Movie:
Third Watch tells the story of the paramedics, cops and firefighters of the (fictional) 55th precinct in New York (nicknamed "Camelot") who fill in the "third watch", from 3 PM to 11 PM.

1. Welcome To Camelot

In this introduction episode we see how newbie cop Ty Davis (Coby Bell) and paramedical trainee Carlos Nieto (Anthony Ruivivar) get assigned to their more experienced partners John 'Sully' Sullivan and Monte 'Doc' Parker.

2. Anywhere But Here

During a routine operation, the paramedic Jerry gets shot. He survives, but is unable to work again. Carlos takes his place at Doc's (Michael Beach) side. Officers Sully and Maurice 'Bosco' Boscorelli (Jason Wiles) go after the shooter.

3. Patterns

Bosco thinks he's in big trouble when a video of him and a teenage girl having sex appears. The police chief gives Bosco a warning, not knowing the girl was in fact his daughter. Kim Zambrano (Kim Raver) and Bobby Caffey (Bobby Cannivale) have a heated discussion as to why she is still sleeping with her ex-husband Jimmy Doherty (Eddie Cibrian), a man who cheated on her in the past.

4. Hell Is What You Make Of It

Carlos starts having doubts about his job as a paramedic after Doc decides not to help a wounded gang member, because he thinks they might get hurt in the process. Carlos talks about this with Ty, who feels the same way. Bosco is getting homophobic. After she helped the teenage prostitute Sunny, Kim discovers her wallet has been stolen.

5. Responsible Parties

Bosco and his partner Faith Yokas (Molly Price) find a young kid with a gunshot wound and take him to Mercy Hospital directly, in stead of waiting for an ambulance. The boy dies and Faith feels guilty. Faith and Bosco find the gang leader responsible and take matters in their own hands. The new doctor at Mercy hospital, Sara Morales (Lisa Vidal), blames several of the paramedics and cops for not follwing protocol.

6. Sunny Like Sunshine

Having nowhere else to go, Sunny asks Kim if she can sleep over at her place, but Kim refuses. Later, she and Bobby discover Sunny's body (Sunny died of an overdose) and she feels guilty. Bobby confesses his love for Kim and tries to kiss her, but she tells him that it might not be such a good idea. Carlos and Doc get in a fistfight, but they discover they have quite some things in common.

7. Impulse

Bosco and Yokas discover a body in the trunk of a burned-out car. When Bosco finds the killer, he starts cobbering him. Sully and Ty's mother, Maggie, go on a date together. During his first drive in an ambulance, Carlos rams a pregnant woman, which leads to the death of her baby. Bobby's brother gets released from prison and Bobby invites him into his house.

8. History Of The World

It's Thanksgiving Day. Bobby's mother doesn't want to have anything to do with Matty. Bosco is sent to a restaurant where he discovers a man who's being mocked and insulted by his family members. The man pulls a gun and shoots a waiter. Bosco succeeds in calming the shooter down.

9. Modern Designs For Better Living

Davis is enthousiastic about his first raid, but when he hears that Malcolm, a young street thug, might be arrested in the process, he tricks the kid in staying away from the scene. After he hears what happened, Malcolm fears for his life, because he might be considered a snitch. Dr. Morales treats Doc's father and discovers the man tried to kill himself by taking an overdose of pills. Faith contronts her husband with his drinking problem.

10. Demolition Derby

During preparations, an explosive charge goes off and a demolition team is trapped inside a factory building. The 55th precinct is sent to the scene. Bobby and Kim discover two men, only one of them can be saved. A hard choice needs to be made.

11. Alone In A Crowd

An appartment building is on fire, but because a car blocked their exit, the Camelot firefighters are delayed and arrive too late to save a woman's life. Bobby humiliates the owner of the car, who later returns with a baseball bat to settle the score. A fireman takes a hit to the head, Bobby suffers a broken rib. Bosco arrests the man later on. Carlos and Doc bring a Chinese woman to the hospital, despite the protests of her family. The woman dies in the hospital because of an allergic reaction. Morales feels guilty and when Doc tries to omfort her, they kiss.

12. Journey To The Himalayas

Ty Davis discovers that a fellow policeman, Candyman, takes bribes from criminals. At a murder scene, Bobby recognizes one of the shooters and asks him if Matty was involved. He later finds Matty, drenched in someone elses blood. A retarded 23-year-old man and an equally retarded 15-year-old girl have sex. The girl's mother wants to sue the man for rape, but Boscorelli intervenes.

13. The Band Of Brothers

After an armed robbery, Sully, Davis, Faith, Bosco and Candyman chase the fellons. Candyman saves Davis' life, but is shot in the leg. Bosco lets one of the shooters bleed to death, which causes the anger of Faith. Meanwhile, Matty doesn't want to turn himself in, even though he claims to have nothing to do with the murder (from the previous episode). Bobby gives him a choice: either Matty goes to the cops, or he doesn't want to see his brother again.

