kucomm-49183 There are so many Seinfeld people who played in HSB, which leads me to believe Larry David used to enjoy it.Jerry's parents,and Morty was a shy who got whacked.Shaky the moil, who was a garbage king who hired the Kramer from the Jerry pilot (who ate the raisins) from Detroit to whack someone. Shaky the moil had the same persona he had in Seinfeld.Sid Farkus, the bra salesman, played a police accountant.Kramer played a drug dealer in several episodes.Poppie, played a public defender.Elaine's father played a tough Sargent.Jerry's grandfather.George's real estate boss.Jackie the lawyer.Jerry's dry cleaner.George's boss at the Yankees (Mr. Morgan?) Babu.Elaine's tennis racket lady

happipuppi13 First off ,happy to see that only 1 person made a negative review.It's nice to see that time hasn't taken anything away from the love people have for this show. It has been said by some that the show is dated and doesn't hold up well but hey ,the show was created nearly 35 years ago. You can't fault it because it doesn't look like a modern police force. (Now here's why I gave my review it's title.)To be certain ,in 1980 ,the way police were portrayed on TV needed to change ..a lot. Not to put down my favorites growing up but ,TV cops then were :Known by name and "cool" reputation. Were 'tough' and could out-shoot all bad guys. Were 'buddies' or close with their partner but both still kicked tail. Some were humorous or a joke like "CHIPS" or the police on "The Dukes Of Hazzard."In short ,despite 70s cop shows being action packed and maybe even sometimes 'attempting' to put a more human face on the men (and women) in blue ,they fell short in many ways.So much ,that a lot of the shows all started to match tone and execution. They had good true to life stories to work from ,no question. They could get pretty gritty & a bit dark...but by the end of the 1970s ,just about all of these shows ended their run ,becazuse they were so alike in that way. Even the great 'Hawaii Five 0' ended in 1980. So, this ,in the crime-drama field ,left a big gap to fill. In 1980 ,along comes Brandon Tartikoff ,the new head of the otherwise 'still' laughable NBC network. He contacts MTM productions (MTM ,then known more for sitcoms than drama) to make a dramatic police series. MTM gives the assignment to Steven Bochco & Michael Kozoll.Bocho & all involved pretty much know that this series 'has' to be different and not the type of police drama viewers have seen for years. A new decade means a new direction in every sense of the word. Bochco, had the idea to fashion the series into story "arcs". Robert Butler directed the pilot, giving it a truly unique (for TV)look & style. This was inspired by the 1977 documentary "The Police Tapes", in which a hand-held camera follows police officers in the South Bronx. (Butler went on to direct the first four episodes of the series.) At the start of the 1980-1981 season ,the most 'serious/realistic' drama NBC had was "Quincy M.E." with Jack Klugman ,where he solves a crime every week ,despite being a coroner/medical examiner.Hill Street was filmed in early '80 but held back so it wouldn't be a casualty among the new shows debuting. (The season started late ,in November ,due to the actors strike and many new series failed just the same.)On January 15th ,1981 much of that damage had passed and any viewer who tuned in to see Hill Street Blues that Thurday night ,knew instantly ,it was going to be a different show. The unmistakably mellow ,light jazz theme by Mike Post said it all. "We're not trying to hit you over the head with this."The opening credits as well.... Not screeching cars and foot chases but just images of the streets and the station house and the actors names.Hill Street's style ,in terms of it's actors and their characters ,plus how the stories were presented ,were the blueprint for how many dramas (both police and standard) would be for years to come. The police officers in this show don't always win and some get hurt & wounded quite badly to a level of critical.They're allowed to be human and we see that side of them in their private lives as well. Thankfully not in soap-opera or overly dramatic fashion. ...but in real everyday human standards. 1993's NYPD Blue would go even further with these things later but Hill Street Blues was the show that took the police crime-drama genre by the collar and told it to grow up.In doing so ,it made law -enforcement something to take seriously again ,as the 1960s & 1970s were a very 'anti-police' era in the real world. As well as garnering many well deserved awards and last but not least ,a loyal following that stands today. It might not be the first show some might think of if you asked them to name a TV police drama but that's not important ,what is ,is it's own original reputation ,as the series that (aside from some it's quirkier characters) made police offers human beings. Ten stars out there! Stay tuned for the 35th Anniversary in January 2016! (END)11/10/2015 Edit : The show can now be seen on a new (non cable) network called Icons & Heroes (I&H), it just debuted in my city last week.

