Bochco May Cool Hot Scenes in ‘NYPD Blue’ : Television: The producer says he’s willing to consider alterations in the first episode, which some station managers consider too racy to broadcast.

In the wake of anxieties expressed by ABC station managers over racy scenes in the fall police series “NYPD Blue,” network executives and producer Steven Bochco indicated a willingness to consider alterations in the show’s first episode.

“I am willing to discuss anything,” Bochco said in an interview Friday. “Whether I make changes, ultimately, I don’t know. But I cannot see anything being served by being arbitrary and close-minded.”

In a meeting here Thursday near the end of ABC’s annual affiliates convention, about one-third of the 229 stations indicated that they would not show the pilot for “NYPD Blue” as it was screened for them the day before. In interviews, executives from some of these stations praised the show’s quality but expressed discomfort with presenting its raw language and sexuality to a prime-time, mainstream audience. They seemed particularly concerned about a nude love scene.

Apparently signaling the network’s willingness to consider changes in the show, Capital Cities/ABC President Daniel Burke on Thursday referred to the pilot that had been screened as a “work in progress” and said the network wanted reaction and input from station executives. Earlier during the convention, ABC officials had said the pilot would be broadcast this fall as it was. ABC Television Network Group President Robert Iger and ABC Entertainment President Ted Harbert had both defended the production, saying the racier elements were justified because of the show’s high quality.

Bochco, who co-created “Hill Street Blues” and “L.A. Law” and has a long-term contract with ABC, said he didn’t feel he’d been backed into a corner.

“There’s a point in any ongoing process,” he said, “where you have to draw a line saying you won’t budge any more. You know when you get to that point. I don’t feel like anyone at ABC is giving me ultimatums, and I don’t feel I have to get my back up and draw that line. We’re trying to do a show that is different and pushes at the edges. I’m trying to be sensitive to the concerns without compromising the show that we have.”

The writer-producer said he spoke with several of the station owners and managers during a reception Thursday night.

“I really enjoyed what people had to say, and uniformly everyone thought it was a good show,” Bochco said. “One gentleman said to me, ‘I love the show, but the timing is all wrong.’ I told him, ‘With all due respect, when is the timing ever right?’ ”

Bochco said he and ABC had had “a real ongoing discussion about the show for almost two years, ever since I proposed it. We’ve been talking, arguing, negotiating, writing and re-writing, editing and re-editing.”

He added, “I have a very sound and respectful relationship with ABC. I don’t expect for a moment that ABC will put me out on a limb and then cut the limb out from under me. This will be a show that all of us will feel good about. And the show that will go on the air is in every fundamental respect the show that was screened the other day.”

Bochco had said earlier that the pilot contains nothing that couldn’t already be seen in a PG-13-rated movie.