Wassup..
Welcome to NEW YORK UNDERCOVER REWIND, the podcast that discusses all things related to the tv show New York Undercover. I’m your host..Chris Rose.
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In May 1994, the show then titled UPTOWN UNDERCOVER, was ordered to series by the FOX network.
The title had a double meaning. UPTOWN represented not only the series’ Harlem setting, but was also named for Andre Harrell’s Uptown Records. Despite this, it was soon decided to replace the word “UPTOWN” with “NEW YORK” instead.
The program’s new title was now NEW YORK UNDERCOVER.
It makes sense why the title was changed. From a branding standpoint, when people hear the word NEW YORK, they typically think New York City..big city, bright lights. It’s very specific and helps identify and center the show very quickly.
Typically, once a show is picked up to series, a writer’s room is assembled with key producers and the writing staff establishing storylines and story arcs. Key writers for the series’ first few episodes included Dick Wolf, Kevin Arkadie, Natalie Chai-dez, Reggie Rock Bythewood and Charles Holland.
Officially, the show was created by Dick Wolf and Kevin Arkadie.
While the writers worked through storylines and filming on the first season commenced on location in New York City, the FOX network marketing team spent the summer of 1994 introducing the show to viewers..releasing a series of promos telling us that “this isn’t just another cop show” and that the show follows in “the tradition of HILL STREET BLUES and NYPD BLUE.”
Another promo entitled “TRUST” was told from Torres’ POV and plays up the fact that despite his and Williams’ backgrounds, he has his partner’s back and vice versa.
And yet another promo played up Wolf’s LAW and ORDER pedigree to entice viewers to watch the new series.
By September of 1994, it was showtime.
Remember- in our previous podcast episode we discussed how the NFL on FOX launched in September of 1994, It would premiere on Sunday September 4th, 4 days before NEW YORK UNDERCOVER’s Thursday September 8 SERIES PREMIERE… and would serve as a promotional platform for the new series.
So, let’s start digging into the episodes..and before I do, I want to caveat one important thing.
The NEW YORK UNDERCOVER episode that premiered on September 8th was entitled “SCHOOL TIES,” but it was NOT the first episode filmed. The first episode filmed was actually the “PILOT” and that aired in Week 2 on September 15.
And if you’re wondering why the pilot DID NOT air first, this is not uncommon in the tv industry. Often times, the look or feel of the show changes from the pilot to the first few episodes filmed after the pilot..and as you’ll see, this holds true for NEW YORK UNDERCOVER as well.
By the way folks, if you’d like to rewatch episodes of NEW YORK UNDERCOVER, all 4 seasons are available to stream on both PEACOCK and AMAZON PRIME VIDEO.
Let’s discuss THE PILOT:
The episode description, courtesy of tvmaze.com reads:
- “Kids working for an auto-theft ring steal the car of a mobster's mother; J.C.'s ex-girlfriend wants to send their son to a private school.”
The episode is directed by the actor/director Bill Duke and written by Dick Wolf and Kevin Arkadie.
The opening seconds of the episode immediately establish the tone of what viewers will come to see in each cold open for the majority of the series: a crime being committed set to the sounds of a prominent musical artist usually in the world of hip hop and r&b; It’s very similar to a music video and caters to viewers who were accustomed to watching videos on BET, MTV and VH1 at the time.
We first see an African American teenager named Mark (played by actor Sean Nelson) sitting in a classroom daydreaming as The Lost Boyz’ “Straight From Da Ghetto” plays over the action.
We later see Mark and his older African American teenage friend Scooter eyeing a Jaguar sports car that has been parked by a doctor at a hospital in Harlem. Once the coast is clear, the two teenagers break into the car, hotwire the Jaguar and drive away- only to be seen and followed by two NYPD officers in their own car. A chase ensues, the police car crashes into a pile of garbage, the teenagers get away in the Jaguar..and we fade to black with the opening credits rolling with the familiar NEW YORK UNDERCOVER theme song, composed by the legendary JAMES MTUME. In the credits we see images of Yoba, DeLorenzo and D’Arbanville.
Fun Fact: In the opening credits, Yoba’s name is shown FIRST in every other episode and the same holds true for Delorenzo. In this particular episode, Yoba’s name is first.
