Before the inevitable comparisons, let's point out one crucial difference about Mark-Paul Gosselaar replacing Rick Schroder Tuesday on NYPD Blue:

        ABC viewers will learn more about Mr. Gosselaar's new character in the two-hour season premiere than they ever knew about Mr. Schroder's troubled Danny Sorenson after 2 1/2 years on the show.

        “In the past, sometimes mistakes have been made bringing in a (new) character,” says Bill Clark. A retired New York detective, he is an executive producer with Steven Bochco on the Emmy-winning police series.

        “I never felt happy with the Rick Schroder character. I don't think we ever really knew who he was.”

BLUE NOTE

Though no more crude than usual, the language on NYPD Blue might be shocking to some viewers as the show moves from 10 p.m. to 9 p.m. on Tuesday (Channels 9, 2).   The ninth season premiere includes repeated anatomical references and a slang term for urinating. It has been rated TV-14-D-L, meaning that it's inappropriate for viewers 14 and under, with coarse language and suggestive dialogue.

        The same mistake hasn't been made in the ninth season premiere, as the series moves to 9 p.m. Tuesday (Channels 9, 2) against NBC's Frasier, Fox's new 24 andCBS' surprising The Guardian.

        Minutes after Mr. Gosselaar appears in the opening credits, he's introduced as a young, hot-shot narcotics detective whose drug case turns into a murder being handled by gruff Det. Andy Sipowicz (Dennis Franz).

        “I just want to make sure we're not getting our wires crossed,” says polite officer John Clark Jr. (named after the producer's deceased younger brother).

        Sipowicz, of course, blows off the young turk: “We're working a homicide investigation. Is that OK with you?”

        Soon it's evident that “Junior,” as Sipowicz calls him, is the son of a by-the-book Bronx detective who had clashed with Sipowicz during his drinking days. Joe Spano, who played Lt. Henry Goldblume on Mr. Bochco's Hill Street Blues, guest stars as John Clark Sr.

        “It's an interesting and complex triangular relationship in which this young man is torn between a very opinionated, tough-minded father, and an equally opinionated tough-minded mentor,” Mr. Bochco says.

        The two-hour premiere ends with the young Clark partnering with Sipowicz. The show also resolves Sorenson's disappearance while working undercover in a Manhattan strip club in the May season finale.

Planning departure

        Since March, NYPD Blue producers had been preparing for Mr. Schroder's possible exit, the third defection in three months. James McDaniel left in April; Kim Delaney split in May to star in ABC's new Philly.

        Finally in June, weeks after Mr. Schroder's final appearance, he announced he was quitting to devote more time to his young family (four children under 10).

        By then, producers had Mr. Gosselaar, the former blond teen star of NBC's Saved by the Bell, to replace Mr. Schroder, the blond child star from NBC's Silver Spoons.

        The similarities are unavoidable: Mr. Gosselaar is 27; Mr. Schroder was 28 when he replaced Jimmy Smits in 1998. Both are trim Caucasians. Each has been paired with Sipowicz, the 15th Precincts's grumpy old man.

        Mr. Gosselaar downplays the parallels.

        “I see a lot of similarities of us growing up, back when we were child actors. When I had blond hair, we sort of looked alike. But I don't think we look that much alike now,” says the brown-haired actor.

Impressive audition

        Producers found Mr. Gosselaar during March auditions for Philly, the Philadelphia law drama also produced by Mr. Bochco.

        “Steven loved him. And we were going to bring him in as an addition to the (NYPD) cast totally independent of Rick leaving,” Mr. Clark says. “We planned for them to co-exist — or in the event that Rick did leave, that he would step in.”

        Mr. Gosselaar, the son of a Dutch father and Indonesian mother, says he didn't know that Mr. Schroder could bail. “Back in March, nobody knew that Rick was planning to leave,” he says.

        He figured his NYPD Blue character would be a rival for Mr. Schroder, not a replacement.

        “I thought it would be a good opportunity for me and him to go at it . . . two young detectives, one who had been there for a while and one just coming on,” he says.

Change partners

        With three major cast changes, NYPD Blue producers decided to stick with the tested formula. There will be the old-young partners, and black-white partners, working for a minority boss. It will have a pair of female detectives when Jacqueline Obradors (Six Days, Seven Nights) arrives to pair with Charlotte Ross in the eighth episode.

        Why not pair Sipowicz with Baldin Jones (Henry Simmons), the only African-American detective in the 15th Precinct?

        “We thought about it, but we chose not to do it,” Mr. Bochco says. Adds Mr. Clark: “Jones and Medavoy (Gordon Clapp) work really good together.”

        The goal for this season is establishing the newcomers. Lt. Tony Rodriguez (Esai Morales) carries a major story line in the two-hour premiere; Detective Connie McDowell (Ms. Ross) and Assistant District Attorney Valerie Haywood (Garcelle Beauvais-Nilon) will have prominent roles in November episodes, in addition to further revelations about John Clark Jr. and his resentful father.

        “We really have high hopes for Mark-Paul,” Mr. Clark says. “He seems like a really good guy.”

        At least viewers will know who he is.

        E-mail jkiesewetter@enquirer.com. Past columns at Enquirer.com/columns/kiese

Historic Emmys leans toward 'West Wing'
List of Emmy winners
KIESEWETTER: New roll call on 'NYPD Blue'
New songs spice up Dylan show
Online chat on fitness
Ask A Stupid Question
Get to it
Working out at work
How to get your own center
Bad weightlifting technique can lead to injury
Fit Bits
Proper diet can cut cancer risk
Carlin as original, unprintable, funny as ever
Down-home funky moe. leads jammin' journey
Malkmus bit better when on road with Pavement
Mills, Pendergrass still feel the groove
Wild welcome greets Potter film premiere
Mysterious illness puts lives in new light