Lights out for 'Third Watch'

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Lights out for 'Third Watch'   

Monday, May 2, 2005 

By VIRGINIA ROHAN

STAFF WRITER 

For Molly Price, playing Faith Yokas has been a life-changing experience. 

 

The New York precinct affectionately known as "Camelot" hadn't even been fully dismantled - or "struck," as industry people say - before salvage crews from another, very different East Coast drama arrived on the scene.

"The prop guys from 'The Sopranos' were walking through picking things," says "Third Watch" co-creator Edward Allen Bernero. "It was like, 'Guys, let us stop breathing before you come in and pick us clean.'"

Breaking up is hard to do - especially with a beloved, long-running show like "Third Watch." 

The underrated NBC drama signs off Friday after six seasons. Like so many good series that leave before their time, "Third Watch" did not get much advance notice of its fate.

"We were prepping the last episode. It was three days before we were ready to shoot, and we were prepping it as a season finale, when they said it wasn't coming back. In those three days, I threw out the script and wrote it for a finale," says Bernero, who directed the final "Goodbye to Camelot" episode. "It was very sad. Everything about that last episode, you knew was the last time."

 

Despite the show's lack of critical acclaim or major Emmy nods - it was never nominated in the best series category - it was by many measures a success. In 2002, "Third Watch" picked up a prestigious Peabody Award for a documentary-style episode that dealt with the 9/11 terrorist attacks more poignantly and powerfully than any other entertainment program on television.

And despite all the night and time-slot changes, "Third Watch" fans followed the series faithfully: This season it averaged 9.2 million viewers per week -at 9 p.m. Fridays, one of the toughest nights of television.

Those fans are feeling bereft.

"I am sad, too. It hasn't sunk in, even though we've done all the episodes. It's difficult to accept," says Bernero, who would be open to doing follow-up television movies if NBC were so inclined. "I love these characters. This show is my family."

These characters were cops, paramedics and firefighters who inhabited a New York City that's rarely seen on TV. Bernero, who co-created the series with John Wells, says he was "more interested in Archie Bunker's New York than 'Law & Order's' New York."

The very ordinariness of the protagonists may have been one reason NBC never really supported the series, and the network has not explained its decision to cancel the series.

"I think there's a real prejudice against blue-collar shows on television," says Bernero, a former Chicago cop. "We're the only drama on television about blue-collar people. Our people don't wear suits. Our people didn't go to college. The show is wildly popular with blue-collar people, and in the Hollywood world, those people don't really matter. They want affluent people."

One of the most striking of the show's regular people was plain-speaking Police Officer Faith Yokas, promoted to detective this past season and played by Molly Price. Like many of the cast, Price regularly participated in some of the more dramatic stunts seen on network TV. Apart from the fact that the show's writers "had a very difficult time" letting Faith and husband Fred (Chris Bauer) be happy or sexual - "I never had a sex scene with my husband on the show ... in six years," Price says -the North Plainfield native has no regrets.

"I played her for so long I got to do everything imaginable," Price says. "I met my husband [firefighter Derek Kelly] on the show. I had my baby [while] on the show. It's kind of like that old saying, 'Baseball has been very very good to me.' 'Third Watch' has been very very good to me. As I said to somebody, this is the longest relationship I've ever had, longer than high school, longer than college. ... On some level, there was really nothing left for us to say artistically."

Bernero, though, was caught short by the cancellation, even though he says "Third Watch" was "almost canceled every single year of its six years."

"I actually thought we were on the firmest ground we've ever been on going into this season," he says. "NBC has canceled [one of the few] shows on its schedule that didn't lose its time slot. ... The short answer is, good doesn't really matter to the networks." 

In the finale, which was originally supposed to end with a cliffhanger, gangbangers assault the 55th Precinct station and set it afire, trapping Sergeant Cruz (Tia Texada) and police officer Monroe (Nia Long), while Bosco (Jason Wiles) and other police return fire. In the confusion, murderous gang leader Marcel (guest star Wyclef Jean) escapes. 

"I really think that's it's going to be satisfying for our audience," says Bernero, who arranged for original cast members to return. Among them are Kim Raver (now on "24"), Eddie Cibrian and Michael Beach. And memorable guest star Aidan Quinn also comes back.

At the conclusion of the episode, there's an attempt at closure. "Fast-forward to a month later, we learn where everybody winds up, and that everybody's kind of fine," Bernero says.

Well, actually, not everybody.

"One of the characters doesn't make it through the last episode," Bernero says. "I think personally, it's the right way for this character to end. And a character that wasn't going to make it - that wasn't going to come back - that character is going to be fine. I think people are going to be excited to see how everybody ends up."

After the dismantling of the fictional 55th Precinct - at King and Arthur streets (hence that nickname) - Bernero took home the shield on the wall that had proclaimed, "Welcome to Camelot." 

It's a souvenir of one all-too-brief but shining moment in television known as "Third Watch."

5 things you didn't know

1. Many real firefighters appeared on "Third Watch," and some of them were among the 343 members of the NYFD who lost their lives on 9/11.

Series co-creator Ed Bernero shares a "poignant example" that dramatically illustrates how the show was affected. "We did an episode about a blackout, and in the end, Sullivan and Davis are going in a police van to the scene of a riot. Every other person that's in that van died on 9/11."

