On ‘NYPD Blue,’ They’re Brothers in Law

One’s a cop. The other produces a cop show. And they’re brothers. Overheard at a pitch meeting? No, it just sounds like it.

Mark Tinker, 49, the executive producer and a director of “NYPD Blue,” and Mike Tinker, 48, a 20-year Los Angeles Police Department detective, join forces for the ABC drama’s eighth season premiere tonight. Under Mark’s direction, Mike plays an internal affairs investigator who interrogates “NYPD” vet Det. Greg Medavoy (Gordon Clapp).

“It’s way scarier being in front of the camera,” says Mike, despite having come very close to getting killed on duty. “Stacey Koon saved my life,” he adds. Koon, known primarily for his involvement in the Rodney G. King beating and arrest, which resulted in a federal conviction for Koon, wounded a man who shot at Mike with an AK-47 assault rifle.

“I didn’t even realize I was being fired at until I got to cover.” Acting is scarier than that? “I’m not an actor, so I get really nervous doing it,” says Mike. “I’ll rehearse a line in all different ways, and Mark will say, ‘This isn’t ‘A Streetcar Named Desire.’ It’s a throwaway line--just say it.’ ”

Producer-director Mark, meanwhile, is just as intrigued by his brother’s line of work. “I don’t think I would have been a very good cop,” he says. “While I get fairly calm in emergencies and can watch any operation on television, real blood doesn’t play too well with me. I’ve thought about visiting Mike on the job, but I don’t know how I feel about riding around South-Central in the back of a police car. They shoot at cops there, you know.”

This is not Mike’s first role. He has played some half-dozen bartenders, cops and attorneys on “Civil Wars,” “L.A. Law,” “Chicago Hope” and “NYPD Blue,” thanks to Mark and their younger brother John, 42, who now has a development deal with 20th Century Fox.

“If he came in to read for me, I might not say, ‘We gotta get this guy,’ ” says Mark. “But once he got the hang of it, he didn’t betray his nerves. I do it so he can have a little fun, get a little break, make a little extra money, and have something to yuk it up about at the station.”

Mike’s colleagues think it’s pretty cool, and “NYPD” reruns so often that he sometimes feels like he gets spotted every week. “I’m now a member of SAG, and every once in a while, I get a check for $1.28,” laughs Mike. “It must have cost them twice as much to send it out.”

Why three sons of Hollywood royalty (dad is former NBC Chairman Grant Tinker) would be fascinated by the gritty world of police work is a mystery even to them. But John spent college summers working with the Vermont state troopers, and in sixth grade Mark entertained the idea of eventually joining the FBI.

“I found out it required a law degree, which was too much work,” Mark says. “Of course, had I known that J. Edgar Hoover was wearing a dress, I might not have been quite as fascinated.” That Mike actually went into law enforcement has endlessly amused Mark.

“The funny thing about Mike is that he was the juvenile delinquent of the family,” says Mark of their days growing up in Darien, Conn. “He was the first to smoke cigarettes and get drunk. He once threw up in the back of a police car, and my mom had to clean it up. He got arrested for various and sundry things, including sawing off the heads of parking meters.”

Needless to say, Mike found a more positive channel for his energy, and, after nearly five years on the Westport, Conn., force, joined his brothers in Los Angeles.

Despite his experience on the job, the show’s authenticity is left to executive producer and retired New York police detective Bill Clark. Says Mike: “We don’t really whack people around the way they do on the show. But it is TV.”

“Mike’s such a non-show-biz guy, such a real person, that he wouldn’t offer an opinion unless we asked him,” says Mark. “For the most part, he’ll just keep it to himself. Having been a homicide detective, he knows how to keep his mouth shut. You can get a lot from listening.”

Once “NYPD Blue” ends and Mike retires, Mark can see teaming up with his brother for another show.

“Mike probably would have been a pretty good producer,” says Mark. “He’s a smart guy who has tons of esoteric knowledge and a really good sense of story. He can keep you in stitches all night with stories about criminals trying to weasel their way out of getting caught.”

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* “NYPD Blue” airs Tuesdays at 10 p.m. on ABC. The network has rated it TV-14-LSV (may be unsuitable for children younger than 14, with special advisories for coarse language, sexual situations and violence).