The tenth season of NYPD Blue premiered on ABC on September 24, 2002, and concluded on May 20, 2003.

NYPD Blue
Season 10
Season 10 U.S. DVD Cover
Country of originUnited States
No. of episodes22
Release
Original networkABC
Original releaseSeptember 24, 2002 (2002-09-24) –
May 20, 2003 (2003-05-20)
Season chronology
← Previous
Season 9
Next →
Season 11
List of episodes
Actor Character Main cast Recurring cast
Dennis Franz Andy Sipowicz entire season —
Mark-Paul Gosselaar John Clark Jr. entire season —
Gordon Clapp Greg Medavoy entire season —
Henry Simmons Baldwin Jones entire season —
Charlotte Ross Connie McDowell entire season —
Garcelle Beauvais Valerie Haywood entire season —
Jacqueline Obradors Rita Ortiz entire season —
Bill Brochtrup John Irvin entire season —
Esai Morales Tony Rodriguez entire season —
John F. O'Donohue Eddie Gibson — episode 9
Kim Delaney Diane Russell — episode 21

Episodes

See also: List of NYPD Blue episodes
No.
overall		No. in
season		TitleDirected byWritten byOriginal air dateProd.
code		U.S. viewers
(millions)
1981"Ho Down"Mark TinkerStory by : Bill Clark & Nicholas Wootton
Teleplay by : Nicholas Wootton		September 24, 2002 (2002-09-24)HA01/510113.17[1]
Sipowicz and Clark go to arrest a shooting suspect and Sipowicz ends up pushing a woman down to the floor; a bystander informs them she's Money T's woman, and Sipowicz is in danger. Medavoy and Jones catch the case of an older woman who has been severely beaten and bound with tape. A friend of Clark's shows up at the 15th to tell Clark his name has come up in the investigation of a murdered prostitute.
1992"You’ve Got Mail"Mark PiznarskiStory by : Bill Clark & Matt Olmstead
Teleplay by : Matt Olmstead		October 1, 2002 (2002-10-01)HA02/510212.69[2]
A call comes in from the FBI reporting a bomb threat at the Family Court building; as the detectives evacuate the building, McDowell and Ortiz witness a letter bomb explode in a Judge's chamber. Clark gets grief from the uniforms about his involvement with a prostitute and is called in to talk to IAB, where Fraker informs him he is a suspect in her murder.
2003"One in the Nuts"Michael SwitzerStory by : Bill Clark & Jody Worth
Teleplay by : Jody Worth		October 8, 2002 (2002-10-08)HA03/510313.04[3]
Sipowicz and Clark catch a DOA who has been shot in his apartment, once in the groin and once in the head, his gun lying at his side. Medavoy and Jones respond to a shoot-out at a food mart, where the store owner chased out and may have shot the Hispanic robber. A few blocks away, McDowell and Ortiz respond to a Hispanic man who claims he was shot by a robber down the street. Connie has a visit from her very pregnant sister, who is sporting a black eye given to her by her husband.
2014"Meat Me in the Park"Jesse BochcoGreg PlagemanOctober 15, 2002 (2002-10-15)HA04/510412.99[4]
Sipowicz and Clark respond to a call about a missing 5-year old girl whose father claims that he notified a friend's nanny to watch her while he went to the bathroom. McDowell and Ortiz, soon joined by Medavoy and Jones, catch the case of a seventeen year old girl who was dragged by a car and then shot. Connie, after finding her sister has once again been beaten by her husband, Frank, has him arrested.
2025"Death by Cycle"Jake PaltrowStory by : Bill Clark & Keith Eisner
Teleplay by : Keith Eisner		October 22, 2002 (2002-10-22)HA06/510614.17[5]
Sipowicz and Clark work the case of a 16 year old boy stabbed to death for his fancy new bicycle; Medavoy and Jones also work the case. Connie once again finds her sister Michelle badly beaten and bleeding and has an ambulance take her to the hospital; Ortiz heads out to find Frank.
2036"Maya Con Dios"Mark TinkerStory by : Bill Clark & Tom Szentgyorgyi
Teleplay by : Tom Szentgyorgyi		October 29, 2002 (2002-10-29)HA05/510514.62[6]
The detectives investigate the fatal shooting of a police officer. A call shortly after to a break-in leads to the discovery of one of the perpetrators dead on the roof. McDowell and Ortiz are split off to investigate the kidnapping of a young adopted boy. Clark gets a call that his father is at a bar, drunk and causing problems.
2047"Das Boots"Mark TinkerStory by : Bill Clark & Greg Plageman
Teleplay by : Greg Plageman		November 12, 2002 (2002-11-12)HA07/510712.06[7]
Connie has brought her dead sister's baby home; Clark Jr. is still trying to deal with his father having been turned into an informant by IAB. A dead prostitute is found in a vacant lot; another dead woman is found in the laundry room of her building. Lt. Rodriguez meets his ex-wife Angela for lunch.
2058"Below the Belt"Mark PiznarskiStory by : Bill Clark & Nicholas Wootton
Teleplay by : Nicholas Wootton		November 19, 2002 (2002-11-19)HA08/510812.05[8]
Clark and McDowell investigate the death of a 17-year-old female auxiliary cop, who turns out to have been having sex with a number of the uniform cops, including the auxiliary captain. McDowell and Ortiz respond to the firebombing of a car. Haywood asks Jones to investigate when her grandmother appears to be the victim of a phone scam. Tony continues seeing Angela.
2069"Half-Ashed"Steven DePaulStory by : Bill Clark & Matt Olmstead
Teleplay by : Matt Olmstead		November 26, 2002 (2002-11-26)HA09/510912.42[9]
Theo has responded negatively to Andy and Connie's announcement that he and his dad are moving into Connie's apartment. At the scene of a dead Child Protective Services worker, Carla Solomon, her neighbor thinks it is suicide, as she says Carla has been depressed lately. More disturbing, the uniforms on scene are throwing a lot of attitude at Sipowicz and Clark because all of them have been called in to talk to IAB, despite Sipowicz and Clark having solemnly promised not to inform on them. The widow of a former 15th Squad detective arrives with some of her husband's ashes, wanting to give them a permanent home at the squad. Angela's more recent ex-husband tells Rodriguez she stole his BMW.
20710"Healthy McDowell Movement"Tawnia McKiernanStory by : Bill Clark & Jody Worth
Teleplay by : Jody Worth and Nicholas Wootton & Matt Olmstead		December 10, 2002 (2002-12-10)HA10/511012.29[10]
Andy bids goodbye to his apartment, which he has sub-let to a delighted John Irvin. Angela misses a breakfast date with Tony. Clark is upset and moody, having found out it was his father who informed on the uniforms. Sipowicz and Clark, with help from Medavoy and Jones, work the case of a young bipolar man who has vandalized his father's apartment; Ortiz and McDowell investigate a dead party girl, who was adopted at age eight and apparently has a history of attacking people.
20811"I Kid You Not"Joe Ann FogleStory by : Bill Clark & Tom Szentgyorgyi
Teleplay by : Tom Szentgyorgyi		January 7, 2003 (2003-01-07)HA11/511111.67[11]

