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"Hill Street Blues" (1981)
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showtimesofficial sitesmiscellaneousphotographssound clipsvideo clips"Hill Street Blues" (1981) More at IMDbPro »TV series 1981-1987
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Overview
User Rating:
Creators:
Release Date:
15 January 1981 (USA)
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Plot:
The lives and work of the staff of an inner city police precinct. full summary
Plot Keywords:
Inner City
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Police
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Cult TV
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Gang Warfare
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Policewoman
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Awards:
Won 3 Golden Globes.
Another 51 wins
&
95 nominations
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NewsDesk:
(20 articles)
Geffen Playhouse Presents Equivocation, 11/18
(From BroadwayWorld.com. 18 November 2009, 1:30 AM, PST)
The Shield: The Complete Series Collection - DVD Review
(From Monsters and Critics. 3 November 2009, 2:17 AM, PST)
(From BroadwayWorld.com. 18 November 2009, 1:30 AM, PST)
The Shield: The Complete Series Collection - DVD Review
(From Monsters and Critics. 3 November 2009, 2:17 AM, PST)
User Comments:
Realistic, ground-breaking police drama
more (29 total)
Cast
(Series Cast Summary - 16 of 506) | Daniel J. Travanti | ... | Capt. Frank Furillo (115 episodes, 1981-1987) |
| Bruce Weitz | ... | Sgt. Mick Belker (115 episodes, 1981-1987) |
 | Betty Thomas | ... | Sgt. Lucy Bates / ... (115 episodes, 1981-1987) |
| Taurean Blacque | ... | Det. Neal Washington (114 episodes, 1981-1987) |
| Kiel Martin | ... | Officer John 'J.D.' LaRue / ... (114 episodes, 1981-1987) |
| Charles Haid | ... | Officer Andrew Renko (114 episodes, 1981-1987) |
| Veronica Hamel | ... | Joyce Davenport (114 episodes, 1981-1987) |
| Michael Warren | ... | Officer Robert 'Bobby' Hill / ... (113 episodes, 1981-1987) |
| James Sikking | ... | Lt. Howard Hunter (113 episodes, 1981-1987) |
 | Joe Spano | ... | Det. Henry Goldblume (113 episodes, 1981-1987) |
| René Enríquez | ... | Lt. Ray Calletano (98 episodes, 1981-1985) |
| Barbara Bosson | ... | Fay Furillo (96 episodes, 1981-1987) |
 | Ed Marinaro | ... | Officer Joe Coffey (95 episodes, 1981-1986) |
| Robert Hirschfeld | ... | Officer Leo Schnitz / ... (86 episodes, 1981-1985) |
| Michael Conrad | ... | Sgt. Phil Esterhaus / ... (71 episodes, 1981-1984) |
| Jon Cypher | ... | Chief Fletcher Daniels / ... (54 episodes, 1981-1987) |
Additional Details
Runtime:
60 min (146 episodes)
Country:
Language:
Color:
Aspect Ratio:
1.33 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
Certification:
Filming Locations:
Company:
Fun Stuff
Trivia:
The theme music to the show written by Mike Post became a hit song and won a Grammy. Post said that when he was writing the theme, at first he wanted the music to match the gritty visuals he was shown. He then decided to instead do the opposite, to create a theme that was beautiful, that "took you away" from what you were seeing a bit.
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Goofs:
Revealing mistakes: 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 as it facing to the trunk.
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Quotes:
Paul 'The Wall' Srignoli:
Gina!
Andy Renko: Oh Lord, he's alive.
Gina Srignoli: Ahh. The fat pig has come back to life. I'm cursed.
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Andy Renko: Oh Lord, he's alive.
Gina Srignoli: Ahh. The fat pig has come back to life. I'm cursed.
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Movie Connections:
Referenced in "Jeopardy!: (#26.33)" (2009)
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FAQ
In which city did the show take place?Ed Marinao (possible spoiler)
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more (29 total)
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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.