TVXOHOF - APRIL 2023: THE 12TH PRECINCT OF THE NYPD

I couldn’t think of a good candidate for the traditional April Fool’s Day induction for the Television Crossover Hall of Fame.  Took me nine days to finally come up with something at least unique for the month’s latest member.

And so….

12TH PRECINCT

NYPD

Every so often a location does get inducted into the TVXOHOF.  They include places which can only be found in Toobworld – the Montecito Casino and Hotel, St. Eligius Hospital, Hooterville, Mayberry, Altair IV, and Fernwood, Ohio.  There have been a few Real World locations as well, beginning with the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center.  Other locations which can be found here in the Trueniverse include Las Vegas, the Playboy Mansion, the Cathedral of Notre Dame, The White House, and the OK Corral.

The 12th Precinct is a multi-dimensional location.  It might even be multiversal if it exists in movies or literature.  But you won’t find it anywhere in the five boroughs of New York City.  For safety concerns, the NYPD doesn’t allow real precincts to be cited in movies and TV shows.

The most famous appearance by the 12th Precinct is in ‘Barney Miller’, where it is the main setting.  Here are other places where the 12th Precinct showed up in Earth Prime-Time, the main Toobworld:

• ‘Law & Order: Special Victims Unit’
• ‘Law & Order: Criminal Intent’
• ‘CSI: NY’

As you can see, that’s four TV series which covers the minimum requirement, plus one.

But wait!  There’s more!

Back in 2011, Vincent Audette wrote to me:

“This precinct is the home of TV's 'McCloud', 'Barney Miller', 'The Unusuals', 'Can't Hurry Love', 'Castle' and 'The Beat'.”

Of those, ‘Castle’ is one of the series which makes the 12th Precinct a multi-dimensional location and I’ll be getting to that later.

As for the others….

‘McCLOUD’ – This “fish out of water” cop show had the Deputy Marshal Sam McCloud from Taos, New Mexico, on loan to the NYPD to learn new techniques.  He worked out of the 27th Precinct, but there was always some interaction with other precincts.  So the 12th Precinct may have been cited or actually shown up in at least one episode.

‘THE UNUSUALS’ – I don't remember if I ever saw this short-lived series.  But one of my old blog posts says I was really enjoying it.   No matter; I found it available online.  I will be watching for any references to the Ol’ One-Two.  But the detectives in the Second Squad worked out of the 2nd Precinct according to the episode summary on the IMDb.

‘CAN’T HURRY LOVE’ – In three episodes of this one-season sitcom, the main character dated an NYPD detective, including the episode which was included in the Elizabeth Taylor crossover event, “Taylor-Made Monday”.  He may have been working at the 12th Precinct.

‘THE BEAT’ - Despite its pedigree behind the scenes, and an appearance by Crossover King Detective John Munch, this series about patrolmen had a very short run, with only a few of the produced episodes ever getting broadcast.  But the two patrolmen could have been working at the 12th.

Here are the shows which I can definitely say establish the 12th Precinct as existing in the main Toobworld:

‘BARNEY MILLER’ (Duh.  O’Bviously.)
Most famously, the 12th, originally located on East 6th Street in Greenwich Village, was the home of 'Barney Miller' and his squad of detectives, throughout the run of the series.  But that original building is now home to the Theodore Roosevelt Police Commissioner Museum as seen in the 3-episode finale.  (Its lamp outside that original building will be the emblem for all of its representations in other series.)

‘LAW & ORDER: SPECIAL VICTIMS UNIT’
“INTERNAL AFFAIRS”
Detective Brian Cassidy was forced to infiltrate a corrupt precinct whose officers were suspected of raping young women during their shifts.  Ed Tucker later investigated the entire precinct for kickbacks, extortion and rape.  

“GAMBLER’S FALLACY”
It is later mentioned that a dirty cop from the 12th that was previously thought to have committed suicide was actually killed by Anton Nadari.

‘LAW & ORDER: CRIMINAL INTENT’
“MONSTER”
Detectives Robert Goren and Alexandra Eames visited the precinct during their investigation into the death of Laura Dietrich.  (Hopefully no relation to Detective Arthur Dietrich of 'Barney Miller', but then again - it is a small world.)

