Hill Street Blues (1981–1987)

TV Series  -   -  Drama
7.9
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The lives and work of the staff of an inner city police precinct.

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Title: Hill Street Blues (1981–1987)

Hill Street Blues (1981–1987) on IMDb 7.9/10

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Season:

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Year:

1987 | 1986 | 1985 | 1984 | 1983 | 1982 | 1981
Won 3 Golden Globes. Another 55 wins & 101 nominations. See more awards »

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Cast

Series cast summary:
...
 Capt. Frank Furillo (144 episodes, 1981-1987)
...
 Det. Neal Washington (144 episodes, 1981-1987)
...
 Sgt. Mick Belker (143 episodes, 1981-1987)
...
 Det. Henry Goldblume (143 episodes, 1981-1987)
Kiel Martin ...
 Officer John 'J.D.' LaRue (143 episodes, 1981-1987)
...
 Sgt. Lucy Bates (143 episodes, 1981-1987)
...
 Officer Andrew Renko (142 episodes, 1981-1987)
...
 Joyce Davenport (142 episodes, 1981-1987)
...
 Officer Robert 'Bobby' Hill (141 episodes, 1981-1987)
...
 Lt. Howard Hunter (140 episodes, 1981-1987)
René Enríquez ...
 Lt. Ray Calletano (104 episodes, 1981-1987)
...
 Officer Joe Coffey (104 episodes, 1981-1986)
...
 Fay Furillo (101 episodes, 1981-1987)
Robert Hirschfeld ...
 Officer Leo Schnitz (90 episodes, 1981-1985)
Michael Conrad ...
 Sgt. Phil Esterhaus (71 episodes, 1981-1984)
...
 Chief Fletcher Daniels (66 episodes, 1981-1987)
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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." Written by Afterburner <aburner@erols.com>

Plot Summary | Add Synopsis

Genres:

Drama

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Details

Country:

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Release Date:

15 January 1981 (USA)  »

Also Known As:

Balada de Hill Street  »

Company Credits

Show detailed on  »

Technical Specs

Runtime:

| (146 episodes)

Sound Mix:

Color:

Aspect Ratio:

4:3
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Did You Know?

Trivia

NBC executives supported the series in its infancy despite a lack of viewers; in 1981, it became the lowest-rated series ever renewed for a second season. When it was renewed, it was not renewed for the entire season, it was only renewed for 10 episodes. It was only picked up for the full season after ratings improved. See more »

Goofs

During the opening credits when the police cars pull out of the garage, one of them has the overhead light bar on backwards. You can see that the others have the siren speakers between the lights facing front, while one has it facing to the trunk. See more »

Quotes

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

Crazy Credits

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

Connections

Referenced in Cop Rock: Cop-a-Felliac (1990) See more »

Frequently Asked Questions

See more (Spoiler Alert!) »

User Reviews

Realistic, ground-breaking police drama
26 August 1999 | by (Birmingham, England) – See all my reviews

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.


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