Remembering
Brooklyn South
(Formerly
"Save Brooklyn South" Web Page) Updated Jan. 9, 2007
Text © 1998 Cyndi Glass;
all photos & sounds on this page © 1997 CBS/Bochco Productions
Premiered Sept. 22, 1997 -- Best New
Drama, People Choice Awards, 1997
Best Direction, Drama Series (Mark
Tinker, "Pilot"), Emmy Awards 1998
Cancelled by CBS May 20, 1998
"...Some of the
grittiest, most authentic police drama TV has ever seen..."
Mary Ann Johanson,
Flick Filosopher
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This site was formerly Save
Brooklyn South, the home of the anti-cancellation web campaign. Although we did not succeed in saving the show, we got
it a little publicity from the Viewers For Quality Television, E!Online, "The New Yorker" and Salon.
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Brooklyn South
Released on DVD!! (Sept. 2003)
Our
Review: This is what we've been waiting for, and it's nice to see this show
treated with such respect. Lasting only one season, Brooklyn South lives
on in this Box Set. All episodes, from the pilot to the series finale, are
here for your enjoyment on six DVDs -- uncut, uncensored, and uninterrupted.
Special features include a colorful audio commentary track by co-creator
David Milch on the unforgettable pilot episode,
cast & crew biographies, police "Ten Codes," and "Steven
Bochco: The Brooklyn South Interview." 990 minutes total, great
sound, beautifully packaged. Brooklyn
South DVD Contest! The winner of the 6-disc Brooklyn South DVD Box Set, answering
all questions correctly, is Paul S. Manson. Valued at $99, the set was
donated by the A&E
store for this contest. Here are the questions with their correct
answers. In the season
finale, there was a dual party thrown to celebrate a promotion and a
retirement. Who were the two characters honored at the party? - Sgt. Richard Santoro (promoted to Lieutenant) and Off. Ray
MacElwaine (retirement) There was a
romantic triangle among the squad's officers. Which three officers were
involved? -- Jack Lowery, Nona Valentine &
Clement Johnson Who did the music
for the series? -- Mike Post Where were the
majority of Brooklyn South's scenes
filmed? -- Los Angeles AJ Langer played
Phil Roussakoff's girlfriend and was formerly one
of the lead actors in another series. Which series? -- My So-Called Life Which officer was promoted to detective? - Anne Marie Kersey |
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Theme Song! Download from the Jumpstreet Yahoo Group |
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Links Brooklyn South - IMDB (go
here for Cast list) Brooklyn South reviews from Salon, WOIO-TV,
FilmFilosopher.com,
PopMatters See
the sights
of Brooklyn South! Thanks to Mike for the URL! Yancy Butler Website's page about Brooklyn South. My
Michael DeLuise/Joey
Penhall (21 Jump Street) Page (he's the
reason I watched). |
Welcome to Remembering Brooklyn South.
Why did CBS cancel Brooklyn South?
- Low
ratings: However, Brooklyn
South was generally regarded as a show that had a chance to come into
its own if it were allowed a second year like other shows have had in the
past.
- Too
many characters: Plot is important, but an audience needs to care
about characters to keep watching. And it helps if they look different
enough to keep track of who's who right from the beginning.
- CBS
scheduling: Episodes were inconsistently shown, with the pilot
being inexplicably repeated over and over. In a show like this, the
audience needs to be able to follow the storyline, and the scheduling made
it impossible. It also was in competition with both Monday Night Football and Ally
McBeal.
- Financial
Reasons Theory: CBS did not own the show and had to pay for
episodes. According to several different broadcasting magazines (Mediaweek, Electronic Media, Broadcasting &
Cable, TV Guide), CBS (along with the other networks) designed its
Fall 1998 schedule to enhance its own financial position by cancelling many shows that they did not own and replacing
them with shows they produced themselves. This new movement in network
broadcasting is apparently due to the high prices that NBC has been forced
to pay for episodes of ER and Mad
About You. Many of the articles I have read theorize that this is the real
reason behind several of CBS's Fall 1998 decisions.
Why Brooklyn South Should Have Been
Given Another Chance
Bochco Productions
proved that they can deliver a high-quality urban police drama - just look at Hill Street Blues and NYPD Blue. Watching Brooklyn South was sort of like an extra NYPD Blue every week - they had the same types of situations, the
same hard-edged dialogue, the same urban atmosphere and the same kind of
story-telling. We believe that with more time given to this show by its writers
and producers, it could have developed into another hit drama.
This show was beginning to overcome the obstacle of a huge cast to begin
telling individual stories about them. Brooklyn
South was not originally written to be about anyone in particular - it was
a very LARGE ensemble cast -- perhaps too large. It shouldn't be necessary to
watch five or six episodes before you can get the characters straight and
remember who's who. However, the cast did get pared down a bit, the scenes got
longer, and we got to know more about everyone - love triangles exploded,
sticky ethical situations arose, Phil got a romance... Unfortunately by this
time back in 1997/98, the public had already given up.
The acting, writing and direction were superb. Not only the lead actors
but also the recurring and guest actors were well-cast and talented. And the
stories were intelligent. We were particularly fond of the way they showed the
lives of uniformed cops, while NYPD Blue shows the lives of the detectives
"upstairs." Together, the shows formed a pleasing whole. And on DVD,
where the audience can see the shows in order and watch them at their leisure,
rewinding if necessary, it stands on its own as a jewel of a police show.
Photo: Michael DeLuise
as Phil Roussakoff, donated to me by CBS Press
Relations, NYC.
21 Jump Street
Page * Michael DeLuise page *