‘CSI: NY'
I am not sure if the 12th Precinct worked most closely, if intermittently, with the crime lab, or if it was the regular precinct throughout the series.

ALTERNATE TOOBWORLDS

‘CASTLE’
Detective Kate Beckett is working out of the 12th Precinct. (It was embossed on the elevator doors in "Always Buy Retail".)  The backdrop against which the events of Castle are seen, this is home to Beckett, Esposito, and Ryan and permanent playground to Rick Castle. The 12th has had two captains so far whilst Castle has been running loose, Roy Montgomery and Victoria Gates.

In 2015, Captain Gates was promoted, and Beckett was assigned as the new precinct commander in "XY".

What keeps ‘Castle’ out of the main Toobworld is that New York City had a different mayor than the one established for Earth Prime-Time.  That mayor must always be the same as the one from the Real World.

BLUE BLOODS
Jameson Reagan was formerly assigned to this precinct, along with Eddie Janko-Reagan.  Before he died, Joseph Reagan, also worked at the 12th Precinct.

The same reason why ‘Castle’ is out of the main Toobworld can be applied to ‘Blue Bloods’ – because the mayor was different from the one in the Real World.

'ELEMENTARY'
"THE BEST WAY OUT IS ALWAYS THROUGH"
Detective Marcus Bell of the 11th Precinct was dating Detective Shauna Scott of the 12th Precinct.  What Bell didn't know was that Scott was also working for the Internal Affairs Bureau....

Since the series is about the Sherlock Holmes of the modern age in a world in which Arthur Conan Doyle never took credit for the stories about a similarly named consulting detective in the Victorian era (of which there is no mention in 'Elementary'), I've placed the show in the same TV dimension as 'Sleepy Hollow'.  For that series, Washington Irving apparently never wrote about Ichabod Crane who - like Sherlock - exists in the modern age (although he did begin life in the Colonial period.)

‘24’
“DAY 8: 4:00 PM – 5:00 PM”
When Victor Aruz went to Jack Bauer with information about a possible threat against President Omar Hassan, he contacted CTU New York. The Special Agent in Charge, Brian Hastings, told Jack to take Victor to the 12th Precinct where he would have him picked up. However, when Jack was en route to the precinct, he was ambushed by Red Square assassins.

This exclusion goes beyond different mayors.  It goes to the top, with a slew of fictional Presidents when it should be the same one as in the Real World.

So…. Four series in the main Toobworld, four in alternate Toobworlds.

And that ain’t all!

Thanks to shows like ‘Primeval’ and the mega-crossover event for all the DC superhero shows (plus a few others), not to mention TV shows which focused on time travel like ‘Doctor Who’ and ‘The Time Tunnel’, the timeline for Earth is always being revamped.  Perhaps it has happened so much that the Earths depicted in the alternate Toobworlds mentioned here have been changed so that they have been brought into alignment with Earth Prime-Time and no longer exist as different Earths.  That is, if the shows are no longer on the air and thus unable to contradict this theory.

So ‘Castle’ could be blended back into the main Toobworld if we assume it now has a back-story which eliminates the show’s mayor and all the episodes he was involved with.  (There is precedent for this – ‘Primeval’ caused the appearance of Ford Rainey as the POTUS in episodes of ‘Lost In Space’ (voice only) and ‘Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea’ to be replaced by whoever was the actual President at the time.

If we apply the same scenario to ‘Elementary’, now it is in a world in which Conan Doyle at least served as the literary agent for Dr. Watson.  This means that the entire series of ‘Elementary’ no longer exists.

‘Blue Bloods’ is still in production, so for the time being, we, as the TV PTB, have a hands-off policy in effect.

And finally, I think it saves a lot headaches to keep ‘24’ in its own TV dimension.  Too many presidents to contend with.

Welcome to the TVXOHOF, 12th Precinct!

Thanks to:
Vince Audette
Brad Mengel
Brett McKee

One final O'Bservation....

I was just starting to add the pictures to the post when I realized I did have a candidate for the Hall following the very loose tradition of April's Fool. Considering who he is, I should have thought of him almost immediately.

I'll save him for next year....