McDaniel Takes a Fancy to Directing

While actors directing their cast mates is the rage in television these days, producer Steven Bochco has had a long-standing policy that actors on his series--from current shows “NYPD Blue” on ABC and CBS’ “City of Angels” as well as his earlier shows such as “Hill Street Blues” and “L.A. Law”--could not direct episodes while still part of the casts.

Even Betty Thomas, who most recently directed Sandra Bullock in “28 Days” and had won an Emmy for her role on “Hill Street Blues,” had to leave that series before Bochco let her pursue directing by sitting in on production meetings.

Although Bochco declined to explain his rationale, he recently bent that rule for one “NYPD Blue” actor, James McDaniel, who plays Lt. Arthur Fancy and who directed the episode that will air Tuesday.

In it, detectives of the 15th Precinct track down a killer. The victim--a body hidden in a 50-gallon drum barrel for 25 years.

“It’s very easy directing colleagues because you already have a language in place,” McDaniel says. “Trust is one of the main things. When you know and love each other as long as we have, it makes it easier to do.

“However, it makes you look at the actors in a different way, because to a certain extent, you’re not an actor anymore,” he adds. “You’re looking at the scene in a more critical light because you don’t just have your own tail to worry about.”

Colleagues might have been easy, but directing himself was another matter.

“I couldn’t keep my eye on the scene as a whole,” he says. “Directing myself was like looking at a road map upside down with sunglasses in the high wind.”

McDaniel is a Bochco veteran, having appeared in episodes of “Hill Street Blues,” “L.A. Law” and “Civil War” before landing as a regular on the much maligned musical-sitcom “Cop Rock.” He was one of the original cast members of “NYPD Blue” when it launched in 1993, garnering an Emmy nomination three years later for his role as the even-keeled squad boss.

Although he’d directed New York and regional theater, McDaniel made his TV directing debut in 1997 with an episode of “C-16,” the short-lived ABC FBI drama. He got that first shot through its executive producer, Michael Robin, a former “NYPD Blue” co-executive producer and director.

“He was like my mentor,” McDaniel says. “I began to have an interest in directing as far back as ‘Cop Rock.’ I’d make a pest out of myself in the editing room and seeing how the rest of the process worked.”

That curiosity made an impression on Robin.

“When I directed ‘NYPD Blue,’ Jimmy always had really smart insights into the material,” says Robin, now executive producer of WB’s “Popular.” “It gave me a clue that he might be someone who could tell stories as a director as well as an actor. When I was producing ‘C-16,’ I thought he would be a good person to take a chance on and he did fabulously.”

Robin says McDaniel already had a certain visual style: “He has a stylish and graphic sensibility. He’s got a real chance to be a director. I haven’t used him more because he’s been busy with his day job. But I have another ABC pilot, ‘Elementary.’ If that’s picked up, I’ll have him direct again. But I could also see him directing an episode of ‘Popular’ because of his wacky sense of humor.”

How did McDaniel’s “NYPD Blue” cohorts take to his being behind the lens? As Gordon Clapp, the Emmy-winning actor who plays Det. Greg Medavoy, puts it: “I didn’t realize how closely he’d been watching my character all these years. He seemed to know Medavoy as well as I did.”

McDaniel will play out the rest of the “NYPD Blue” season, which wraps in May, before investigating other directing opportunities. “It sounds so friggin’ corny, but directing gets me excited in the way I used to be excited about acting,” he says. “It challenges me and makes me think.”

* “NYPD Blue” can be seen Tuesdays at 10 p.m. on ABC. The network has rated it TV-14-L (may be unsuitable for children younger than 14 with special advisories for coarse language).