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19 out of 20 people found the following review useful: Best show of its time - by a long way., 8 March 1999 Author: Kane III from UK
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.
19 out of 21 people found the following review useful: Realistic, ground-breaking police drama, 26 August 1999 Author: Megabuck from Birmingham, England
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.
17 out of 18 people found the following review useful: Very Real and Authentic, 12 July 2002 Author: Me Grimlock from Seattle, WA
Hill Street Blues was an unconventional cop show for the '80s, and even today. Why? Because it was real. Well as real as you can get with a TV show, without taking some liberties ofcourse. Unlike Miami Vice, T.J. Hooker or Hunter, HSB had a lot of detail and accuracy.Sure Miami Vice was an entertaining show, but only for being stylish and hip for it's time. HSB didn't try to be cool, it tried to be accurate. Miami Vice and all the other cop shows and cop movies of the '80s, '90s and today are extremely fake in the way they present themselves, going more for a target demographic then bothering to portray how things operate in our world. In the real world, cops in America aren't wearing Armani suits and constantly trying to bust Columbian drug dealers and their shipment of cocaine while spitting out mile a minute obscure metaphors and similies that take us a few seconds to figure out. If you want to see the way REAL COPS in America speak, act and carry themselves through real crime cases, then watch HSB. You won't be dissapointed.
16 out of 19 people found the following review useful: In the past. Where it shouldn't be., 14 December 2000 Author: (sean.littletribefilms@btinternet.com) from London, England
I remember coming home from swimming in the evening, waiting to see Hill Street Blues. My mum would hold my hand as I walked down the street, just as the lady did at the begining of HSB when the police car is driving in the snow the camera picks up on a lady and her child walking down the street, reminds me of me and my mum. The programme was ace, just too dam good. Television today has a lot to learn. One thing I will always remember about that show was the music, it was so sad, but lovely to hear. p.s I wonder where that boy and mother are now?
17 out of 23 people found the following review useful: Unsurpassed, 29 September 2001 Author: (nick@willder.com) from UK
An American cop show - who'd have thought an American cop show of all things could exemplify the best of television. From the land that gave us the pits of tv (have you seen Donahue?) there comes, once in a while, a beacon of greatness. The last episode of M*A*S*H, and the whole of HSB make the invention of television worthwhile.
6 out of 8 people found the following review useful: Grrrrrrrrrrrr!! This was Chicago by the way!!, 19 July 2007 Author: dataconflossmoor from United States
Tough cops are everywhere!! This series did not officially designate a city in which it took place, but, all indications point to "Hill Street Blues" being set in the city of Chicago!! The Old Style beer sign outside one of the bars that the television audience saw during the introduction of the show sort of gave it away!! I loved this show, the cast was a big reason!! Daniel Travanti was extremely likable just by virtue of the fact that he was very faulted!! Veronica Hamel, was the hard working feminist D. A. who attempted to dissect reality, it then became a moot question as to whether or not she would be able to stomach it!! Ed Marinaro was terrific as a Chicago cop, this is absolutely remarkable considering the fact that he was a professional football player from New York!! Betty Thomas was the ideal prototype for a lady cop!! Kiel Martin was perfect as the sleaze ball working on the right side of the law!! Last but not least, Bruce Wietz, "Grrrrrrrr!!" he added an astutely hilarious perspective to the series through his portrayal as the undercover guy!! One time, Kathy Bates played his sister, she also made the noise "Grrrrrrrr!!" and used the term "dog breath". "Hill Street Blues" was enormously popular throughout the entire eighties decade because, it depicted tragedy in a manner which portrayed it as something that does not simply disappear!! Part of NBC's powerful Thursday night line-up, it always highlighted the bothersome travesties which afflicted a precinct in a poverty ridden section of the city!! So many ideas seemed complicated, until the figureheads of the law came to grips with the fact that there was no solution to most crimes, just aspects of mollification to them!! The prevailing circumstances of adversity on this program are what gave all of the characters in the show "Hill Street Blues" a tailor made invitation to seek amelioration for their actions!! Many situations that are very sad remain that way for both sides!! Victims of their environment turned criminals by default, as well as the detectives and policemen, all seem to be making deals with the devil!! Before "Law and Order", before "L A Law", there was "Hill Street Blues"... Reality is nauseating, reality is humorous, reality is perverse, reality has a definite monotony, and, in this case, reality for effective television programming was "Hill Street Blues". I thought this television show was one of the best ever!! I wish there could be more shows like "Hill Street Blues" on prime time television today!! "Hill Street Blues" was a definite winner!!
8 out of 12 people found the following review useful: An Island in the Sea of Madness, 12 September 2003 Author: Brian Washington (Sargebri@att.net) from Los Angeles, California
During an era of cop shows where the main characters were often portrayed as superheroes or as charicatures, this priceless classic was born. For the first time since the days of Jack Webb and Joseph Wambaugh, we finally had a show that showed police as real people with all the faults and failings that all people had. You had Furillo, who was a recovering alcoholic, Renko and Hill, who were dealing with their own fears, Hunter, the reactionary head of the S.W.A.T. team, Bates, who just wanted to prove that she was a good police officer as well as a woman, Belker, the maniacal undercover cop, and of course the fatherly Sgt. Phil Esterhaus, the father figure for the whole squad. This show definitely set the stage for shows like N.Y.P.D. Blue and the Law and Order franchise and will always be a classic.
7 out of 11 people found the following review useful: The greatest show ever, 14 April 2002 Author: (jacqui@wans.net) from Las Vegas Nevada
No one will ever come close to making such a down to earth drama.In any other show, the re-use of actors to play different characters would have never worked. Dennis Franz as both Bennedetto and Norman Buntz is only one of many examples. And for the gentleman who wanted to know the leader of the Shamrocks, it was none other than David Caruso, who was John Kelly in the first season of NYPD Blue. Bochco has many uses for the great actors he comes in contact with, even his own wife!!! Who can forget Faye Furrillo shreiking "Let me tell you something Mister". It is a wonder he slept at night!! I have almost every episode on tape, if someone has them all please contact me Thanks Jacqui
7 out of 11 people found the following review useful: You can't beat it, 15 February 2002 Author: Jose E from Madrid, Spain
This show started airing in my country when I was in my early teens, and before long I became hooked. Now that most of TV stuff is utter crap I remember Hill Street Blues once in a while, wondering why most of current shows are so bad.Hill Street Blues was and will be the best and most realistic show ever made about the day-to-day life in a police station. The characters were believable, and so were the storylines. I definitely can say I miss it.10/10.
10 out of 17 people found the following review useful: Simply The best, 23 February 2000 Author: Miguel Sousa (crazyportuguese@yahoo.com) from Porto, Portugal
Well there isn't much to say about this Tv series, It's the best tv series ever. I've seen great movies and great tv series but all of them had small things that could be improved on. On Hill Street Blues this doesn't happen because it's perfect. The casting is perfect and the dialogs are simply superb.
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