"Hill Street Blues" was about a busy police station in the heart of a great unnamed city, though it was clear that the city had more than a passing resemblance to Chicago. The cast was very large, headed by Daniel J. Travanti as Capt. Frank Furillo.
Though immediately groundbreaking, the series took about a season to hit its stride. The early episodes, for example, showed Frank as something of a superman, an officer who could handle the precinct's problems, dispense wisdom and counsel to his men, and even negotiate in fluent Spanish with gangsters over the loudspeaker. He later became much more quiet and withdrawn, even purposely dull at times, but nevertheless remained an extremely strong presence in the station.
It would require pages and pages to do full justice to "Hill Street Blues," since the characters and stories were often so interesting, and also because there were so many of both of them. The people and situations were very believable, sometimes disturbingly so. The endings were not always happy and the cops did not always get their man. Corruption and incompetence were shown as very real parts of organizational life. Sometimes even recurring characters who were brought in for comic relief would end up being killed. But most people at the Hill Street station had faith that they were making a difference in the community, and that drove them forward.
The acting was, for the most part, phenomenal, and the sense of realism superb. When the officers were on the street, you really believed they were on patrol. The interaction among the characters could occasionally drift toward soap opera, but the writing was nevertheless a far cut above almost anything else before or since. Shock was used sparingly and effectively, and the series relied more on different ways of developing similar plot lines (robbery, shootings, etc.) than on always trying to "out-do" the bizarre storyline from the previous week (a very unfortunate trend in 90s series).
"Hill Street Blues" was an excellent police drama, and an excellent series.
Though immediately groundbreaking, the series took about a season to hit its stride. The early episodes, for example, showed Frank as something of a superman, an officer who could handle the precinct's problems, dispense wisdom and counsel to his men, and even negotiate in fluent Spanish with gangsters over the loudspeaker. He later became much more quiet and withdrawn, even purposely dull at times, but nevertheless remained an extremely strong presence in the station.
It would require pages and pages to do full justice to "Hill Street Blues," since the characters and stories were often so interesting, and also because there were so many of both of them. The people and situations were very believable, sometimes disturbingly so. The endings were not always happy and the cops did not always get their man. Corruption and incompetence were shown as very real parts of organizational life. Sometimes even recurring characters who were brought in for comic relief would end up being killed. But most people at the Hill Street station had faith that they were making a difference in the community, and that drove them forward.
The acting was, for the most part, phenomenal, and the sense of realism superb. When the officers were on the street, you really believed they were on patrol. The interaction among the characters could occasionally drift toward soap opera, but the writing was nevertheless a far cut above almost anything else before or since. Shock was used sparingly and effectively, and the series relied more on different ways of developing similar plot lines (robbery, shootings, etc.) than on always trying to "out-do" the bizarre storyline from the previous week (a very unfortunate trend in 90s series).
"Hill Street Blues" was an excellent police drama, and an excellent series.