I think by “show”, he means “series”, not a specific episode. The character in question, a black guy who Belker repeatedly arrests for various scams and thefts and whatnot, appears in numerous episodes.
And then came The Wire.
Wow, I loved this show back in the day. I just jumped on Hulu and watched the pilot (which I don’t think I saw the first time around). Travanti, Hamel were great, as was Michael Conrad/Esterhaus. Great chops, great presence. The rest of the cast was a mix, but they all got better after a while. It was odd seeing all those mustaches and long hairstyles from the early 80’s. “Frank, I think you should take a Valium”.
A question: in the pilot there was a gang summit at the precinct station. One of the gangs looked like Hasidics with nunchucks. The Irish gang with leprechaun hats was bad enough, but an observant Jewish street gang? I guess this isn’t a question so much as a WTF. I guess it was a nod to the 1979 film The Warriors, with its over-the-top gang themes, but really it was like seeing an Amish astronaut or Islamic pig farmer.
it was a good blend of drama and comedy. each episode could stand alone as a story though elements tied together tightly through the series. i’m not much of a tv watcher and it was the first show i recall to do that well, a number of popular series do that now.
True, but there was one particular episode that featured him and was a hell of a payoff in Season 4: “The End of Logan’s Run.”
I loved HSB. A young David Caruso played the leader of an Irish gang, and Dennis Franz played two different cops, the first coming to a bad end, I think. Then he came back as Norman Buntz and had a short-lived spin-off, Beverly Hills Buntz, with Sid the snitch.
Daniel Travanti reached the peak of his acting career in the “Collision of the Planets” episode of “Lost in Space” where he played a leader of an intergalactic motorcycle gang (one of whom was Joe E Tata) assigned to blow up a planet the Robinson family was on. But Doctor Smith inhaled some fumes from the explosives which turned him into a green haired Samson and thwarted their plans. Now THAT is classic gritty, tough interlaced with humor television .
Veronica Hamel was definitely hot.
I did a search that turned up some Getty Images indicating that the blonde mentioned in my post above appears to be an obscure actress named Ilona Wilson. I just saw her in a ‘Cannon’ rerun on Me-TV.
She was in a bunch of roll call scenes.
…since its been bumped and its eight years later and it isn’t online here downunder legally anywhere…can someone spill the beans? 
The question has been eating at you for years?
In addition to the actors mentioned previously, I want to give a shout out to James B. Sikking, who played the SWAT commander, Lt. Howard Hunter. Sikking later played Doogie Howser’s father, and also played Captain Styles in Star Trek III: The Search For Spock.
I’ve always thought the episode in which Hunter attempts suicide led directly to the death of Jon-Erik Hexum a few weeks later.
Even hardcore band Black Flag gave a big shout out in “TV Party Tonight”. This video is as dated as HSB
Alan Moore based his rather excellent comic series Top Ten on Hill Street Blues: the conceit is that in the alternate Earth city of Neopolis, everybody has super-powers, and it’s up to the beleagured, overworked “science-hero” cops of Precinct Ten to police them. Less well known than a lot of Moore’s work, but clever, meticulous - Gene Ha and Xander Cannon’s background art is a game of “spot the reference” - and often very, very funny.
Yes, WordMan posted that in post #8, back in 2010.
Another trivia note: Michael Warren is Jessica Alba’s father-in-law.
Didn’t Ha used to post on this board?
I came in here to mention Howard, my favorite character.
I still remember his line from an episode where he was watching the squad practice for an upcoming charity basketball game: “Judas Priest, I’ve seen better free throw mechanics from the gol-darn Vietnamese!”
mmm
Eh. . . IMDB nerd. In general, we don’t like unidentified recurring background people.
Another recurring (but credited) character. His character is always credited as ‘Pickpocket,’ and each time Belker busts him, he gives him a different (humorous) phony name. Later. . . .The chap does end up dying (forget how), and Belker has an interesting phone call consoling Pickpocket’s mother about the death of her son.