Pilot

Pilot is the first episode of the first season of NYPD Blue.

Summary
A group of detectives and officers work at the 15th Precinct, a seedy police station in Manhattan, New York City. Detective John Kelly, a 15-year veteran of the force, deals with his partner Andy Sipowitz, an alcoholic 20-year veteran detective. Laura Michaels, an aspiring lawyer and Detective Kelly's wife, is having problems with their marriage and she hires Josh Goldstein, a lawyer who lives in apartment 4B of their building to work on a divorce, who gets mugged in the laundry room of the building. Meanwhile, Sipowicz is relentlessly pursuing mobster Alfonse Giardella, who threatens Sipowicz to leave him alone. Later, Sipowicz is shot by Giardella during a tryst with a prostitute. Enraged, Kelly orders the precinct officers to hound Giardella and his ruthless employer; mafia kingpin Angelo Marino. The new patrol officer, Janice Licalsi, is attracted to Detective Kelly. But is she is revealed to be an informant for Marino who orders her to murder Kelly.

Main

 * David Caruso as Detective John Kelly
 * Dennis Franz as Detective Andy Sipowicz
 * James McDaniel as Lieutenant Arthur Fancy
 * Sherry Stringfield as Laura Michaels Kelly
 * Amy Brenneman as Officer Janice Licalsi
 * Nicholas Turturro as Detective James Martinez

Recurring

 * Sharon Lawrence as A.D.A Sylvia Costas

Other

 * Tom Towles as Inspector Anthony Lastarza
 * Daniel Benzali as James Sinclair Esq.
 * Vincent Guastaferro as Sergeant Vincent Agostini


 * Joe Santos as Angelo Marino
 * David Schwimmer as Josh '4B' Goldstein
 * Shannon Cochran as Lois Snyder
 * Robert Costanzo as Alfonse Giardella
 * Marco Rodríugez as Ramon Lopez

Important Events

 * Andy Sipowicz is shot.

Trivia

 * Sharon Lawrence's role was initially written for a man.
 * Amy Brenneman initially read for the role later taken by Sherry Stringfield.
 * Gregory Hoblit won the Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series for this episode.

Quotes
"A.D.A Sylvia Costas: I'd say res ipsa loquitur if I thought you knew what it meant. Andy Sipowicz: [grabbing his crotch] Hey, ipsa this, you pissy little b*tch."