Big Apple

Big mistake more like. This drama series about how the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the New York Police Department fight to keep the mob from taking over the streets of New York may well have been among the better new cop shows to debut on network TV over the past few years. But CBS executives, morons that they are, decided to pit it against the 600lb gorilla that is Friends. What a shock, up against the most successful series of the decade, it didn’t pull in the ratings. Of course, rather than see that this was a quality show that deserved a chance to build an audience in another timeslot, the network yanked it as a failure after five episodes. Ed O’Neill, who has spent years trying to shed the Al Bundy image that he built with Married… With Children, led a great ensemble that even the harshest critics applauded. Alas, another victim of network shortsightedness. Kim Dickens, Michael Madsen, David Strathairn and Donnie Wahlberg co-starred – and not a bad scene amongst them.