Clark, Sipowicz, Medavoy, and Jones arrive at a DOA and find Laughlin back on the job, entirely ungrateful that they lobbied to have him returned to duty. The DOA is accused of trying to hijack the car of a young errand-runner for a record company. When two ounces of cocaine are found in the car, the young woman is arrested. McDowell and Ortiz find three obviously neglected small children alone at the DOA's last known address. Angela failed to meet with Tony to go to rehab last night; he is called to a DOA, who turns out to be Angela, dead of an overdose.

Note

20912"Arrested Development"Jesse BochcoStory by : Bill Clark & Keith Eisner
Teleplay by : Keith Eisner		January 14, 2003 (2003-01-14)HA12/511211.86[12]
An unpleasant woman is found beaten to death in her apartment. First impressions implicate the illegal immigrant who was doing work for her, but he is a weak suspect. Medavoy and Jones investigate the stabbing death of an abrasive do-gooder who rubbed everyone the wrong way with his holier-than-thou harangues. IAB arrive, on an anonymous tip, and find four ounces of heroin in Clark's car. Theo regresses and is wetting his bed, despite having stopped more than two years before.
21013"Bottoms Up"Donna DeitchStory by : Bill Clark & Greg Plageman
Teleplay by : Greg Plageman		February 4, 2003 (2003-02-04)HA13/511311.03[13]
Sipowicz works to prove that Laughlin is the one who planted the heroin in Clark's car. John is visited in jail by his father, who wants to help, but seems more upset that Clark Jr. trusts Sipowicz more than his father to clear his name. The other detectives investigate the rapes of two young women at a local park; both were with their boyfriends, who were tied up and forced to watch.
21114"Laughlin All the Way to the Clink"JoAnne McCoolStory by : Bill Clark & Sonny Postiglione
Teleplay by : Sonny Postiglione		February 11, 2003 (2003-02-11)HA14/511410.95[14]
Shannon comes clean about Laughlin setting up Clark; Clark is released and Laughlin arrested. Clark Sr., shows up at the station house, drunk, and shouts at the uniforms that he was the one who informed, not his son. A wealthy gay man, who has been serving as an unofficial halfway-house for newly-released convicts, is found dead, as is an activist working to help young gang women get out of their gangs.
21215"Tranny Get Your Gun"Rick WallaceStory by : Bill Clark & Eric Rogers
Teleplay by : Eric Rogers		February 18, 2003 (2003-02-18)HA15/511511.71[15]
Andy and Connie are having a hard time blending their lives, to the point that Andy hints at John Irvin he might want his apartment back. Cases investigated are a man robbed in a Murphy scam with a transvestite hooker and a young Pakistani woman who appears to be the victim of an "honor killing" by her father.
21316"Nude Awakening"Mark TinkerStory by : Bill Clark & Matt Olmstead
Teleplay by : Matt Olmstead		February 25, 2003 (2003-02-25)HA16/511611.59[16]

