raysond When it comes to outstanding dramas no one will ever come close to one of the greatest cop dramas of the 1980's perhaps the best police drama in television history. "Hill Street Blues" was indeed groundbreaking and realistic in its portrayal of the men and women who put there lives on the line everyday in order to protect and serve the citizens of the city. When "Hill Street Blues" burst onto the scene as a mid-season replacement in January of 1981, no one had never seen a show like this before and it reinvented the cop show genre like no other. Hand-held cameras,stories that lasted multiple episodes and large ensemble casts were pretty new to audiences but it didn't click at first. Ratings for the first season of the series were so low that cancellation seemed imminent. But through critical acclaim,the show grew to become one of the defining shows of the decade,one that set the standard for police dramas to follow. Despite incredibly low ratings during its first season, it surprised audiences and critics alike when "Hill Street Blues" won eight Prime Time Emmy Awards in 1981,breaking the record for the most Emmy wins for a show's first season. That record stood until 2000 when another critically acclaim NBC drama "The West Wing" surpassed it."Hill Street Blues" premiered in prime time on January 15,1981 as the mid-season replacement for two canceled NBC shows("A Man Called Sloane" and "Good Time Harry")and from the first episode became one of the biggest hits in the history of NBC that was nominated for an impressive 98 Prime Time Emmys and was victorious in winning 8 Prime Time Emmys for Outstanding Drama Series,Outstanding Writing and Direction,Outstanding Actor, Outstanding Actress,Outstanding Supporting Actor,Outstanding Supporting Actress and was nominated for 4 Golden Globes winning 3 Golden Globes in 1982,1983 and 1984 for Best Outstanding Drama Series. For the seven seasons and 146 episodes it produced the show became part of NBC's "Must See Thursday Line-Up" of prime time shows that included "Cheers","Family Ties","Night Court" and "The Cosby Show" for all of Seasons 1 thru 6. The seventh and final season saw the series moved from Thursday nights to Tuesday nights in mid-season until May 12,1987. The show was produced by MTM Productions(Mary Tyler Moore's production company and her ex-husband Grant Tinker) the company that not only produced "The Mary Tyler Moore Show",but also produced "The White Shadow", "St. Elsewhere", "Newhart","Remington Steele", "WKRP In Cincinnati",and also "Rhoda" just to name a few."Hill Street Blues" was the brainchild of creators Steven Bochco and Michael Kozoil and was set somewhere in the fictional police headquarters of a large metro city(taking place on the mean streets of Chicago)and it dealt with the men and women of the police department taking on the baddies,but it was way more than that and took it's characters to even more dealt than any show like it. The characters are real,candid and rather than just stereotypes that had real problems and realistic situations. The writers who were behind this series consisted of Anthony Yerkovich, David Mamet,Steven Bochco, Micheal Kozoli, Dick Wolf, Walon Green, Jeffrey Lewis, David Milch and top notch directors from Gregory Hoblit, Christian Nyby, Rick Wallace, Thomas Carter, Gabrielle Beaumont, John Patterson, Stan Lathan, George Stanford-Brown, Corey Allen, Don Weis, Oz Scott, Bill Duke, Randa Haines, Arnold Laven and Alexander Singer. Big time guest stars ranged from David Caruso, Talia Balsam, Meg Tilly, Anne-Marie Johnson, Howard Rollins, Frances McDormand, Lindsay Crouse, Alfre Woodard, Morgan Woodward, Jennifer Tilly, Linda Hamliton, Danny Glover, Michael Lerner, Chris Noth, Dolph Sweet, James Remar, Ally Sheedy, Cuba Gooding Jr., Michael Biehn, CCH Pounder, Ron O'Neal, Lynn Whitfeld, James Avery, Meshach Taylor, Alan Autry, Steven Bauer, Hector Elizondo, Yaphet Kotto, Joanna Kerns, Don Cheadle, Clarence Williams III, Laurence Fishburne, Ralph Manza, Lauren Holly, to Renny Roker, Lynne Moody, Lee Weaver, Jane Kaczmarek, and Mykelti Williamson just to name a few of the great actors who were guest stars on this series. When NBC abruptly canceled "Hill Street Blues" after seven seasons and 146 episodes,it didn't them executives in charge of prime-time programming long to find its replacement that was also under Steven Bochco that was also critically acclaim...."L.A. Law" that premiered in the fall of 1987.