ACT 1:
The first scene after the commercial break finds us at a gambling spot where we find Detective Eddie Torres (working undercover) at a craps table and ignoring the pages on his beeper from his partner, Detective JC Williams. After Torres meets up with Williams outside the club, Williams lights into Torres and tells him when he beeps him, he better pick up. Seems to be a bit of tension between the two.
Both detectives (in plainclothes) head to the hospital to meet with the doctor whose Jaguar was stolen.
Despite the detectives telling the doctor that the parts for the car are worth more on the street and that he should call his insurance company, the doctor insists that they need to find his car.
In the next scene, we find the two teenagers (Mark and Scooter) receiving money from an older man named Donald (played by Clarence Williams Jr of MOD SQUAD fame) for boosting the car and tells them they had no trouble; failing to mention they escaped the police. Scooter is clearly the ringleader of the duo, while Mark mentions he just wanted to do karate. Outside on the street, Scooter hands Mark his share of the money and says “Now, that’s respect.”
Back at the precinct, we meet Virginia Cooper for the first time and we learn there have been a string of car thefts; we also learn that the doctor at the hospital is related to the deputy mayor and that the heat is on Cooper to solve the case, despite Williams and Torres protests.
Cooper says in exasperation” Look, I’m on the job 18 years and they give me a two-hour commute uptown. You hear me bitchin?”
The next scene finds Scooter visiting the church (where his grandfather is a minister) to give him a gift. It is clear that the grandfather knows his grandson is up to illegal activity and draws a parallel to Scooter’s father, who seems to be out of the picture. He urges Scooter to come to Sunday service, but Scooter is noncommittal. Despite this his grandfather tells him he loves him.
The following scene finds us back with Williams and Torres in the squad room:
Fun Fact: The squad room scenes are actually shot on the Law and Order set. Not uncommon for a pilot to be shot on another tv show’s set and it makes economic sense since Dick Wolf ran both series.
In the scene, we learn that Chantal, the mom of Williams’ son (Gregory- aka G) needs $100 more per month from JC to send G to a new private school, Woodbridge. Williams is worried about G being in a school with a bunch of rich white kids, while Torres pushes back and tells him it’s important for G to get his smarts. Williams also confesses that he doesn’t have the money.
We later meet Chantal (a nurse) and G, when she drops G off at JC’s brownstone apartment.
Fun Fact: In the pilot episode only, JC lives in this brownstone. In all future episodes, he lives in an apartment building.
After taking a car from the police impound lot to entice the the thieves to steal it, Torres decides he will use the car for his own personal use at night and drives his lady friend Gina (played by Elizabeth Rodriguez of Orange Is The New Black and Power fame) to the nightclub, NATALIES.
NATALIE is played by the Empress of Soul, Gladys Knight.
Eddie speaks to her to avoid a confrontation between Gina and his other lady friend, Victoria.
He also learns from Natalie that his father (Mike) has been out of drug rehab for 6 months and recently played at the Blue Note jazz club.
Eddie goes to see him.
His father (played by Jose’ Perez), is a saxophonist, whom he has not seen in a while and mentions that he heard Eddie is a cop now and says he must not be boosting cars anymore (alluding to the fact that Eddie used to steal cars).
The following day Williams and Torres are on a stakeout and see the two teenagers breaking into the Porsche. They approach the car with guns drawn, but are stopped by NYPD officers who believe the detectives are committing a crime- allowing the teenagers to get away in the Porsche, but not before crashing and ditching the car.
ACT 2:
Act 2 opens with the teenagers meeting with Donald and letting him know they were unable to successfully get him the Porsche. They promise they will make it up to him and he says they need to get him a Mercedes station wagon.
Set to the sounds of Queen Latifah’s “Just Another Day” the detectives canvas the neighborhood with a sketch rendering of one of the teens. They finally come upon a character named Slick Rick (played by Victor Colicchio). Rick is a street informant who is pretending to be blind and begs folks on the street for money. They ask him what he has heard about teenage car thieves and he mentions the name Donald Brooks to them.
Sidenote: This would be the first of 7 appearances in Season 1 by Colicchio.
The detectives learn from OLD SCHOOL, an older detective at the precinct, that Donald Brooks has a long rapsheet, but is very slick.
They visit Brooks at the youth center he runs and he denies knowing anything about the car thefts. He smugly mentions that he has just been named “Man of The Year” and sarcastically invites them to his upcoming awards dinner.
