New York Undercover is an American police drama that aired on the Fox television network from September 8, 1994, to June 25, 1998. The series starred Malik Yoba as Detective J.C. Williams and Michael DeLorenzo as Detective Eddie Torres, two undercover detectives in New York City's Fourth Precinct who were assigned to investigate various crimes and gang-related cases. The cast also included Patti D'Arbanville-Quinn as their superior, Lt. Virginia Cooper, and Lauren Vélez, who joined the cast in the second season as Nina Moreno, fellow detective and love interest to Torres. New York Undercover was co-created and produced by Dick Wolf, and its storyline takes place in the same fictional universe as Wolf's NBC series Law & Order, its spin-offs, the Chicago and FBI series, and Homicide: Life on the Street.
New York Undercover (whose working title during development was Uptown Undercover, named after the record label, Uptown Records, whose founder and CEO, Andre Harrell, was also the executive producer of the series) is notable for being the first police drama on American television to feature two people of color in the starring roles. In contrast to the popularity of NBC's "Must See TV" on Thursday nights in the 1990s, many African-American viewers flocked to Fox's Thursday-night line-up of Martin, Living Single, and New York Undercover.
Contents
Synopsis
In addition to the main storylines in each episode, subplots explored the private lives of the show's characters. For example, Det. Williams struggled to raise his young son, Gregory (George O. Gore II), while Torres was shown to be fighting family and other related problems, including having to cope with his father (Mike Torres, played by Jose Perez), whose drug addiction and HIV-positive status causes recurring issues, and a childhood-friend turned organized-crime boss.
At the beginning of the third season, a new detective, Tommy McNamara (Jonathan LaPaglia), was introduced as a principal character. In the third-season finale in May 1997, Torres and Moreno are married. However, in that same episode, Torres and McNamara are both killed by a gang of bank robbers.
The series returned with a new cast for its fourth and final season in January 1998. Williams and Moreno were assigned to a new unit, resulting in Cooper being dropped from the cast. Joining the detectives were Lt. Malcolm Barker (played by Tommy Ford), Det. Nell Delaney (Marisa Ryan), and Det. Alec Stone (Josh Hopkins). The new unit eventually captured the last bank robber responsible for the deaths of Torres and McNamara.
Cast
Main
Malik Yoba as Det. Julius Clarence "J.C." Williams: J.C. is an African-American detective at the Fourth Precinct. He is a salty but dedicated, street-smart detective whose optimism toward his job wanes over time. He has a son, Gregory, whom he fathered as a teenager with then-girlfriend Chantal Tierney. His partner Eddie Torres is his closest friend. J.C. is the only character to appear in all 89 episodes.
Michael DeLorenzo as Det. Eduardo "Eddie" Torres (seasons 1–3): Born in the Bronx, Eddie is a Puerto Rican–American detective. He is the more hot-headed of the pair, with partner J.C. being the more level-headed one. Torres is a smart, talented undercover officer. After years of estrangement from much of his immediate family, he formed close relationships with his brother Jimmy, a priest; his sister Carmen, a journalist; and his father Mike, a musician and recovering heroin addict. His partner J.C. Williams is his closest friend. At the end of the third season, Eddie is killed in the line of duty after his car is bombed in a revenge attack by bank robber Nadine Jordan.
Patti D'Arbanville-Quinn as Lt. Virginia Cooper (seasons 1–3): Virginia is the show's "tough but fair" commanding officer during the first three seasons. She is married and has four children, one of whom died at the age of eight. She is the commanding officer of the detective squad at the NYPD's Fourth Precinct. She frequently tells the detectives to solve their cases and do it by the book. After the third season, she's never seen or heard from again as a result of her being dropped from the cast.
Lauren Vélez as Det. Nina Moreno-Torres (seasons 2–4): Nina is a NY Puerto Rican. At the age of 16, she married her boyfriend Luis and gave birth to a daughter, Melissa. She places the girl for adoption after Luis abandoned her. She later dated and married Eddie Torres, but was widowed soon after following his murder. Her mother is a sergeant with the NYPD.
Jonathan LaPaglia as Det. Tommy McNamara (season 3): Tommy is an Irish-Italian American detective. His father was a police officer who was killed in the line of duty, with many suspecting that he was corrupt. Prior to his transfer to the Fourth Precinct, he had very little interaction with New York's African-American and Latino neighborhoods or police officers. At the end of the third season, Tommy is killed after being shot to death by Nadine Jordan, whose gang he'd infiltrated while undercover.
Recurring
George Gore II as Gregory "G" Williams: Gregory is the son of J.C. Williams and Chantel Tierney. In the pilot episode, he is described as a nine-year-old. For most of Season 1, his given age is 10. By the beginning of Season 3, his given age is 13 and by season 4, his given age is 14. He is the only recurring character to appear in all four seasons.
Michael Michele as Sandra Gill (season 1): Sandy is an attorney in her late twenties. Throughout Season 1, she was involved with J.C. Williams. She became pregnant with J.C.'s baby and agreed to marry him, but was murdered on the eve of their wedding by Danny Cort, a criminal with a vendetta against J.C.
Fatima Faloye as Chantel Tierney (seasons 1–3): Chantel is a registered nurse in her late twenties. She has a son, Gregory, to whom she gave birth as a teenager with then-boyfriend J.C. Williams.
