Hill Street Blues (1981–1987)

The lives and work of the staff of an inner city police precinct.

Creators:

Steven Bochco, Michael Kozoll

Stars:

Daniel J. Travanti, Taurean Blacque, Bruce Weitz

Won 3 Golden Globes. Another 55 wins & 101 nominations.

Cast

Series cast summary:
Daniel J. Travanti	...	Capt. Frank Furillo (144 episodes, 1981-1987)
Taurean Blacque	...	Det. Neal Washington (144 episodes, 1981-1987)
Bruce Weitz	...	Sgt. Mick Belker (143 episodes, 1981-1987)
Joe Spano	...	Det. Henry Goldblume (143 episodes, 1981-1987)
Kiel Martin	...	Officer John 'J.D.' LaRue (143 episodes, 1981-1987)
Betty Thomas	...	Sgt. Lucy Bates (143 episodes, 1981-1987)
Charles Haid	...	Officer Andrew Renko (142 episodes, 1981-1987)
Veronica Hamel	...	Joyce Davenport (142 episodes, 1981-1987)
Michael Warren	...	Officer Robert 'Bobby' Hill (141 episodes, 1981-1987)
James Sikking	...	Lt. Howard Hunter (140 episodes, 1981-1987)
René Enríquez	...	Lt. Ray Calletano (104 episodes, 1981-1987)
Ed Marinaro	...	Officer Joe Coffey (104 episodes, 1981-1986)
Barbara Bosson	...	Fay Furillo (101 episodes, 1981-1987)
Robert Hirschfeld	...	Officer Leo Schnitz (90 episodes, 1981-1985)
Michael Conrad	...	Sgt. Phil Esterhaus (71 episodes, 1981-1984)
Jon Cypher	...	Chief Fletcher Daniels (66 episodes, 1981-1987)

Storyline

The original "ensemble drama," this is the story of an overworked, under-staffed police precinct in an anonymous inner city patterned after Chicago. We follow the lives of many characters, from the lowly beat and traffic cops to the captain of the precinct himself. This is the show that blazed the trail followed later by such notable ensemble dramas as "St. Elsewhere" and "L.A. Law."

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Plot Keywords:

police | inner city | gang warfare | policeman | sergeant | 

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Genres:

Drama

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

15 January 1981 (USA)

Also Known As:

Balada de Hill Street

Filming Locations:

Big Bear Lake, Big Bear Valley, San Bernardino National Forest, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

MTM Enterprises, National Broadcasting Company (NBC)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

60 min 60 min (146 episodes)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

4:3

Did You Know?

Trivia

Philadelphia's ornate City Hall was used for the city hall of the series' unnamed location.

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Goofs

When the various characters speak into the radio microphone in their patrol cars, they seldom press the "transmit" switch, and Andy Renko is occasionally seen speaking into the back of the microphone.

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Quotes

[repeated line]
Sergeant Stan Jablonski: Let's do it to them before they do it to us.

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Crazy Credits

After the credits it shows the MTM kitten wearing a policeman's hat to match this show.

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Connections

Referenced in Auf Wiedersehen, Pet: No Sex Please, We're Brickies (1986)

User Reviews

Realistic, ground-breaking police drama

When Hill Street Blues was being made, here in the UK it didn't get networked. Instead, my local commercial station (Central) picked it up and showed it on a Friday night at 11pm. My opinion of the show can be judged from the fact that I used to get home early from the pub to watch it.

It might be a cliche, but this really was a ground-breaking series. Compare it to its forbears, series like Kojak and Starsky & Hutch. Instead of there being three or four central characters, and a single plotline per episode, HSB had a couple of dozen characters and five or six plotlines, each interwoven and often continuing from week to week.

It brought an extra level of realism, too. In previous series, if cops got into a fist fight then they'd remain standing, although maybe with a bloody mouth. If someone got shot, odds on it was the bad guy, with the cops not receiving a scratch.

HSB changed all that. Fights looked real; policemen got shot; the bad guys often got away. And it went beyond that, including police corruption; politics interfering with the job; the way the police reached compromise deals with people like Jesus Martinez, even though he was a gang leader and notionally a 'bad guy'.

You cared about the characters, too. When Joe Coffey got shot, when Esterhaus died, any of a dozen others, they felt like they meant something. This wasn't a show that you watched, then forgot about.

Stephen Bochco went on to series like LA Law, NYPD Blue, Murder One and ER, all of which owe a lot to the style of HSB. It really did break the mould of TV drama; its influence is still clear, even today.