happipuppi13 First off ,happy to see that only 1 person made a negative review.It's nice to see that time hasn't taken anything away from the love people have for this show. It has been said by some that the show is dated and doesn't hold up well but hey ,the show was created nearly 35 years ago. You can't fault it because it doesn't look like a modern police force. (Now here's why I gave my review it's title.)To be certain ,in 1980 ,the way police were portrayed on TV needed to change ..a lot. Not to put down my favorites growing up but ,TV cops then were :Known by name and "cool" reputation. Were 'tough' and could out-shoot all bad guys. Were 'buddies' or close with their partner but both still kicked tail. Some were humorous or a joke like "CHIPS" or the police on "The Dukes Of Hazzard."In short ,despite 70s cop shows being action packed and maybe even sometimes 'attempting' to put a more human face on the men (and women) in blue ,they fell short in many ways.So much ,that a lot of the shows all started to match tone and execution. They had good true to life stories to work from ,no question. They could get pretty gritty & a bit dark...but by the end of the 1970s ,just about all of these shows ended their run ,becazuse they were so alike in that way. Even the great 'Hawaii Five 0' ended in 1980. So, this ,in the crime-drama field ,left a big gap to fill. In 1980 ,along comes Brandon Tartikoff ,the new head of the otherwise 'still' laughable NBC network. He contacts MTM productions (MTM ,then known more for sitcoms than drama) to make a dramatic police series. MTM gives the assignment to Steven Bochco & Michael Kozoll.Bocho & all involved pretty much know that this series 'has' to be different and not the type of police drama viewers have seen for years. A new decade means a new direction in every sense of the word. Bochco, had the idea to fashion the series into story "arcs". Robert Butler directed the pilot, giving it a truly unique (for TV)look & style. This was inspired by the 1977 documentary "The Police Tapes", in which a hand-held camera follows police officers in the South Bronx. (Butler went on to direct the first four episodes of the series.) At the start of the 1980-1981 season ,the most 'serious/realistic' drama NBC had was "Quincy M.E." with Jack Klugman ,where he solves a crime every week ,despite being a coroner/medical examiner.Hill Street was filmed in early '80 but held back so it wouldn't be a casualty among the new shows debuting. (The season started late ,in November ,due to the actors strike and many new series failed just the same.)On January 15th ,1981 much of that damage had passed and any viewer who tuned in to see Hill Street Blues that Thurday night ,knew instantly ,it was going to be a different show. The unmistakably mellow ,light jazz theme by Mike Post said it all. "We're not trying to hit you over the head with this."The opening credits as well.... Not screeching cars and foot chases but just images of the streets and the station house and the actors names.Hill Street's style ,in terms of it's actors and their characters ,plus how the stories were presented ,were the blueprint for how many dramas (both police and standard) would be for years to come. The police officers in this show don't always win and some get hurt & wounded quite badly to a level of critical.They're allowed to be human and we see that side of them in their private lives as well. Thankfully not in soap-opera or overly dramatic fashion. ...but in real everyday human standards. 1993's NYPD Blue would go even further with these things later but Hill Street Blues was the show that took the police crime-drama genre by the collar and told it to grow up.In doing so ,it made law -enforcement something to take seriously again ,as the 1960s & 1970s were a very 'anti-police' era in the real world. As well as garnering many well deserved awards and last but not least ,a loyal following that stands today. It might not be the first show some might think of if you asked them to name a TV police drama but that's not important ,what is ,is it's own original reputation ,as the series that (aside from some it's quirkier characters) made police offers human beings. Ten stars out there! Stay tuned for the 35th Anniversary in January 2016! (END)11/10/2015 Edit : The show can now be seen on a new (non cable) network called Icons & Heroes (I&H), it just debuted in my city last week.

mm-39 I really liked this series as a youngster. The standouts on the series were Howard Hunter for comic relief, Chief Ferro, and the undercover cop JD. The cast of characters were strong, and driven by great scripts. The episode were the SWAT leader Hunter wants to blow a sniper off the roof with a rocket launcher is argued by Chief Ferro a hilarious moment. Unlike CSI, Hill street Blues shows the human side of the police and the causes of hopelessness of the streets. A solid 8 out of 10. I watched repeats and the show does not age well. However, I remember the show takes time to grow on the viewer. My wife did not care for this show growing up and disagrees with me. I guess it all lies in the taste of the audience. I probably liked it as I watched all the police shows growing up.

epat Bear with me on a bit of background: For a full decade as a penniless hippie, I didn't have a TV. None of my friends did either. To our minds, TV was a puerile waste of time, pablum for the masses, a substitute for life. Besides, we couldn't afford one. When I settled down tho & my son started going to school, his friends talked constantly about TV programs he knew nothing about. So he wouldn't feel culturally deprived, we decided to get him a little black & white set for his room. Thereafter, whenever I came home from work, I knew where to find my wife & son — both in his room glued to the tube.One evening I was leaning in the doorway waiting for a commercial so I could talk to them & I got caught up in what they were watching — some tough portly mustached detective had been captured by a lunatic with a shotgun & bound to a chair. Tense! When the commercial did come, I said, "Hey, this is a pretty good movie, what is it?" "That's not a movie", they told me, "it's Hill Street Blues, a TV series!" No way, I thought, they had to be pulling my leg. I couldn't believe TV had reached that level of sophistication. They'd taken your standard soap opera format, where no one character predominates & the interwoven stories carry over from episode to episode, & applied it to cops. Cops lead what has got to be hands-down the most bizarre lifestyle imaginable & the viewer's sense of involvement is certainly heightened by knowing that at any moment one of your favorite characters might be gunned down. The show was brilliant & I was hooked. From there on, I watched every episode of HSB I possibly could.Years later, suffering thru a near-suicidal post-divorce funk, coming home to the aching loneliness of an empty apartment with not even a dog anymore to wag his tail in greeting, too depressed even to look up old friends let alone make new ones, I found myself watching the show again. They were showing HSB reruns 5 nights a week just then, so I got to spend an hour each evening with all these familiar faces I'd come to know so well & care about, my own grief momentarily forgotten amidst their trials & tribulations. It's the only thing I can recall with any pleasure from that period & it's not much of an exaggeration to say HSB pulled me thru.So now that the series is finally being released on DVD, I'm pre-ordering it as fast as it comes out. Seeing it again now, I'm much more aware of its flaws — improbable scenes like the EATers shooting up that liquor shop in the very first episode & other contrived situations that strain to produce a few chuckles. Yet I like it all the more for that; it transcends such flaws so easily. Watching it now for maybe the 4th or 5th time, I'm still amazed at the depth & range of characterization, not to mention the added kick of spotting well-known actors like Danny Glover, Forest Whitaker & David Caruso who appeared on the show before they made it big. More sophisticated shows now like NYPD Blue, ER & Sopranos may make HSB seem dated by comparison, but they would never even have existed if HSB hadn't led the way. Not for nothing was it one of the longest-running dramas on TV.I still don't think much of TV, but Hill Street Blues will always hold a special place in my heart.