Hill Street Blues

[Chin Diesel]

As a kid, I had a 10pm curfew.

On Hill St. nights I could stay up to go through opening scene and theme song.

I'm going through series on Hulu right now.

Damn good stuff. Definitely couldn't make a series like it now.

 

[coachcap]

As a kid, I had a 10pm curfew.

On Hill St. nights I could stay up to go through opening scene and theme song.

I'm going through series on Hulu right now.

Damn good stuff. Definitely couldn't make a series like it now.[/QUOTE

As a kid, I had a 10pm curfew.

On Hill St. nights I could stay up to go through opening scene and theme song.

I'm going through series on Hulu right now.

Damn good stuff. Definitely couldn't make a series like it now.

That was a GREAT show in its day! It was can't miss TV.

 

[billythekid]

It was the first show that I remember that didn't wrap everything up in a nice little bow at the end of each episode.

 

[coachcap]

"Let's be careful out there!"

 

[Dove]

Epic show. Epiccer cast .

 

[nelsonmuntz]

As a kid, I had a 10pm curfew.

On Hill St. nights I could stay up to go through opening scene and theme song.

I'm going through series on Hulu right now.

Damn good stuff. Definitely couldn't make a series like it now.

Why couldn't they make a series like this now?

TV today is so much better than it was 35 years ago that it is not worth comparing the two. Hill Street Blues is so amazing in a large part because it came out of an era when television, and dramas in particular, were terrible. The year that Hill Street Blues won its first Emmy, 1981, the other contenders were Quincy, the White Shadow, Dallas and Lou Grant. Would any of those shows even sniff an Emmy nomination today if they were still on the air? Benny Hill was actually nominated for an Emmy that year.

Before cable TV started producing its own shows, dramas were formulaic, homogenized dreck for the masses. It is worth noting that Hill Street Blues and St. Elsewhere are the only shows from that era that are ever mentioned in any Top 20 TV dramas of all time. TV has been around for over 60 years, and virtually all the shows in any "greatest of all time" list were produced in the last 20 years. That is not a coincidence.

 

[Deepster]

My Dad was a beat cop in Hartford. He died in 1982 and his two favorite shows were Barney Miller and Hill Street Blues. He thought the banter in the station house on Barney Miller was like it was in his precinct. And HSB just hit home a lot for him. I remember him really being into some of those episodes when I was younger.

 

[uconnell]

Loved HSB and Barney Miller.

Also loved Boston Legal as a comedy.

 

[Waquoit]

I was staying in Boston near Chinatown and got back late so I just picked something up from one of the Chinese places. It was very Chinese, not a lot of English visible or spoken. I get back to the room and Hills Street Blues was on. One subplot involved a little old lady badgering the desk sgt. about her missing cat. Everyone thought she was nuts. Close to the end of the episode, Mick Belker busts into a Chinese restaurant where most of the squad room was eating lunch (50% off for cops). They go back to the kitchen and where there were a couple of cooks and about 50 cats caged up. I couldn't eat my food. My brain knew better but I just couldn't get past it and settled for a candy bar and peanut butter crackers out of the machine.

 

[storrsroars]

It's important to note that, at least IMHO, part of the popularity of HSB was that it was visually different (quick cuts and judicious use of longer tracking shots, using handheld cameras to move from one character/storyline to another in same shot), along with being more "real life" (simultaneous conversations, natural/urban background noises).

It was basically the first crime drama to be shot in a visual style that borrowed from MTV.

 

[temery]

Definitely couldn't make a series like it now.

Why?

I love cop shows, including Hill Street Blues. Several have been similar.

 

[temery]

Loved HSB and Barney Miller.

Also loved Boston Legal as a comedy.

Boston legal was awesome, but the last two years got to be way too preachy.

One Boston Legal line that still cracks me up was when Denny self medicated and overdosed. The doctor warned him that the medications could interact and cause problems.

Denny: "Don't worry, I keep them in separate bottles."

 

[Chin Diesel]

Why couldn't they make a series like this now?

TV today is so much better than it was 35 years ago that it is not worth comparing the two. Hill Street Blues is so amazing in a large part because it came out of an era when television, and dramas in particular, were terrible. The year that Hill Street Blues won its first Emmy, 1981, the other contenders were Quincy, the White Shadow, Dallas and Lou Grant. Would any of those shows even sniff an Emmy nomination today if they were still on the air? Benny Hill was actually nominated for an Emmy that year.

Before cable TV started producing its own shows, dramas were formulaic, homogenized dreck for the masses. It is worth noting that Hill Street Blues and St. Elsewhere are the only shows from that era that are ever mentioned in any Top 20 TV dramas of all time. TV has been around for over 60 years, and virtually all the shows in any "greatest of all time" list were produced in the last 20 years. That is not a coincidence.

I'd bet big time on Dallas being successful.l regardless of time period. JR was one of the all-time great villians in TV history.

I was a few years too young to get in to it but all three of my older sisters and their friends were locked on that show.

 

[coachcap]

I'd bet big time on Dallas being successful.l regardless of time period. JR was one of the all-time great villians in TV history.

I was a few years too young to get in to it but all three of my older sisters and their friends were locked on that show.

Friday Nights in '78- '79, while still living in Willington Oaks, this was must see tv before hitting the bar scene. That, & Friday night fights. Girls in next door apartment were avid boxing fans.

 

[Waquoit]

JR was the show. Not many good actors in the cast. Cliff Barnes was the worst. Actually, his sister Pam was worse but...you know.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

I'd bet big time on Dallas being successful.l regardless of time period. JR was one of the all-time great villians in TV history.

I was a few years too young to get in to it but all three of my older sisters and their friends were locked on that show.

The prime time soaps have not aged well. The melodrama, crazy plot twists, and ridiculous dialogue are useful for nostalgia, and not much else.

 

[Waquoit]

I'd bet big time on Dallas being successful.

Y'know Dallas did come back. I guess it did pretty well, but didn't survive Hagman's death,