ABC's award-winning police drama about New York City police detectives, "NYPD Blue," ended its 12-year run Tuesday.

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And former child star Mark-Paul Gosselaar took advantage of the occasion to admit to reporters he often played pranks on his "NYPD Blue" co-stars -- especially the women during nude scenes.

"I usually played them (pranks) on my female co-stars during our nude scenes," Gosselaar told TV Guide. "It's basically to relieve my nervousness -- but I mask it by saying that it's to make things comfortable on the set for them.

"I'll write something on my bare ass, or one time I went under the sheets and came back up with a full fake beard on. I had tucked (it) in between my legs and when she wasn't looking, I put it on real quick."

Gosselaar, who played the partner of Dennis Franz's Andy Sipowicz, told TV Guide he owes a great deal to the show's creator, Steven Bochco.

"I used to take things for granted. I've been in this business for 26 years now, and a lot of things came at a very young age for me. (But) I wasn't working in my early 20s, and it made me realize how fortunate I was to be given a chance by Steven Bochco," said Gosselaar.

"To be honest," he added, "it's not that anybody could look at my past and say, "Oh, I've seen him do that; he can handle this."