Henry Simmons has made quite an impression since his introduction on ABC’s “NPYD Blue” several weeks ago–some of it coming in the 15th Squad’s locker room.
There has been more than one occasion when Simmons, as young detective Baldwin Jones, has stripped to reveal a well-toned torso on his 6 foot, 4 inch frame. Jones, who is a runner on the series, seems to have undressed in the locker room more than any of the other cops.
And there’s more to come, according to the 29-year-old actor.
“I’m sure by the end of the season it will be bare butt,” he reveals, adding that co-creator “David [Milch] is not ashamed, as he says, to use whatever we have here.”
But Simmons, whose character has become a commanding addition to the series, hastens to add that he doesn’t feel as if he’s being exploited. He realizes “if that [beefcake shots] is something that pulls [viewers] to the show, I think it’s great. But I’m very confident that the story and the writing itself are what will keep people.
“The show is so well done and the writing so well done, it’s not done like OK, [Baldwin] just walks in and takes his shirt off. It’s not done for no reason at all. There’s a reason behind it.”
There is a reason why Simmons is on “NYPD Blue” on a regular basis. Simmons replaced Nicholas Turturro, who played detective James Martinez, when Turturro left for his own WB comedy.
The plan originally was to have recurring characters team up with Martinez’s ex-partner, Greg Medavoy (Gordon Clapp).
But co-creator Steven Bochco saw how many different “avenues” could be taken with Jones, a transfer to the 15th Squad from the New York City Police Department’s bias unit, says Simmons, who previously was a cast member on NBC’s “Another World.”
“One thing that David Milch wanted to write from the very beginning,” Simmons says, “is that although I’m a large man, Baldwin is not the kind of person who uses that to be a bully. He doesn’t use his strength and height that way. He only does it in the course of a job–if it’s necessary, if he has to use those assets. But he’s the kind of individual who has strong morals, very strong morals.”
Another avenue to take was the relationship between Jones and Lt. Arthur Fancy (James McDaniel), the first time two African-Americans would be working together on a regular basis on “NYPD Blue” (9 p.m. Tuesdays on WLS-Ch. 7).
“Fancy does have sort of paternal feelings toward Baldwin, but he doesn’t say, `Look, this is what you should do.’ He’s very stern with him,” Simmons says. “It’s tough love he gives Baldwin. And he tries to guide him through the margins of [the] detective-to-lieutenant” relationship.
Functional dysfunction: “Being from a dysfunctional family means nothing rattles me. Hey, once you’ve driven a drunk father to mom’s parole hearing, what else is there?” asks comic Christopher Titus, the star of the interesting new Fox series “Titus.”
Led by the king of dysfunction, “Married . . . With Children,” you’d think television had gone to that well sufficiently. It seems most TV families these days have some kind of love-’em-hate-’em issues.
And “Titus” certainly goes to town in the dysfunction department. The father is a professional alcoholic; the unseen mother is in a mental institution; a younger brother is a dim bulb; and the title character is a hothead who acts rashly, behaves rudely, and has never met a politically incorrect remark he didn’t like.
And yet there are a few wrinkles to “Titus” (7:30 p.m. Monday on WFLD-Ch. 32). The 35-year-old comic, who bases the series on his own life and his one-man show “Norman Rockwell is Bleeding,” is appealing enough, and is backed by a nice cast that features “Mike Hammer’s” Stacy Keach as Titus’ dad, Ken.
Titus also does the talking-to-the-camera thing; in a black and white area that he dubs the “Neutral Space,” he tries to rationalize the intent of whatever action is going on during a given scene.
What casts “Titus” in a different light is that there are feelings of love. Instead of going off about hating his father, Titus admits how much he cares for the man. He makes a special point of saying his dad always provided for his family (a family that includes several ex-wives and assorted children), always paid his bills and never let anyone want for anything.
Fox seems to be taking care with “Titus.” Rather than lead off the series Monday with the aggressive and blunt pilot, which introduces Ken and the madness behind his methods (he always tried to teach his sons lessons–no matter how much they may have hurt), the network moved the pilot to the second week and airs instead an episode surrounding a fight between Chris and his girlfriend Erin (attractive Cynthia Watros).
The quarrel spirals out of proportion before coming to a revealing–and moving–resolution, further proof that “Titus” may bear watching.
Where’s the remote? One of the coolest new shows of the season, UPN’s cop series “The Beat,” from Tom Fontana and Barry Levinson of “Homicide” and “Oz,” premieres at 8 p.m. Tuesday on WPWR-Ch. 50.
– The Nashville Network presents “Life & Times of the Ghosts of Chicago,” a new special that looks at supposedly haunted local spots, 9 p.m. Monday.
Tubular: Lifetime has grabbed the rerun rights to NBC’s “Will & Grace” starting in the fall of 2005.
– The premiere of FX’s whacked-out “Baywatch”/’70s crime show parody “Son of the Beach” was the highest-rated episode of an original series in the network’s nearly six-year history.