Julian Pisano, the half-helpful, half-worthless snitch from Season 9, is shot and wounded during what he claims was a carjacking, though Andy and Clark Jr. don't really buy his story. Connie and Rita catch a case where a woman was scammed for $100 in the street; the woman gets increasingly annoyed and complains to a high level of the NYPD when she feels her case is being neglected. Clark goes to check on his father and finds he has committed suicide; Andy quickly finds Clark Sr.'s gun cleaning kit so he can arrange the death to appear to be an accident.

Indecency fine[a]
21417"Off the Wall"John HyamsStory by : Bill Clark & Nicholas Wootton
Teleplay by : Nicholas Wootton		April 8, 2003 (2003-04-08)HA17/511710.88[17]
While investigating a drug dealer's murder, Baldwin and Greg end up in a shootout with the suspect, which results in the death of a 13-year-old boy, an apparent innocent bystander. Rita and Connie investigate the death of a belligerent drunk, who is found a long way outside his usual orbit.
21518"Marine Life"Matthew PennStory by : Bill Clark & Jody Worth
Teleplay by : Jody Worth		April 15, 2003 (2003-04-15)HA18/511810.70[18]
Things are uneasy between John and Rita after their breakup over his inability to accept her offer to help him deal with his father's suicide. One of the cases investigated is the murder of a record promoter, next to whom is a note reading "Die bitch". The other is the assault of a mail-order bride from Russia, whose husband has obviously tired of her. Valerie tells Baldwin about threats she has been receiving.
21619"Meet the Grandparents"Jake PaltrowStory by : Bill Clark & Greg Plageman
Teleplay by : Greg Plageman		April 29, 2003 (2003-04-29)HA19/511911.42[19]
In court to finalize her adoption of her dead sister's daughter, Connie and Andy are blindsided by the abusive father's parents, who challenge Connie and Andy's fitness as parents. A Nigerian man is killed, possibly having been mistaken for his petty criminal brother. McDowell and Ortiz investigate when a waitress complains of being stalked by a doctor. Valerie is beaten up, and Baldwin tries to make good on the threats he made against the man the week before.
21720"Maybe Baby"Bob DohertyStory by : Bill Clark & Keith Eisner
Teleplay by : Keith Eisner		May 6, 2003 (2003-05-06)HA20/512011.56[20]
The squad continues to work to help Connie keep custody of baby Michelle by researching the Colahans. Medavoy discovers that Frank had a sister no one knew about, who had some sort of crisis, turning from a happy child to a withdrawn teenager. Medavoy gets a break in the beating of Valerie Heywood when fingerprints in her apartment lead to an associate of the man Baldwin threatened. An old AA friend of Sipowicz' makes the break in the case of a jerk found dead in a shop.
21821"Yo, Adrian"Carol BankerStory by : Bill Clark & Tom Szentgyorgyi
Teleplay by : Tom Szentgyorgyi		May 13, 2003 (2003-05-13)HA21/512111.77[21]

Andy reaches out to Diane Russell, working now in SVU, to try to get Frank's sister Adrian to open up about her relationship with her father, pointing out that if Michelle is adopted, the same thing will likely happen to her. When a mild young woman is found dead, her friends and family are unconcerned though her brother-in-law was using her apartment for affairs and her boyfriend is deep in debt to loan sharks. John and Dr. Jennifer Devlin kindle a torrid relationship.

21922"22 Skidoo"Mark TinkerStory by : Bill Clark & Matt Olmstead
Teleplay by : Matt Olmstead		May 20, 2003 (2003-05-20)HA22/512212.46[22]
Rita is finding it harder to deal with John's flaunting of his relationship with Jennifer and requests a transfer. Andy and Connie plan an "under-the-radar" wedding. When a Korean, a Pakistani, and an Arabian-American are all gunned down, initial suspicion falls on a Korean young man, posing as an honors student while running a gang. Fraker shows up at the squad, ranting at both Sipowicz and Rodriguez after the revelation of his affair, which neither had a hand in revealing.