14. 32 Bullets And A Broken Heart

During a gay wedding, one man of the couple is killed. Later that day, another gay man is killed by the same shooter. Bosco fails the catch the killer before some vigilantes murder the man. Faith arrests her husband after drunken driving. Kim and Bobby have sex, but afterwards Kim tells him it was a mistake. Carlos saves a girl named Vangie, who promptly invites him over to spend the night at her place.

15. Officer Involved

Davis accidentally shoots a man, who becomes paralyzed. Sully tells him it wasn't his fault. Davis is proclaimed innocent, but still feels depressed. Bosco talks about his childhood problems (his parents were also divorced), after hearing that Faith wants her husband to leave. He convinces her to give her husband another chance. Carlos thinks Vangie might be stalking him.

16. Nature Or Nurture

A gang member is shot. While Doc and Carlos tend to his wounds, the victim's brother holds a gun to their head. On their way to the hospital, the victim promises to change his life and look after his young brother. AFter he's dismissed from the hospital, however, he goes after the shooters. He is shoot once again and his young brother dies in the process. An outraged Doc refuses to heal him. Kim claims that Jimmy is an irresponsible parent, after hearing their son hurt a classmate in school.

17. Ohio

The firefighters, policemen and paramedics are dispatched to a hotel, where mayor Rudolph Giuliani and Hilary Clinton hold a debate. Bosco and Faith have a discussion about who's the better politician. Carlos asks the other paramedics about their most shocking call. Kim loses money because Jimmy has debts.

18. Men

No that he's fully recovered, Candyman returns to active service. Ty threatens to tell Candy's sleazy affairs to the chief. Doc's father suffers a heart attack. Morales convinces Doc to let his father go. Doherty succeeds in rescuing a man whose legs are stuck in a mixing vat.

19. Spring Forward, Fall Back

A 2-year-old girl went missing after a car accident. The policemen go after her. Eventually, Sully finds her alone, in the middle of the night in Central Park. A priest from Sully's neighbourhood is stabbed. Sully goes after the felon. Carlos gets to hear he made Vangie pregnant and says he wants nothing to do with it.

20. A Thousand Points Of Light

There's a big motel fire and the 55th precint is dipatched to the scene. 2 young boys tell Boco their mother is still inside. Later Bosco discovers she had already died before he arrived. He asks the kids for the truth. After Carlos suggests Vangie to do an abortion, she tries to kill herself. Bosco introduces his girlfriend Nicole to his parents.

21. Just Another Night At The Opera

Faith and Bosco chase a car into a parking garage and witness it fall to ground from several stories high. Bobby manages to save the driver just before the car explodes. Vangie files a complaint against Carlos, who decides to support her in whatever decision she makes about the baby, if she only stops harassing during his shifts. Nicole declares her love to Bosco after a night at the opera.

22. Young Men And Fire

Jimmy and Kim try to settle their differences and wind up sleeping together. The next day, Jimmy saves a man after rapelling from an appartment building. On the ground, the emergency team is hindered by an obviously deranged man, claiming to be a firefighter. At another fire, the man reappears and shoots Jimmy and his team. He's chased by the cops but commits suicide. Faith finds out she's pregnant. Doc and Morales start living together in his father's appartment.
 
Sound and Vision:
The fact that the first season of Third Watch dates from 1999 can't be overlooked. The series is recorded in its original 4:3 format (so no 'natural' widescreen) and occasionally suffers from minor grain. Still, the series is very nicely directed and the special effects certainly don't look outdated. Overall the visual quality of this DVD is okay, but for future releases, Warner should try to make some improvements.

The same thing goes for the 2.0 Dolby Digital soundtrack. It's very acceptable (especially when your DVD player can upmix it to ProLogic), but it's not in the same league as some present day series, such as '24' or 'Lost'. Speach comes out clear and undistorted, which is a very good thing, considering Third Watch has quite some dialogue in it. The soundtrack is good too.
 
Extras:
None.
 
Conclusion:
Though I had expected another run-of-the-mill NYPD Blue meets E.R. type of show, Third Watch pleasantly surprised me. Because the series focuses on paramedics and firefighters, who are unsung heroes in most series, it has its own identity.

The series shows the tough life on the NY streets and how cops in particular don't do everything by the book (for instance: in one episode, Faith drops off a Latino gang lord in a black neighbourhood, thereby effective sealing his death sentence), which makes it all the more believable. The series maintains the same high quality scenarios throughout the season. There are a lot of different things that go wrong and the outcome is certainly not always positive. The series contains a lot of cleverly written dialogue (the lines of Faith and Boscorelli being the most memorable), which is an added charm.

The characters aren't shallow templates. Quite some time in Third Watch is spent on showing the private life, thoughts and problems of the main characters. Though he doesn't want to admit it, Sully feels lonely after his shift. At first sight, Bosco seems like an arrogant, self-centered cop, but later on you discover he also wants to start a family and get settled. Faith has a husband with a drinking problem. Jimmy's financial problems prove troublesome for both him and his ex-wife Kim. The list goes on.

It boils down to this: if you enjoy cop series, E.R. and the like, you can't go wrong with Third Watch. The same goes if you're in for a good drama series. If Warner can improve the technical side of things a bit, and maybe add a few extras along the way, Third Watch will make for excellent DVDs.