In what seems a little like the TV equivalent of releasing an album of “new” music shortly after a musician’s death, ABC has begun developing a pilot for an NYPD Blue sequel series just over six months after the death of NYPD Blue co-creator Steven Bochco. This comes from Variety, which says the new show will revolve around the rise Theo Sipowicz, the son of original series lead Andy Sipowicz, as he works his way toward becoming an NYPD detective while—hold on to your butts, NYPD Blue fans—investigating the murder of his father. So yeah, looks like Sipowicz has been murdered in the time since the show went off the air, and unless he appears to his son as a helpful ghost in this new pilot, original star Dennis Franz probably won’t be involved.
That seems like an odd move in today’s nostalgia-powered TV culture, especially since (as far as we know) Dennis Franz hasn’t said anything racist on Twitter like Roseanne Barr did. In fact, here’s the last post from the “official Twitter account of Dennis Franz,” which hasn’t been active since 2013:
C’mon, ABC. Have some roast lamb and put this guy in the new show as a ghost.