Notes

  1. ^ *In January 2008, the FCC announced that they would seek a $1.4 million fine against ABC for the opening sequence, in which Theo Sipowicz walks in on a nude Connie in the bathroom preparing to take a shower. The scene featured full rear nudity and partial frontal nudity on the part of actress Charlotte Ross. The complaint alleged that the nude shot of Ross was held onscreen longer than it should have been, and that Ross' character didn't react fast enough to cover herself. The fine was the largest against a network in recent history. ABC said they would appeal the fine on the grounds that it came over five years after the episode was originally broadcast. If they failed, each of 52 affiliates would pay $27,500 for broadcasting the episode. On January 4, 2011, the U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals threw out the fine, citing FCC rules as 'unconstitutionally vague and chilling'. [ABC, Inc., et al. v. Federal Communications Commission, No. 08-0841-ag(L) (2nd Cir.)]

References

  1. ^ "National Nielsen Viewership (Sept. 23-29)". The Los Angeles Times. October 2, 2002. Retrieved April 22, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.Free access icon
  2. ^ "National Nielsen Viewership (Sept. 30-Oct. 6)". The Los Angeles Times. October 9, 2002. Retrieved April 22, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.Free access icon
  3. ^ "National Nielsen Viewership (Oct. 7-13)". The Los Angeles Times. October 16, 2002. Retrieved April 22, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.Free access icon
  4. ^ "National Nielsen Viewership (Oct. 14-20)". The Los Angeles Times. October 23, 2002. Retrieved April 22, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.Free access icon
  5. ^ "National Nielsen Viewership (Oct. 21-27)". The Los Angeles Times. October 30, 2002. Retrieved April 22, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.Free access icon
  6. ^ "National Nielsen Viewership (Oct. 28-Nov. 3)". The Los Angeles Times. November 6, 2002. Retrieved April 25, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.Free access icon
  7. ^ "National Nielsen Viewership (Nov. 11-17)". The Los Angeles Times. November 20, 2002. Retrieved April 25, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.Free access icon
  8. ^ "National Nielsen Viewership (Nov. 18-24)". The Los Angeles Times. November 27, 2002. Retrieved April 25, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.Free access icon
  9. ^ "National Nielsen Viewership (Nov. 25-Dec. 1)". The Los Angeles Times. December 4, 2002. Retrieved April 25, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.Free access icon
  10. ^ "National Nielsen Viewership (Dec. 9-15)". The Los Angeles Times. December 18, 2002. Retrieved April 26, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.Free access icon
  11. ^ "National Nielsen Viewership (Jan. 6-12)". The Los Angeles Times. January 15, 2003. Retrieved April 26, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.Free access icon
  12. ^ "National Nielsen Viewership (Jan. 13-19)". The Los Angeles Times. January 23, 2003. Retrieved April 26, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.Free access icon
  13. ^ "National Nielsen Viewership (Feb. 3-9)". The Los Angeles Times. February 12, 2003. Retrieved April 26, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.Free access icon
  14. ^ "National Nielsen Viewership (Feb. 10-16)". The Los Angeles Times. February 21, 2003. Retrieved April 29, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.Free access icon
  15. ^ "National Nielsen Viewership (Feb. 17-23)". The Los Angeles Times. February 26, 2003. Retrieved April 29, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.Free access icon
  16. ^ "National Nielsen Viewership (Feb. 24-March 2)". The Los Angeles Times. March 5, 2003. Retrieved April 29, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.Free access icon
  17. ^ "National Nielsen Viewership (April 7–13)". The Los Angeles Times. April 16, 2003. Retrieved April 29, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.Free access icon
  18. ^ "National Nielsen Viewership (April 14–20)". The Los Angeles Times. April 23, 2003. Retrieved April 29, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.Free access icon
  19. ^ "National Nielsen Viewership (April 28-May 4)". The Los Angeles Times. May 7, 2003. Retrieved April 29, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.Free access icon
  20. ^ "National Nielsen Viewership (May 5–11)". The Los Angeles Times. May 14, 2003. Retrieved April 29, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.Free access icon
  21. ^ "National Nielsen Viewership (May 12–18)". The Los Angeles Times. May 21, 2003. Retrieved April 29, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.Free access icon
  22. ^ "National Nielsen Viewership (May 19–25)". The Los Angeles Times. May 29, 2003. Retrieved April 29, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.Free access icon
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