Yesterday on H&I Bobby died. After all those years, I still cried like a baby. Bobby and Diane were one of the best couples to ever grace our TV screens. They were finally happy after all they went through. What a tragedy.
shareI caught that episode, too. Agreed!
shareIn total agreement. The last 2 episodes with Bobby passing away, were some of the finest in a series with so many fine episodes.
shareI can't believe I missed that! I have been watching NYPD on DIRECTV and on H&I going back and forth and I skipped one I guess. I just read that Smits had asked to be written off the series because the scripts hadn't been coming until the day of shooting and he couldn't work that way. I wonder if he ever regretted that. He,and Frantz were a great combo. And of course He and Dianne.
Since I've been watching this everyday I've been thinking about the character they turned Dennis Franz into -- a real Greek tragic figure! He had so many traumatic events happen to him with his son'sdeath and Simone's death and all the rest (no spoilers). Finally he gets his reward as Squad leader at the end. Wish the show had gone on. It was great!
In its initial broadcast, the episode featuring Simone's death was a 90-minute (with commercials) special episode. In reruns, the episode has been cut to the standard 45 minutes. I had hoped that since DirecTV's Audience Network is noncommercial, they would just go ahead and air the episode uncut--but unfortunately that was not the case (I'm not sure if the show is still on Amazon Prime but even when it was available there, it was, again, the 45-minute cut version). The only way to see the original uncut version is by watching it on DVD.
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not true, jackal...
the uncut version is ALSO available to watch on YouTube
the censored version sucks in my opinion... Medavoy and Martinez are in 2 scenes (1 at the beginning and one at the end when the whole squad says goodbye to Bobby on his deathbed)... and SO much is left out that the episode loses vital organs with the cut scenes... they should just skip over the episode if theyre gonna censor most of it and go from episode 4 to episode 6 if they cut out most of episode 5
In the UNCUT version, Medavoy and Martinez have more screen time and there's a subplot involving them... Medavoy is very sad over Bobbys impending death and worried about him... and some jerk comes into the squad wanting to make a complaint about something stupid and trivial and he goes off on him... and in his final scene with that jerk, you saw the deep sadness in his eyes because Fancy announced he'd just got the call from Russell that the squad should come say goodbye to Bobby... and that was some of the BEST acting id ever seen from Gordon Clapp... and it aired in 1998, which is the year he won the Emmy. He deserved it... also, Martinez had a scene with John Irvin AND one of the uniformed cops downstairs about Bobbys condition n its obvious hez not handling it well... it was some really good acting from Nicholas Turturro too... and another cut scene was when Fancy gets the call from Russell about Bobby and her tells the squad in tears that they gotta get over there to say goodbye... the emotions he demonstrated displayed a good performance by McDaniel too... and we also got a SUPER touching scene with Bobby in a dream sequence before his death... well I don't know if it was meant to b a dream or a pre-death experience... but in the scene a week looking Bobby is holding a wounded bird in his hand who's on the verge of death like Bobby himself. Patsy is in the scene too, giving him some fatherly wisdom advice... and as an animal lover, the scene broke my heart seeing the poor, beautiful bird on the verge of death... I caught the subtext between Bobby and the bird being in a similar condition n the dynamic between them and I thought it was a very well done scene and my favorite of the whole episode... ALL of Bobbys scenes in the syndicated version have him laying in his hospital bed, not doing much n barely moving... except for that 1 brief scene at the beginning when hez in his wheelchair... the full 90 minute version is much better...
My ONLY complaint about the 90 minute version is that Andy n Bobby only have 1 scene together in the whole episode n thats when Andy says goodbye n promises him he'll look after Diane for him... theyd been partners the last 4 years before that, they became such good friends, but they barely had any interaction in his final episode... I kno he spent most of the episode taking care of his ex-wife, Katie...
also, why wasn't Sylvia there to say goodbye to Bobby with everyone else? She was IN the episode n Sharon was back to being a series regular at the time... theyd worked together on cases shed prosecuted and he was her husbands partner for the last 4 years n therez no doubt theyd gotten to kno each other during that time... even tho they didn't have THAT many scenes together, they probably interacted alot off screen since he was such a close friend of her husband... it just didn't make sense to me that Sylvia wasn't there to say goodbye to Bobby with everyone else...
overall i think Bobby Simones death on NYPD Blue was the 3rd saddest TV death id ever seen... the 2nd saddest was ALSO on NYPD Blue and it was the death of Andy Jr in season 3... that was the saddest thing that ever happened during all 12 seasons of NYPD Blue and that episode AND the episode right after it are the best acting ive ever SEEN from Dennis Franz... on the show n everything else ive seen him in...
and the 1st saddest TV death ive ever seen was the death of Dr. Mark Greene on ER at the end of season 8... that was BY FAR the saddest TV death ive ever seen and Anthony Edwards' performance in his final episode was EXTREMELY top notch acting beyond compare... as well as the writing... I can't believe Anthony Edwards didn't win an Emmy for that episode because it was the best TV acting ive ever seen... AND an ending that did him justice to his character... he appeared very active and had so much to do in his final episode of the series, as opposed to lying in a bed... the episode chokes me up every time