Brooklyn South: The Complete Series (1997)

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 Amazon.com

Buyer beware - defective DVD's

This is a good show that has been ill-served by defective copies. I bought two new, sealed copies of "Brooklyn South" from Amazon sellers and each disc in each set is marked and smeared. Maybe it's a bad coating, I don't know, but the discs are unplayable. The best bet may be to purchase a "Like New" or "Very Good" copy; at least those have been inspected and perhaps proven to be playable. June 25, 2008

SOUTH BROOKLYN

I really enjoyed the police-series, SOUTH BROOKLYN, and noticed that many of the players went on to other tv series.

IT WAS JUST A PITY THAT THEY ONLY MADE THE ONE SERIES. AS THE CHARACTERS WERE WELL SKETCHED AND BELIEVABLE,AND THE STORY LINES CONSISTANT

B.B.WALMSLEY January 23, 2008

Great Series

I picked this up from the Amazon marketplace brand new for about $5. What a great series; a shame that it lasted for such a short time. I suppose though, that if it had a long run then many of the series we have seen since would not have been so great. Pretty much every single actor in this show has been on another related popular TV series. Definitely worth a look. June 14, 2007

Average Police Drama

Well this will be short, but this is by no means a bad show. But being a huge fan of NYPD Blue, and Third Watch, i just feel like Brooklyn South is not as good as either one of them. I dont think the acting is all that good, nor do i think that the plots are all that good. But its still an interesting show worth the watch, if your a fan of Police Dramas April 12, 2007

Dirty Rotten Shame

I watched this show when it was on the air and loved it. And, when I bought the DVD set and watched it again, I still enjoyed it tremendously. This was first rate crime drama with some very memorable characters. It's a dirty rotten shame that it was cancelled after just one season. Just another quality show that bites the dust, while rubbish continues to get renewed and stay on the air. And they wonder why people turn to cable stations for their programming enjoyment. I'm really surprised that C.S.I. is still on the air because it is a quality show and quality shows tend not to last very long on television. March 24, 2007

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