Where does 'Hill Street Blues' go

[Oeditpus Rex]

in your favorite tee vee series?

I started thinking about it a bit ago and realized I loved that show like no other, because I had an emotional attachment (including dislike) to all the regular characters. I cried when Michael Conrad (Sgt. Esterhaus) died, and I was even sad when Lt. Belker's parents died, especially his mom.

I was just... involved, the way some people are with soap operas.

How 'bout y'all? L

[2MuchNoise]

1. Hillstreet Blues and LA Law.

[cachukis]

2. One of my favorites.

The roving camera from window to window and doorway to street was shot from my eye as a kid in the city. You know your surroundings all the time.
No nonsense made it to tv.

[likesmountains 52]

3. Also, St. Elsewhere and Judging Amy

[applegrove]

4. I loved it but don't remember the storylines like you do.

[Fichefinder]

5. Picket Fences. Everyone was so human.

[MIButterfly]

6. I loved that show.

I always made sure I was home on Thursday nights to see it. I was totally in love with Captain Furillo. I thought he was the perfect man. The stories were very good, often thought-provoking. The characters and the actors were all very good. Renko cracked me up more often than not! "Lord have mercy. It's Christmas Eve and I'm going to be shot dead in a moose suit!" (or words to that effect). I liked the theme music, too.

"Let's be careful out there!"

[Marie Marie]

7. Hey!! Hands off Captain Furillo. I already fought off that sultry brunette Public Defender and

I will fight you too. He's Mine! (You're right - he was the perfect man.)

[MIButterfly]

8. LOL!

You have great taste!

[Oeditpus Rex]

10. ...

[Oeditpus Rex]

9. 'Oh, my lord, I'm green!'

The funniest thing, though, was when Belker was undercover in front of a chicken restaurant, dressed as its mascot. The place next door got robbed, and Belker chased the perp, still in the chicken suit. Watching him run made me laugh myself out of breath.

[electric_blue68]

27. "Let's be careful out there!" Still have that phrase in my head. 👍

[MIButterfly]

11. Now that you mention it, I do remember that.

That was funny.

I always liked when Belker would growl and yell at the suspect as he was typing up the intake form and then he'd answer the phone and say "Hi Ma!" in the sweetest tone of voice.

[Oeditpus Rex]

14. Remember that pickpocket

who always gave him an obviously fake name, like "Albert Schweitzer" or something, or a play on words? Mick must've busted him half a dozen times.


I still growl like Belker on occasion, like when somebody scores the go-ahead run against the Dodgers. (I've been doing it a lot the last four days.)

[electricmonk]

12. I rewatched HSB from the beginning during covid

It holds up incredibly well. Some of the story lines could be pulled right out of today's news. One of the things I loved about it was the city was never named. It looked mostly like New York but it could have been any large city at the time. On rewatch it did crack me up and make me feel bad for the actors knowing it was filmed in LA and they had to dress like they were in a northern city in the winter. You'd occasionally catch a glimpse of someone in the background in shorts and a tank top while they were wearing their winter gear.

Until the Wire came along I would have said it was my favorite show ever so now it's number 2.

[electricmonk]

13. Wow I just hit 2000 posts

it only took me 23 and a half years to get there.

[MIButterfly]

17. Congratulations!

[Oeditpus Rex]

15. Most of the 'clues'

implied it was set in Chicago. In the first episode, or first few, the patrol officers' hats had the checkerboard band, same as CPD. There were other vague references to Chicago, but nothing that ever nailed it down to any city. I guess they wanted it that way.

[electricmonk]

16. The opening shot of the precinct

was an actual Chicago police station but yeah they kept it vague on purpose. I've seen a few internet arguments over the years about it though.

[Oeditpus Rex]

19. Yeah, they prolly didn't want

angry letters ftom Chicagoans or wherever. Also, thete might've been some legal thing, like with "Chicago Transit Authority."

