Hill Street Blues 

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

Creators:

Steven Bochco, Michael Kozoll

Stars:

Daniel J. Travanti, Michael Warren, Bruce Weitz

Won 3 Golden Globes. Another 56 wins & 109 nominations.

Cast

Series cast summary:
Daniel J. Travanti	...	Capt. Frank Furillo 144 episodes, 1981-1987
Michael Warren	...	Officer Bobby Hill 144 episodes, 1981-1987
Bruce Weitz	...	Sgt. Mick Belker 144 episodes, 1981-1987
James Sikking	...	Lt. Howard Hunter / ... 144 episodes, 1981-1987
Joe Spano	...	Lt. Henry Goldblume / ... 144 episodes, 1981-1987
Taurean Blacque	...	Det. Neal Washington 144 episodes, 1981-1987
Kiel Martin	...	Officer J.D. LaRue / ... 144 episodes, 1981-1987
Betty Thomas	...	Sgt. Lucy Bates / ... 144 episodes, 1981-1987
Charles Haid	...	Officer Andrew Renko 144 episodes, 1981-1987
Veronica Hamel	...	Joyce Davenport 144 episodes, 1981-1987
René Enríquez	...	Lt. Ray Calletano / ... 109 episodes, 1981-1987
Ed Marinaro	...	Officer Joe Coffey 104 episodes, 1981-1986
Barbara Bosson	...	Fay Furillo 103 episodes, 1981-1986
Robert Hirschfeld	...	Leo Schnitz / ... 94 episodes, 1981-1985
Michael Conrad	...	Sgt. Phil Esterhaus 71 episodes, 1981-1984
Jon Cypher	...	Chief Fletcher Daniels 73 episodes, 1981-1987
George Wyner	...	Irwin Bernstein 58 episodes, 1982-1987

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 | ensemble cast | police precinct | inner city | roll call | 

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Genres:

Drama

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Certificate:

TV-14

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

15 January 1981 (USA)

Also Known As:

Hill Street Station

Filming Locations:

943 W. Maxwell Street, Chicago, Illinois, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

MTM Enterprises

Technical Specs

Runtime:

60 min (146 episodes)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Aspect Ratio:

4:3

Did You Know?

Trivia

Original plans were for this series to be shot with hand-held 16mm cameras only and in black and white.

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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.

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Quotes

[repeated line]
Belker: Sit down, dog breath!

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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 The Game: Hill Street Blues (2009)

User Reviews

Best show of its time - by a long way.

In the days of E.R and NYPD Blue, it's hard to remember just how ground-breaking a show HSB was. Nothing like it had ever been seen before. The quality of the acting and writing, the documentary look and feel, the seedy broken down environment, the brutally frank situations and language (for the time), the fact that the "bad" guys got away with it as often as not, the huge ensemble cast, the long one-take scenes, the unhappy endings etc. etc.

Needless to say, the American people wanted nothing to do with such quality at first - until it won a record number of Emmys and they couldn't ignore it anymore. If nothing else, this series proved to the networks that quality can sell soap after all.

If you like your E.R. think a kind thought for Hill Street Blues - the series that made it all possible.