L.A. Law
Hill Street Blues
NYPD Blue
and so many others.
I saw that on TMZ. I really only knew the name from Doogie Howser. I can remember it being ‘typed’ on the screen right after he finished his diary entry for that episode. As soon I saw it on TMZ my mind right right to Doogie. That S-T-E-V-E-N B-O-C-H-C-O is burned into my memory for some reason.
I don’t think modern viewers can appreciate how revolutionary Hill Street Blues was back in the eighties. It pioneered the idea of story arcs in mainstream American television.
“Modern viewers” don’t appreciate a lot of older stuff. For any number of reasons, they simply haven’t been exposed to it and even if they were to go and watch them now, a combination of not aging well and them so used to it turns them off.
Case in point, I convinced a friend (about 10 +/- years younger) to watch Twin Peaks. While he sorta kinda liked it, he really struggled to get through it. Granted, some of the scenes get a bit cheesy, his complaint was about the quality, both the actual video (SD) as well as the dialogue. Though he did seem to enjoy the actual storyline. Thing is, at the time we were also watching shows like Breaking Bad and Walking Dead. I had to explain to him that in the 90’s, this was our Breaking Bad/Walking Dead. This was the show everyone made sure they could watch and talk about the next day. These were the people interviewed on TV and in magazines. Along with a few other shows (Northern Exposure, I understand, is another, as well as Dynasty/Knot’s Landing/Dallas), Twin Peaks was the show to watch. A bit odd so it flew under a lot of people’s radars, but the people that watched it really, really loved it.
But for him, it was meh, and why shouldn’t it be, he’s watching Breaking Bad and The Walking Dead. He’s going back and watching The Sopranos and Six Feet Under. He’s watching Dexter and Psych. Many of those shows got their start because of and improved on the Twin Peaks format.
It’s like finding someone that loves rock and trying to get them to listen to some old scratchy copies of BB King or Ledbelly.
TL;DR, ‘kids these days’ don’t appreciate long story arcs because it’s almost a novelty not to have them outside of a sitcom. Also, you have to really like a show to watch hour long episodes.
Interesting that you’d mention those two shows together. Northern Exposure was actually shot about ten miles from the location of the fictional Twin Peaks.
Oddly enough, that was exactly my first association when I heard the news.
We just finished watching the whole run of HSB.
I was amazed with all the stuff they did considering the time period. Lot’s of sensitive topics treated fairly well. (Always a few old stereotypes here and there, OTOH.)
The size of the cast, the constant background action and chatter. That was impressive.
Didn’t like Dennis Franz in either of his incarnations on the show. Surprised how they vaporized Fay in the latter part. She was still married to Bochco then.
Betty Thomas got all sorts of accolades for this, then did two guest acting shots and then no more acting. Went into directing (very successfully). Guess that made her happier. Maybe she learned a lot from HSB.
Remember, let’s be careful out there.
The impression that Hill Street Blues made cannot be overstated. I was in high school when it premiered, and my mother and I watched the first episode together. When it ended, we turned to each other in total amazement. We had never seen anything like it before on television. It became appointment T.V. for me – in those days before recording devices were common, I would not schedule anything for a Thursday night so that I wouldn’t miss it. It remains my favorite television show of all time.
I was also a big fan of L.A. Law and NYPD Blue.
Bochco had some failures, but it was because he took the big risks. I don’t think T.V. would be what it is today without him.
Now I need to pull out my Hill Street DVDs and rewatch in his memory.
I am huge fan. So is Comics God Alan Moore who cites it as a favorite and based his comic Top Ten on it.
I’m still hoping for an LA Law reboot.
As an aside: Richard Levinson and William Link created Columbo, hitting it out of the park with the Prescription: Murder and Ransom For A Dead Man TV movies.
When the time came for episode 1 of season 1 of the series, another guy came up with a story of two mystery writers who (a) raked in tons of money by inventing a fictional sleuth, and then (b) had a falling-out and stopped working together.
And, well, that’s the story of Steven Bochco’s first Emmy nomination.
Cop Rock. They can’t all be winners…
NYPD blue is on M-F at 4 PM and 1 AM on the heroes and Icons channel.
Yes. It’s hard to explain to kids today (Tcho!) because they think it’s just the same as everything else they see. The truth is, “everything else they see” was modeled on Hill Street Blues. It was a step change in making TV.
j
Note: Tcho! - that annoyed dismissive noise that parents make.
A great show. I remember being wildly infatuated with Veronica Hamel at the time. It was gritty and human, with excellent writing and casting. “Shut up, dog-breath!”
It’s like bitching about Shakespeare because his plays are just a bunch of cliched quotes strung together.