If you can remember the difference between TV before Hill Street Blues and after, you know what a tremendous difference this man made. I used to wait all week for this moment: A great interview:
35+ years on, I still consider Hill Street Blues the single greatest TV show ever made -- both on its own brilliant merits, and for its incalculable influence on quality drama series to this day. Steven, you done good. Be careful up there.
Damn. Hill Street Blues is a masterpiece. I've seen it dismissed as a mere cop show, but it was far more than that. It pioneered concepts that are completely taken for granted now and made a lot of highly-regarded shows possible. I read somewhere that Bochco had wanted to make a TV show that "had a memory" (or words to that effect) - a show where what happened in last week's episode wasn't forgotten as soon as it ended. It seems a very basic concept now but Hill Street Blues was the first to do it; just one of its pioneering aspects. I rewatched it last year and it was just as superb as I'd remembered. I enjoyed the hell out of LA Law as well, but the only other show of his to grab my attention was the short-lived Brooklyn South. I must rewatch that, too. Vale, Mr Bochco, and thanks for the memories - and the first TV show with a memory. Amen to that.
Bochco was brilliant in using every minute the network gave him for HSB. To just have characters sit and talk, just like anyone else at work, without advancing plot points all the time. They had, what, 15 cast regulars in the credits at one time, plus maybe as many regular recurring characters, and you felt like you knew each of them as real individuals. Then there was the few seconds of black before the closing credits, or at a significant act break. Just a little bit longer than any other show would do. Something about that quiet space to let something really sink in... SO effective.
Speaking of the characters on HSB, it's well worth mentioning Trinidad Silva here because a lot of people may not be aware of what happened to him: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trinidad_Silva HSB had a really great ensemble cast and Trinidad's portrayal of Jesus Martinez is very memorable. RIP
Well, damn. For me, his shows make up a major part of what I remember from the 1980s and early 90s. May he rest in peace.
Absolutely loved Hill street...and indeed NYPD blue. The humanity and the humor of the cops is something sadly lacking in modern procedurals.
Hill Street Blues was appointment TV. A buddy and I would rush home from a night class at college to catch it every Thursday.
I used to watch it with a group clustered around the TV in my dorm lobby. I remember one week after a typical episode conclusion (downbeat resolution, melancholy piano outro), one guy jumped up and said, "Damn, why do I watch this every week? It's so depressing!"
Hill Street Blues was must-see TV in my house in the 80s, and groundbreaking is an understatement as far as the impact that this one show had on all other TV dramas that followed. Bochco was truly a genius, and his work paved the way for so many others, right up to the present day.
You didn't like "NYPD Blue?" To me that was the show I know him best from. I do plan to watch Hill Street Blues though. If anyone is interested the episodes are on Hulu so you should go check them out. I plan to get to them at some point this year. Jason
I was too young to see HSB (it did air here but quite late at night) but I loved NYPD Blue. It too was a massive game-changer and is perhaps a little unfairly overlooked nowadays. RIP Mr Bochco.