FRANK CONVERSE & NYPD

An actor whose stature, voice, and screen presence I liked a lot was the talented Frank Converse.  

His show NYPD was gritty and the discordant, sharp music was suspenseful. I liked the inner monologue of the characters as they entered existential conflicts and situations. As a kid, I liked that the characters revealed what they were thinking.  It certainly was not a standard trait of TV detectives, for sure, but being the main characters they often shared with the audience what they were thinking or how their calculations were being formed.  As a young actor, Converse had that New England New York college boy look.  At other times, he'd played a seasoned but beleaguered NYPD detective existentially remarking on the violent, desolate, and schizophrenic nature of the people of New York of the 70s.  I thought that he was an interesting guide on that scene for a kid watching a day unfold on the streets of New York.  Of course, he wasn't the only NY detective in those days.  There was Dennis Weaver (1924-2006) as McCloud.  Funny aside is that I saw Dennis Weaver on the 210 Freeway years after his show ended and he went into retirement.  He was driving in the eastbound lanes in a Nissan 240Z.  He was likable.