Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #30989 in DVD
• Released on: 2003-10-28
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Box set, Color, DVD, Full Screen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 6
• Running time: 990 minutes

Amazon.com
Though its pedigree was top-drawer, the fine CBS police series Brooklyn South never really clicked with primetime audiences (or, according to critics of the network, never got a chance to click). All the same, the program offered interesting possibilities for its famous creators to decant old wine into new bottles. Steven Bochco and his lead writer on NYPD Blue, David Milch, produced this show about uniform cops working a tough New York City beat while coping with the professional and personal fallout of sundry catastrophes. If the series didn't establish, as NYPD Blue did, a new benchmark in stylish television from the start, it certainly shocked audiences into high-stakes drama with a premiere in which several key characters are slaughtered during an ambush by a rooftop sniper.

This made for a hell of a way to introduce a series cast, i.e., by establishing most of them as survivors, but Milch and Bochco made inspired use of ethical and emotional ripples from that horrifying event to inform the rest of Brooklyn South's first (and only) season's storylines. Not surprisingly, Brooklyn South's ensemble approach and busy episodes (comprised of multiple, character-driven stories) most closely resemble the form and balanced tones of Bochco's classic Hill Street Blues. As such, each installment can be as ghoulishly funny (Michael DeLuise's officer Phil Roussakoff, moonlighting at a funeral home, causes some consternation when he takes a nap in a coffin) as it is brutal (the usual murders, suicides, etc.) and emotionally stark (love as a sure path to despair).

Brooklyn South had its problems (too many characters), which were compounded by network ambivalence. This DVD set, however, will keep an abbreviated but worthy project from disappearing into oblivion. --Tom Keogh

Customer Reviews

Could Be The Start Of Something Good With TV DVDs!
Brooklyn South was a stellar police drama from producer Steven Bochco which ran on CBS for a single season. The show was basically a 90s update on Bochco's earlier cop ensemble series Hill Street Blues, but with more edge. Brooklyn South was just as great as NYPD Blue (another Bochco production) but failed to pull in the numbers CBS wanted to justify another season. Where on NYPD Blue the focus was on the work and personal lives of the detectives, Brooklyn South focused on the sector patrol - the "beat cops" - while flawed, still exhibited glowing pride in their work. This is exemplified in the show's patriotic opening theme by veteran composer Mike Post.

Although Brooklyn South featured great storylines and performances, CBS seemed to suffer from the "single season curse" whenever they put out a new quality drama. Brooklyn South, EZ Streets, Turks, and Michael Hayes were ALL quality shows that never made it past one season due to poor viewership, despite good reviews. Though with Michael Hayes, I always suspected that viewers still harbored resentment [at the time] toward David Caruso for leaving NYPD Blue so early in its run.

After Brooklyn South ended several of the cast members went on to more successful projects, not surprisingly, police drama-related. Richard T. Jones (Officer Clement Johnson) went on to star in Judging Amy; Yancy Butler (Officer Ann-Marie Kersey) starred as the heroine in Witchblade; Gary Basaraba (Sgt. Richard Santoro) stars in Boomtown; Klea Scott (Officer Nona Valentine) appeared as a Pre-Crime cop in Minority Report; And Adam Rodriguez (Officer Hector Villanueva) formerly of Roswell, stars in CSI: Miami;

I can't recommend this DVD enough. The episodes themselves are MORE than enough to justify the purchase. This DVD could signal the future release of those other great shows I mentioned earlier. Man, the possibilities are definitely expanding now! Think how cool it would be to own DVDs of Reasonable Doubts or Murder One - both with TWO SEASONS under their belts. Until then, my copy of Brooklyn South is already bought. Oh yeah!

ADDICTABLE AMERICAN COP DRAMA THE BEST!
Here in the United Kingdom we have our own cop drama's, the most famous being The Bill, but I find watching American shows far more interesting and entertaining.

Brooklyn South premiered on Channel 5 (Britains newest fifth channel, aren't we lucky having 5 channels? anyway thats a whole different subject) Channel 5 had been on air a year, and half of the population couldn't even get this show. Whcih is a shame as it deals with important issues in a realistic way, not portrayed in "i know this is a tv show" way, for a while you're sucked into believing the people are real, well they are, but not really, are you confused?

Sadly, by the time I'd got into this show and got used to the constant moving the episodes from 9pm to 11pm the show was over, and really over as it was cancelled the previous year it aired in the UK.

I've bought the DVD set to enjoy time and again and I recommend you invest in a copy, this show is one of the best dramas to come from the states in years

Another underappreciated gem!
This is another great Bochco production. Everything Bochco learned working on Hill Street Blues he refined on this show. Great storylines, great dialogue. This show was cast very well too with the likes of James B. Sikking, Klea Scott, Michael DeLuise, Richard T. Jones and Jon Tenney. CBS should have let this show grow. It's too bad the networks demand high numbers right out of the box. They forget their own recent history, many shows took a few years to develop big audiences and numbers, like Cheers, The Simpsons, X-Files, and they have turned into cash cows.