Filmed shortly before the terrorist attacks, "Blackout" was supposed to air as the 2001 season opener. Instead, Bernero says, "because of what the subject matter was, we ended up airing 'Blackout' as the last episode of the season" (on May 13, 2002) without any kind of on-air dedication that would call attention to those who had died. "The families wanted to own it themselves," says Bernero, explaining that producers were going to re-shoot that scene, but the families wanted it to air as a kind of private tribute to their loved ones.

2. Ever wonder why Amy Carlson's Alex Taylor died such a gruesome death while she was comforting a couple trapped in a car, which wound up exploding? 

Bernero explains: "I've seen people blown apart like that. I knew that I wanted her to die in an explosion, not saving somebody's life but just trying to keep somebody calm. It was a small thing she was doing, but an important thing. It was at the same time that we were being inundated by explosions in the Middle East. So many of these things are just responses 

to things I've seen on the news. I wanted to do something that shows just how horrible it is. I didn't want to sanitize. It was a combination of all of those things. It had nothing whatsoever to do with Amy."

And what did Carlson think of her grand finale? "Amy was upset at first. She felt it was the death of a villain, not the death of a hero," Bernero says. "It was a really good point, but when I explained why it was happening, as an artist she understood my reason. And she was great."

3. Why did the marriage of Fred and Faith Yokas (Chris Bauer, Molly Price) have to break up? 

Bernero: "It had less to do with characters and more to do with the fact that we just really didn't have any more stories to tell. Also, they took Yokas away from work, and we always found Yokas to be more interesting at work. ... The one really bad part of the decision is that we lost Chris Bauer. He's an amazing actor, but we ran dry of interesting things."

Price: "I had mixed feelings about it. I felt that the writers seemed to have a very difficult time for some reason, letting Faith and Fred be happy. It's kind of a comment on our civilization -that being happy is somehow boring or unrealistic, or that happiness is this elusive thing in our world."

4. When terrorists struck the World Trade Center, Price was a month away from marrying firefighter (and part-time actor) Derek Kelly, whom she'd met on the show. Price "struggled" with whether to participate in the documentary program, "In Their Own Words," which wound up winning a Peabody Award. She also wrestled with whether to postpone her Oct. 13 wedding.

Price: "When [producer] John Wells originally called me, I didn't want to be a part of it at all. I felt that they were going to commercialize a tragedy. [Derek] was the one who said to me, 'We're the lucky ones. ... We should let people know that we're grateful.' ... We were just about to be married. I went out the morning of 9/11 to buy my wedding gown. [Derek] called me from the rig and said, 'Baby, I'm on my way to the trade center. I don't think you should go to Vera Wang today. I'll call you later and I love you.' It was six hours before I heard from him again. ... 

"On Oct. 13, we did get married. At first we were going to cancel it. We were going to funerals at that time, but [Derek] said, 'It's very healing.' People needed a reason to celebrate life." Their son, Jake, is now 18 months old.

5. Bernero had worked on Wells' short-lived "Trinity," and after that was canceled, Wells asked if he'd like to co-create a show with him. "Third Watch" was a combination of the paramedics show Wells wanted to do, and the cops drama Bernero had in mind.

"We just put them together," Bernero says. "He had the idea to do a paramedic show from stuff left over from 'ER,' but he didn't think there was enough to make a whole show ... and then we ended up with the firefighters, because Eddie [Cibrian] was just so damn handsome we had to figure out what to do with him. Eddie tested as Bosco - Jason [Wiles] won the part - and we were leaving [walking behind him], and every office we passed, women would stick their heads out and comment about Eddie. We said we need to find something for him to do. And I said, 'Well, we don't have any firefighters.'Ÿ"

- Virginia Rohan

[Guest WolfEMT]

NBC did the same thing a few years ago to "Homicide: Life on the Street." That show debuted in one time slot, was moved around numerous times, and then ended up on Friday night where it died because Friday night doesn't have a lot of TV viewership. Eventually, "Homicide: Life on the Street" was cancelled to make room for some crap that probably didn't last long either. Both shows were really good and should never have been cancelled; why couldn't NBC move the shows back to the time slots where they debuted and later thrived? Since they moved "American Dreams," "Third Watch" could go back in it's original Sunday timeslot where it could have a better shot at gaining viewers.

[mikeinet 37]

Third Watch was definitely one of my all time favorite TV shows. I personally feel the show took a downturn once it went away from FDNY Fire "Action" and went more towards Police/EMS - I guess trying to go along with the rest of the TV "era/success" of police shows. Still stuck through watching it and enjoyed it all.

I kinda feel like this is another one of those attitude things in which people have no care for emergency services - therefore don't watch the show as much... kind of the like "wow the show spoke about 9/11 and we got to learn about FDNY/NYPD" and now it's "well its a few years later... who cares about EMS, I want my law and order!"

I personally am very sad to see the show go - though I feel like the past few episodes the show was falling apart anyway (and those episodes were made prior to the cancellation)

[brian19fd 22]

Honestly, it was a great show and i enjoyed it alot but when they turned away from the fire aspect, it started going down hill... I dont know why we need another law and order on the air but Third Watch was def a great show... does anybody know if they will continue the show on a different channel because i remember a couple of shows i watched just moved to another station?!?

[mikeinet 37]

A&E was playing reruns everyday... not sure if they still are - but there's not going to be any more new shows.

[gpdexplorer 46]

A&E - 11 AM & 5 PM (same episode)