Prostration Before the Law: Representations of Illness, Interaction, and Intimacy in the NYPD Blue Prostate Cancer Narrative

Abstract

Building on extant literature on media, illness narratives, and "message television," we analyze the prostate cancer narrative presented in ABC's police drama, NYPD Blue. Given the potential for entertainment television as a source of health information, we justify the need to examine the prostate cancer experiences portrayed by the show's central character, Detective Andy Sipowicz, and his wife Sylvia. In addition to using narrative analysis, we compare the televised story with knowledge derived from extant research on prostate cancer and prostate cancer support groups. After providing background information about the television series and the disease, we investigate the accuracy and scope of the prostate cancer information presented in the story. In doing so, we consider (a) depictions of the wife as a selfless support source, (b) dialectical tensions that emerge within the marital relationship because of the illness experience, and (c) the narrative probability of this fictitious illness narrative.