John T. Ryan The earliest days of television saw the beginnings of Network Programing in its various forms and Genres. In those days prior to the introduction of Video Tape, circa 1958, the programs fell into one of three categories: Live programing, kinescope films and the standard filmed TV Series.So we had News, Variety, Drama,Sports and "Local Chit-Chat(a mixture of mostly Local "Soft" News and Personal Appearances by Celebs , who just happen to be in the area.Later in the mid-1950's, we saw that the Juvenile Western Shows like THE GENE AUTRY SHOW, ROY ROGERS & DALE EVANS and THE LONE RANGER gave rise to a new, revolutionary idea(for TV). Some one out there in TV land came up with the idea of doing "The Adult Western"! Now to this of course, doesn't mean X Ratings or the old "Adults Only!" designation. The Adult Western meant a mature, more realistic, and meatier in characters and storyline.Other actors on the series are: Kiel Martin, Taurean Blacque, Joe Spano, Bruce Weitz, Betty Thomas, Rene Enriquez, Ed Marinairo, Robert Hirshfeld and so many more who came and left the cast during a 7 year run!Once the 'Adult Western' cat was out of the bag, with GUNSMOKE(?), a great population explosion of Western Primetime Series occurred. Soon the Adult Western was the leading genre of filmed series on the air.Well by the mid-1970's, the tide had turned radically. At one point the only series that was even set on the American Frontier was LITTLE HOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE. The new "Western" was The Cop Shw. Now, we do mean Police and not the Private 'I' series, which is similar and definitely related. With the coming of HILL STREET BLUES in 1981, a new pinnacle was reached. Until then, most series either were so involved in the activities of the bad time and the Cops (usually Detectives) working the cases.Conversation between partners often times sounded a lot like it could be used in a training manual or training film. This seemed to be a particularly hard problem with any series involving the backbone of our Polioce Departments, the Uniformed Beat Cops.Producer/Creator Steven Bochco's inhabitants of HILL STREET were a great improvement and an advancement for all series dramas. Bochco gave the characters 3 Dimensional Personalities, rather than being like comic strip/comic book cartoon characters, talking in formal Police Jargon about Police situations.HILL STREET introduced the full person to the TV screen. So, if a guy's a Cop, could he be an Oprea Buff or sing with a Barber Shop Quartet society group? Could he have a side business or be a Brick Layer? Whatta bout any Pilots or Scuba Divers?*** And even more importantly, we get a view of personal lives of the men and women of the Precinct. We see divorces, alcoholism, on-the job affairs and all manner of problems that are with us in real life. Early on, they dealt with a Detective McAffey and his being married to 2 women at once. The original Desk Sgt. Phil Esterhaus discovers that an old friend of his is a homosexual and has been paying a lot of attention to him. Sgt. Stan 'Stash" Jablonski(Robert Prosky) comes transferred to the station on bad paper concerning him and a certain Female Lieutennant.THe whole zoo is presided over by one Captain Frank Furillo(Daniel J. Travante) who is not without his foibles. Favourite characters include:Sgt./Lt. Howard Hunter(James B. Sikking) G.I. type head of the Precinct's Emergency Action Teamor "EATERS", PO's Bobby Hill & Andy Renko (Michael Warren & Charles Haid) a salt-n-pepper pair of Street Smart kids, now grown up, Two special mentions for women characters go to: Fay Furillo(Barbara Bosson) Capt. Frank's ex, and A.D.A.Joyce Davenportand (hey,ain't a Davenport a name for sofa-hide-a-bed?) .

epat Bear with me on a bit of background: For a full decade as a penniless hippie, I didn't have a TV. None of my friends did either. To our minds, TV was a puerile waste of time, pablum for the masses, a substitute for life. Besides, we couldn't afford one. When I settled down tho & my son started going to school, his friends talked constantly about TV programs he knew nothing about. So he wouldn't feel culturally deprived, we decided to get him a little black & white set for his room. Thereafter, whenever I came home from work, I knew where to find my wife & son — both in his room glued to the tube.One evening I was leaning in the doorway waiting for a commercial so I could talk to them & I got caught up in what they were watching — some tough portly mustached detective had been captured by a lunatic with a shotgun & bound to a chair. Tense! When the commercial did come, I said, "Hey, this is a pretty good movie, what is it?" "That's not a movie", they told me, "it's Hill Street Blues, a TV series!" No way, I thought, they had to be pulling my leg. I couldn't believe TV had reached that level of sophistication. They'd taken your standard soap opera format, where no one character predominates & the interwoven stories carry over from episode to episode, & applied it to cops. Cops lead what has got to be hands-down the most bizarre lifestyle imaginable & the viewer's sense of involvement is certainly heightened by knowing that at any moment one of your favorite characters might be gunned down. The show was brilliant & I was hooked. From there on, I watched every episode of HSB I possibly could.Years later, suffering thru a near-suicidal post-divorce funk, coming home to the aching loneliness of an empty apartment with not even a dog anymore to wag his tail in greeting, too depressed even to look up old friends let alone make new ones, I found myself watching the show again. They were showing HSB reruns 5 nights a week just then, so I got to spend an hour each evening with all these familiar faces I'd come to know so well & care about, my own grief momentarily forgotten amidst their trials & tribulations. It's the only thing I can recall with any pleasure from that period & it's not much of an exaggeration to say HSB pulled me thru.So now that the series is finally being released on DVD, I'm pre-ordering it as fast as it comes out. Seeing it again now, I'm much more aware of its flaws — improbable scenes like the EATers shooting up that liquor shop in the very first episode & other contrived situations that strain to produce a few chuckles. Yet I like it all the more for that; it transcends such flaws so easily. Watching it now for maybe the 4th or 5th time, I'm still amazed at the depth & range of characterization, not to mention the added kick of spotting well-known actors like Danny Glover, Forest Whitaker & David Caruso who appeared on the show before they made it big. More sophisticated shows now like NYPD Blue, ER & Sopranos may make HSB seem dated by comparison, but they would never even have existed if HSB hadn't led the way. Not for nothing was it one of the longest-running dramas on TV.I still don't think much of TV, but Hill Street Blues will always hold a special place in my heart.