Hill Street Blues - Season 1 (1981)

The best show of its era

There was a time in the 1980s when the best hour of television was on Thursdays at 10:00 when Hill Street Blues came on. At the time, I was a dedicated fan, and though I'd caught the show occasionally in syndication, it'd been years since I'd really seen the show. Rewatching the first season of this show reminded me that even two decades later, this remains a quality show.

Prior to Hill Street Blues, cop shows tended to focus almost entirely on the mystery of the week. Characters rarely changed from week to week, so you could watch the episodes in almost any order. The personal lives of the characters was completely secondary, often just enough to give them a bit of dimension. Hill Street Blues changed that.

Unlike most cop shows, Hill Street Blues really was an ensemble show, taking place in the Hill Street Precinct of an unnamed but generally run-down city. The central character is Captain Frank Furillo, who is as much a bureaucrat as a cop; while generally a good guy, he knows when rules need to be bent or broken, but there are certain lines he won't cross. There are street cops, most notably Officers Hill and Renko who bicker like a married couple and detectives like LaRue and Washington, the former being an alcoholic who is always on the brink of self-destruction. A favorite of many is Mick Belker, a grungy diminutive detective whose bite is as bad as his bark, yet he always has time to talk to his mother.

Some cop characters start off as stereotypes, but eventually develop some depth. Howard Hunter starts off as the semi-fascist leader of the EAT (essentially a SWAT team) and Henry Goldblume is Hunter's bleeding-heart liberal contrast. Goldblume evolves in this season, but Hunter will take several seasons to really seem human.

It is amazing that in this era when story arcs can often takes many episodes if not entire seasons, that there was concern when certain Hill Street Blues stories took three or four episodes to resolve; could the audience handle it? Apparently so. In fact, though some parts of this show are dated (the first season is 28 years old, after all), overall Hill Street Blues holds up well. With both humor and gravity, this is an excellent show. If you enjoy today's crime dramas (CSI, Numbers, Cold Case, etc.), check out the show that really kicked off the modern version of the genre. September 28, 2008

Hill Stree Blues DVD

Product was received quickly and it was just as described. I'm very pleased. Thank you! September 24, 2008

Great Show; by awesomep

This show was terrific during its time. I really enjoyed watching them then and I will equally enjoy watching the show now. Oh and by the way, I purchased both season one and season two at Target's in a double pack for $19.99. A great bargain. August 28, 2008

Classic TV

Excellent packaging for a ground-breaking, insightful TV program. Most of the content is timeless, although a few themes reflecting the times now appear dated. I hope all seasons of this show are available soon. July 28, 2008

What happened to shows like this?

Although I was born in 1980 and therefore never able to watch Hill Street Blues when it originally aired, I am completely enthralled by the fantastic storylines, characters, and atmosphere that it creates. There are very few shows that can establish a direct relationship with the viewer which makes them want to watch the whole season in one sitting, but this show does this without blinking. All in all, I cannot commend this show enough for its originality, and remember, I am an unfortunate soul who has only been privileged to watch two seasons on dvd (which begins the problem).

The problem I see is threefold. First, why can't anyone in Hollywood come up with a long-lasting and unique idea that can create the fanbase that Hill Street Blues had? Where have the writers gone? Are we as people going to be treated with garbage reality shows and misfit sitcoms for the remainder of our lives? Second, what is the hold up with the rest of the releases? As many reviewers have already stated, there are countless (and marketless) TV-DVD releases every week, so why can't Hill Street Blues be one of the series' that people will actually buy? And finally, as such a fantastic show, shouldn't it get a little better DVD treatment? I know this is a minor gripe, but I am not a fan of double-sided discs. I've actually had trouble with both seasons skipping and becoming pixelated to the point that I had to skip over certain episode chapters. I'm not sure if anyone else has had this issue, but I would definitely like to see future releases (Please!) on one-sided discs.

I've now watched both seasons in their entirety three times, the latest being with my girlfriend, born in 1985, who finished them in a matter of weeks. Needless to say, Hill Street Blues is now in her top five favorite shows. So please, studio gods, release the remaining seasons and make all of us a little happier, especially those of us who haven't even seen the rest of the series! July 18, 2008

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