Later in the day, JC goes to visit his lawyer girlfriend Sandy at her apartment.
Set to CHAKA’s KHAN’s SWEET THING, JC and Sandy have a steamy make-out session in the shower and discuss JC’s worries about G attending Woodbridge, including his belief that G will lose his identity and sense of self. He also refuses to take money from Sandy to help pay for the tuition.
The next scene finds the teens attempting to steal the Mercedes station wagon that Donald Brooks coveted. In doing so, Scooter gets into a struggle with the elderly owner of the car and she falls to the ground while the teens drive off with her car.
After Torres and Williams arrive, they learn the elderly victim’s last name is Santucci- widow of a Gambino crime family capo and daughter of mobster John Santucci.
Upon hearing this and knowing what this means to the fate of the teens says ” Those kids are dead.”
Before we continue with the recap, it’s time for a trivia question:
Actor Sean Nelson (who plays Mark in the Pilot episode) was the lead actor in what 1994 theatrical film?
The answer coming at ya at the end of this episode.
ACT 3:
Act 3 opens back at the stationhouse and we learn that Mrs. Santucci’s hip is broken.
We also learn that Torres grew up in the same neighborhood as John Santucci and they have a prior history together. Cooper tells the detectives they can continue working the case and not turn it over to Organized Crime.
John Santucci (played by John Costelloe) visits Donald Brooks at his office and tells him his mothers hip is broken and that he knows everything Brooks has been doing.
Brooks denies knowing anything about the Mercedes theft, until Santucci takes out his gun and holds it to Brooks chin. Brooks gives him the names of the two teens and tells him the car will be returned to him in the morning.
The next scene finds Torres and Santucci meeting and Torres asking Santucci not to hurt the teens. Torres says he has a soft spot for kids who remind him of him at that age.
G and JC are relaxing at home and playing checkers and G says he doesn’t want to go to Woodbridge and be turned into a “sissy.”
Scooter, dressed for church, gets into a car driven by an unknown individual and is later found dead in an alleyway (likely killed by a Santucci henchman).
The detectives visit Brooks and let him know Scooter is dead and it is Brooks’ fault.
ACT 4:
The detectives confront Mark’s mom (played by Adina Porter) and tell her they need to find him before he ends up dead.
They find him and bring him to Santucci’s bedside in the hospital.
(Sidenote: Vincent Pastore, who would later play BIG PUSSY on The Sopranos has an unspoken cameo as one of Santucci’s men standing outside the hospital room).
Mark tells her what happened and when she learns Scooter is dead, she tells her son John that the family is not in the business of killing children.
Later, Mark admits to a ADA. that he boosted the car that Brooks drives, providing the detectives enough evidence to be able to arrest him.
Which they do in the middle of his “Man Of The Year” dinner speech.
However, Brooks’ attorney is quite slick and is able to substantiate every claim the detectives and ADA make. Brooks is free to go.
Meanwhile, G has run away from home and ends up at Sandy’s apartment. It turns out G has been accepted to Woodbridge, but he doesn’t want to go unless JC wants him to.
Sandy makes some suggestions to JC of ways he can better connect with G and save money in order to pay the extra $100 per month (eat out less, cancel cable tv).
Next scene finds Brooks arriving at his youth center only to be killed point blank by a Santucci assassin (cameo by director Bill Duke).
Final scene of the show is a tender father-son moment between JC and G and JC encouraging him to attend Woodbridge. He tells G that he can go as far as he wants in the world, but don’t forget who he is or don’t forget JC.
G pulls the sketch rendering of Scooter out of JC’s jacket and asks who the person is.
JC says it is a young man whose old man was not there for him and G says’ That’ll never be me.”
They both say “I love you” to each other and the episode fades to black. The end.
Overall, I give this episode an A. The pilot does a really good job of providing enough information about the personal lives of the detectives, while balancing it with the case of the week.
And if you think about it the episode is really about fathers and sons:
JC’s strong connection to his son, G.
Eddie reconnecting with his father, Mike.
And Scooter without any father in his life and the tragic consequences that ensued.
Before we go, let’s go back to the trivia question
TRIVIA QUESTION: Actor Sean Nelson (who plays Mark in the Pilot episode) was the lead actor in what 1994 theatrical film?
The answer: “FRESH”
That’s our time for this show.
I’m Chris Rose.
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PA-DOW!!