Daily Inspiration Quote by William Devane

Devane’s dig at NYPD Blue lands because it’s not really about cops; it’s about TV’s quiet bargain with its audience. Calling it a “soap” is a slightly insulted compliment: the show may wear prestige grit, but its engine is melodrama, character friction, and ongoing interpersonal arcs - the same addictive mechanics daytime TV perfected. The barb punctures the cultural self-seriousness around “quality” dramas, reminding us how often “adult” television still runs on romance, rivalry, and emotional cliffhangers.

Then he pivots: “individualized to an extent.” That’s the tell. Devane isn’t scorning the form as much as praising the craft of modular storytelling. The show can be serialized enough to build loyalty, but segmented enough that a missed week doesn’t exile you. In the pre-streaming, appointment-TV era, that mattered. Audiences didn’t “catch up” with a few taps; they just re-entered the flow. Devane is describing a design philosophy built for imperfect attention and busy lives: give viewers continuity, but don’t punish them for being human.

The subtext is almost economic. Network television has to scale: it wants emotional investment (so you come back) without demanding too much homework (so new viewers can join). Devane’s line captures that tension in plain language, and it also slyly reframes “soap” as a functional solution, not just a snide genre label.