March 18, 1969	A film producer who appeared to have no enemies is murdered.
2-23	"No Day Trippers Need Apply"	March 25, 1969	A man is being blackmailed after picture appear showing him attending an orgy.

External links

• N.Y.P.D. at the Internet Movie Database
• N.Y.P.D. at TV.com
• The Robert J. Markell papers, 1967–1968 are located in the Northeastern University Libraries, Archives and Special Collections Department, Boston, MA.