Kamar de los Reyes as Luis (season 2): Luis was the teenage boyfriend of Nina Moreno, whom he married after she became pregnant. The child, a girl, was placed for adoption and given the name Melissa Lewis. Luis soon abandoned Nina. While she moved on with her life, Nina never divorced Luis. Years later, after he and Nina finally agreed to begin divorce proceedings, Luis was killed during a mugging.
Roger Robinson as Major Harold Williams (season 3): An officer with the United States Army Special Forces, he is the father of J.C. Williams. He abandoned his wife and son, and did not contact J.C. again for 17 years.
José Perez as Mike Torres (seasons 1–3): Mike is a jazz and salsa musician, and a recovering heroin addict. Having alienated much of his family over the years, he is closest to his son Eddie.
José Zúñiga as Father Jimmy Torres (seasons 1–2): Jimmy is a Catholic priest, and the older brother of Eddie Torres.
Lisa Vidal as Carmen Torres (seasons 1–2): Carmen is a newspaper reporter, and the sister of Eddie Torres.
Multiple-role players
Numerous actors made appearances in two or more episodes portraying different characters. Before joining the cast in Season 2 as Nina Moreno, Lauren Vélez appeared in the first-season episode "Olde Tyme Religion" as a believer in Santería. Additionally, J. K. Simmons guest starred as Sgt. Treadway in the Season 2 episode "Unis," returning in Season 4's "Mob Street" as Law & Order police psychiatrist Emil Skoda. Michelle Hurd played a recurring role in Seasons 1 and 2 as A.D.A. Reynolds, but returned as a criminal in Season 3's "No Place Like Hell". Joe Lisi appeared in the second-season episode "Bad Blood" before assuming a recurring role as the Chief of Detectives in Season 4. Both Jesse L. Martin and Ice-T portrayed criminals on this series before ultimately landing their iconic roles as detectives on Law & Order and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, respectively.
The following actors also appeared in multiple roles:
Controversy
On July 23, 1996, the day shooting was supposed to begin on the third season, lead actors Malik Yoba and Michael DeLorenzo didn't show up, having joined together and presenting a list of demands to creator/producer Dick Wolf. Both actors wanted their pay increased, DeLorenzo stated that the duo were making $40,000 each per episode and they wanted $100,000 each per episode. They also wanted more creative input with DeLorenzo in particular wanting to direct a few episodes. They wanted a gym, trailers for the stars and better food to be provided on set.
After receiving their demands, Dick Wolf declined, and said that New York Undercover was not Friends. Wolf was irate, calling the demands of actors joining together to hold a show in limbo "a virus" to the entertainment industry and he threatened to write both Yoba and DeLorenzo out of the show altogether.
A day after the holdout, Universal Television, which was the production company of the show, filed a $1.2 million lawsuit against DeLorenzo and Yoba, claiming that the two had breached their contract and claimed that they were costing the show $60,000 each day they didn't show up to work.
After three days, the holdout ended and the two actors returned back to set, with their demands unmet, and continued under the terms of their original contract. However, tensions lingered between DeLorenzo and executive producer Wolf, and towards the end of season three, DeLorenzo's character, Detective Eddie Torres, was killed in a car explosion. Yoba was retained on the show for its fourth and final season.
Soundtracks
A soundtrack containing hip hop and R&B music was released on September 19, 1995 by Uptown Records and MCA Records. It features songs from the series, such as a cover of "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman" performed by Mary J. Blige, "I Miss You (Come Back Home)" by Monifah, "Jeeps, Lex Coups, Bimaz & Benz" by Lost Boyz, and the theme to New York Undercover, composed by James Mtume. The soundtrack album is executive produced by Andre Harrell, the executive producer of the series, and it was nominated for an NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Album.
A second soundtrack album for the series containing contemporary R&B music, New York Undercover: A Night At Natalie's, was released on January 13, 1998 by MCA Records. The album features R&B songs performed by some of the various musical acts at Natalie's, the nightclub which appears in virtually every episode of the series' first three seasons, such as 112, Mary J. Blige, Xscape, Chaka Khan, Teena Marie, K-Ci & JoJo, Brownstone, Gerald Levert, B. B. King, Tito Nieves, and The Barrio Boyzz. The album also contains a song performed by Michael DeLorenzo, who plays Detective Eddie Torres, titled "Don't Let Me Be Lonely Tonight".
Potential reboot/revival
On December 5, 2018, Deadline reported that series creator Dick Wolf and ABC were in talks to reboot the series. Six days later, ABC officially committed the reboot to a pilot.
On January 31, 2019, ABC officially ordered the reboot to pilot, also revealing that it would officially be a revival of the original series, featuring both old characters and a new cast. In February 2019, both Malik Yoba and Lauren Veléz were confirmed to reprise their respective roles as J.C. Williams and Nina Moreno, with Williams now being the overseeing officer of the new young detectives, and Moreno being retired, but retaining ties to her old unit. On March 12, 2019, ABC cast Toby Sandeman and Otmara Marrero as the revival's two lead detectives Nat Gilmore and Melissa Ortiz, as well as Anna Enger and Octavio Pisano as supporting detectives Lisa Kim and Moses Hernandez, and MC Lyte as Lieutenant April Freeman, the unit's new boss.
On May 10, 2019, it was announced that the revival would not move forward on ABC, but would be shopped to other networks and streaming services. As of January 2020, it is still being shopped around. In July 2020, Deadline reported that the revival might come to fruition on NBCUniversal's new streaming service, Peacock.
Rerun
The show and all the seasons are currently available for streaming in HD on Tubi, Disney+ and Hulu. The show re-aired on VH1 and BET.