...which makes me wonder how the producers of "The Blues Brothers" got authorization (one assumes) from the Chicago PD and the city to make Chicago cops look like they didn't have the skill to drive even bumper cars and just look like idjits in general ("Hup hup hup hup hup..." )

[MIButterfly]

22. Yeah, I remember they gave their address as 1060 W. Addison and

as soon as I heard that, I turned to my boyfriend at the time and said "That's Wrigley Field!" and I don't even live in Chicago. I think that every Chicagoan (especially cops) would know the address of Wrigley Field, but those cops didn't.

[MIButterfly]

18. I think there a lot of clues that it could be Chicago

but they purposely kept it ambiguous. It could have been any big city.

Boy, I would love to watch the whole series again.

In my restaurant days, I had a friend and co-worker who loved HSB as much as I did and we would go around saying "Hey Frank-key!" all night!

Do you remember when they had that meeting with all the local gang members and David Caruso (who I think is the worst actor in the world) was the leader of the Irish gang and he was practically dressed like a leprechaun? It was ridiculous. Anybody who ever ran into him in a dark alley would probably fall over laughing.

[Oeditpus Rex]

20. Yeah, with the top hat and all

I should probably remember this, but what other cop show was he in? "NYPD Blue"?

I got a kick out of the way Jesus Martinez talked, and the way he acted after reading a rudimentary law book in prison and fancying himself an attorney after he was paroled.

[MIButterfly]

21. Yes! He was on the first year of NYPD Blue.

Everybody liked him because he showed his butt, but I was not impressed. He had absolutely no personality and couldn't act his way out of a paper bag. He believed his own publicity and left after the first year to go be a big movie star.

Then Jimmy Smits replaced him and oh baby! He sure didn't hurt the eyes!

I liked Sipowitz almost from the start. Even though he was a drunkard and a bigot, he had personality. As time went on, he changed and grew into a much better person. And you just gotta love Dennis Franz.

[Oeditpus Rex]

23. Franz could play two characters

A cop or a Mafia hit man.

Althhough he did play the pitching coach on the very-short-lived "Bay City Blues."

[MIButterfly]

24. Did you ever see "City of Angels" starring Nicolas Cage and Meg Ryan?

Dennis Franz had a minor role as a former angel who had given up his immortality to marry his wife. He was good in it. Andre Braugher had a minor role as another angel. And Andre Braugher was good in everything he ever did.

[eppur_se_muova]

25. A little off topic, but I remember a cop who reviewed the show remarked that they did a lot of things like real cops do.

It's more dramatic visually to have a tough-guy cop run down a suspect and single-handedly subdue him in a one-on-one fight, but that's the most dangerous way to do it. Hill Street Precinct cops used as many cops as it took to restrain a perp, so that the chances of injury to them, or him, were minimized.

I can't help but think of that sometimes, when I hear about hyper-agressive cops using choke holds and excessive force -- and then killing suspects who never get their day in court to defend themselves fairly.

[allnews]

26. Pittsburgh

I’m from Pittsburgh and loved the show and distinctly recall some of cast discussing it was based in Pittsburgh. I believe it was Bochco and his wife who was on show and possibly another had attended Carnegie Mellon college. They were very familiar with “The Hill District” in Pittsburgh; not far from the school. It was a colorful area with plenty of crime.

[malthaussen]

30. Still is, I've lived there. n/t

[electric_blue68]

28. It was a great show. Felt like a "grown up" police show.

While I don't remember the storylines, almost every character each of you have mentioned I can see and hear them as seen bsck then.

If you want a great crime show w police, and others who have to find out who is either a perpetrator, or a victim with a growing AI science fiction twist (but never gives up the crime stuff). Take a look at Person Of Interest.
Michael Emerson, Taraji P Henson, Jim Caviezel (but before we knew how RW Christian he was/became did a great job), Amy Acker, and more.

You (imho) will be involved with these characters trials, and tribulations!

[malthaussen]

29. None higher, so far as TV drama goes.

But I haven't watched a lot of TV. I do as a general rule much prefer shows with ensemble casts to those without.

-- Mal

[Paladin]

31. Got to be in my "Top 5 Of All Time" list.

Loved that show; never missed an episode. Genuinely revolutionary, for its time.

[Groundhawg]

32. I recently found you can download the entire series for free and i've really been enjoying the episodes.