ABC Stays True 'Blue'

12/18/1998 at 12:00 AM EST

Producer Steven Bochco won his battle to keep his Emmy-winning "NYPD Blue" in its Tuesday time slot, but there's a catch. The cop drama won't return for its new season until Jan. 11, 2000. ABC said it would move "Once and Again," the new drama that has been airing Tuesdays at 10 p.m. ET, to Mondays at 10 in January, once the pro football season ends. "I can certainly live with this compromise," Bochco told the Associated Press. ABC's deliberations over its schedule had turned into a public relations disaster when a furious Bochco denounced the network for even thinking of moving his show. "NYPD Blue" has aired in the same Tuesday night time slot since 1993.