He didn't turn her down, they dated for a while and he even offered to convert to Judaism. She realized she didn't share many interests with him and dumped him for a doctor. It wasn't that Howard was wrong about everything, he was educated and very knowledgeable on some subjects. It was his specific ignorance and blind spots that made him good for satire. They also showed that he was really a lonely guy, which made him sympathetic to the audience.
I can hear the pitch now: “Its like Hill Street Blues, but in a hospital..” It was still a great show, despite the bizarre ending. It also had that very weird season three crossover scene with Cheers, talk about trying to mix oil and water:
What I remember most about HSB(one of my all time faves) was the good humored nature of the show.Amongst all the tough situations that the blues found themselves they were nearly always portrayed as being dedicated and well meaning.The point of Howard Hunter I think was to make the viewer realize just how appallingly stupid his prejudices were. Given the darkness and almost crushing bleakness currently in vogue in cop shows I don’t think HSB would fly today. As for a recasting ..how about Bryan Cranston as the captain?
Lou Grant was a great show. It was kind of a proto version of HSB and St. Elsewhere. It blended in the humor and the personal issues along with "from today's headlines" stuff. Multi-episode plots and the in-episode story hopping, no, but it was a real step forward for 1977.
I like to use the term “Lou Grant Ending” when a TV episode doesn’t end with everything tied up in a bow and the good guys winning.
You raise a great point, that show did have a frequent "ambiguousness of outcomes" that really stood out in the network TV of the day.
"Despite," nothing. I wasn't a regular St. Elsewhere viewer (medical dramas have never been my bag), but that ending was genius. Totally agreed. I was a hardcore Lou Grant devotee.
He had some good storylines, but they also gave him a lot of time off to make movies (A Soldier's Story, Cry Freedom, Glory).
Hill Street Blues and St Elsewhere - we would chant the theme music at school , the good old days of telly!
Yeah, I regret the loss of opening credit sequences in modern TV series. For older shows, the theme music and accompanying imagery (plus narration or even dialogue, in some cases) evoke memories like nothing else can. The opening titles are the first thing you think of when you think of a classic show.
^ It was a great time for TV themes, for sure. "Hill Street Blues" and "Taxi" are probably neck-and-neck for my favorite of all time. Both have a thoughtful, slightly melancholy quality to them. I just happened to flip through an AM station in the car the other day and heard the full 3-minute single version of the "Rockford Files" theme. Wow it sounded good, even on AM! Made my day.
Not necessarily. Things could still have happened at the "real" St. Eligius mostly like they did on the show. Characters like Drs. Auschlander and Westphall would have to be different of course, but the rest of it could be the same. I mean, it's not like Tommy was in every episode of the show, was he? So how could he dream about scenes he's not in? srsly, perhaps the Tommy from the ending had visited St. Eligius at some point, they were nice to him, so he decides to base his dream world on it. And it would explain how characters from the show could pop up on other series (the "Tommy Westphall Universe"), since there's no way Tommy could have actually dreamed all of those other shows as well. Or maybe it's just the final scene itself that was the dream. But don't take MY word for it...
The Heroes and Icons network airs Hill Street Blues late on Saturday night and if I'm channel surfing around that time I'll see it and I get sucked right into it. The show is so good that I just can't help but watch it.
If ever a show "needed" a reboot, it's Cop Rock. Not on a broadcast network, but a streaming service. I thought it had a great premise, musical drama following the doings of a group of inner city cops. Great setting for drama as well as comedy. From the little I recall of the show, the big problem was the songs, which I think were originals (for the show). But Rachel Bloom with Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, has proved you can make a one hour show with great original songs. Find some musical nerd looking for a vehicle and a break, and let them go to town. Ryan Murphy's production company, which did a great job with Glee, might be a great home for this show.