Hill Street Blues

Approval Rate: 78%

78%Approval ratio

Reviews 35

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  • by

    disgustingfats_tupidsmellyugl_ypig

    Fri Sep 11 2009

    NYPD Blue is a cheap knock-off. Before there was Andy Sipowicz, there was Norman Buntz...

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    stupidfatuglyd_isgustingsmell_ingloser

    Sat Sep 13 2008

    Best police drama ever, IMO.

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    teresag

    Thu Apr 10 2008

    I was in HS when this was on and I really liked it ~ if I was home enough to watch it ~ HAHA!  I do appreciate it more NOW though and have the first 2 seasons on DVD.  Still waitin for the rest of the seasons.....

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    genghisthehun

    Thu Apr 10 2008

    The critics got the vapors over this show, and maybe deservedly so.  I never got into it, so I am not the best judge.  I watched a few episodes, but my interest in network television was flagging at that time so it never caught with me.

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    spike65

    Wed Apr 09 2008

    Would have been a five star for sure had the later shows had the same level of tension and realism as there was in the first couple of seasons. The "animal" guy got old fast. Too cute. Many fine actors got their start on Hill Street Blues.

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    jamie_mcbain

    Sun Aug 12 2007

    A really good cop show, that was ahead of it's time. Without it, there would be no Law and Order or NYPD Blue.

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    hugeass

    Sat Jun 16 2007

    Raised the bar for police dramas.

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    checkmatedd

    Wed Apr 11 2007

    The Cop show that gave birth to NYPD Blue and the Shield.  Cutting edge drama for its time.  Not afraid to takle some tough issues.

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    callitdownthel_ine75

    Wed Apr 11 2007

    I was too young when this show was at its zenith. But watching a few episodes on DVD recently, I think Hill Street Blues easily rivals later police drama movies like NYPD Blue and Law & Order. Complete with an ensemble cast, Hill Street Blues great intertwining storylines, and not to mention an unforgettable theme tune by Mike Post- the documentary-feel  was one of the greatest shows of all-time (as it was a perennial primetime Emmy winner).

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    gatorhater

    Fri Apr 06 2007

    If you didn't watch this, you were missing one of the most well-written, well-cast, and well-performed shows of the past 25 years. Excellent...

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    limpin_trenchfoot

    Mon Jul 24 2006

    All very worthy, well put together blah di blah. Just didnt float the old boat.

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    ungodlyugly

    Sat Jun 03 2006

    Very very underrated show. May have been too intelligent for a lot of Americans, for whom trashy sitcoms, talk shows, and nighttime soaps were their main television diet...

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    x_factor_z

    Fri Mar 17 2006

    Probably, technically, and outstanding show, but it never eally did appeal to me.

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    sabasimba

    Wed Jun 22 2005

    A rare bright spot of intelligent programming in a lost decade.

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    kattwoman

    Thu Jun 16 2005

    it was a breakthrough show with the subjects closer to reality than other shows before it.

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    irishgit

    Fri Mar 25 2005

    One of the better shows of its era, well acted and scripted and willing to write characters out, so it was less predictable than most.

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    dawnsdinos

    Tue Mar 16 2004

    This is truly a classic show. I didn't watch it regularly but always liked it when I did.

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    tvtator

    Tue Mar 09 2004

    One of the best cop shows ever on tv. Gritty, realistic, with a top notch cast. Not my favorite cop show, but a remarkable and memorable one.

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    jenny_drury

    Tue Aug 12 2003

    I didn't like this show.

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    amblin

    Tue May 20 2003

    Beat show on TV ever! Rare in quality, acting, writing...it was a GREAT show.

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    angusmacpherso_n

    Thu Mar 13 2003

    This show was always good, often great. Some episodes were so spellbinding, I would still be staring stunned at my TV screen several minutes after the show had ended and I'd turned the tube off...

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    wilshakes1

    Tue Jan 14 2003

    This is that rarest of rarities, a show that was so innovative, on so many levels, that it not only indelibly influenced its genre, it literally changed the way we watch television. It is, without exaggeration, the single most influential television drama of the last 25 years. Before HSB, TV cop shows held to a strict one-hour (or half-hour, in the case of DRAGNET and ADAM-12) story structure. No loose ends were ever left untied at the end of that hour. Though characters often had strong personalities and sometimes even love lives, they didn't get to live much of those lives onscreen. Cops, lawyers and (especially) doctors never made stupid mistakes, displayed irrational prejudices, or otherwise screwed up, nor did the effects of one show's traumas ever carry over into subsequent episodes. Characters might age, but they did not change. With HSB, Steve Bochco changed all that. He introduced the multi-episode story arc, until then strictly a soap opera convention. This technique allowe... Read more

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    lukskywlkr

    Thu Jan 09 2003

    I guess the acting and the stories were pretty good, but it always managed to depress me. No one on the show seemed to crack a smile.

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    red630

    Mon Dec 09 2002

    This is the Cheers for prime time dramas! The next time you catch this show listen to the background noise during the station house scenes, I loved the gritty realism of noise.

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    no1riggie

    Sun Oct 27 2002

    All credit to Bochco for stating the ensemble series trend. This was a "must see" programme.I think I must have seen every episode. Loved the characters, especially Belker.

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    cattleannie

    Wed Aug 28 2002

    This show got my attention right away, the acting and the story plots, Not like any other show at the time. Joyce and " the pizza man" wow. Lets be careful out there!!.

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    dingleberry

    Thu Apr 11 2002

    This show was the greates cop series ever. It told the true story of what a cops life was like.

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    castlebee

    Fri May 25 2001

    This was a pretty engaging cop/lawyer drama with an overall quality on the same level as the more recent "Law and Order". One of the big differences with the two is that "Hill Street Blues" seemed to give you more information about the individual characters lives and therefore, a bit more character development. "Law and Order", on the other hand, tends to concentrate more on the details of the crime du jour and how it affects the characters at a given point in time. Hill Street's serial quality could be a reflection of its time perhaps being somewhat influenced by the the success of night-time soaps like Dallas, Dynasty and others that were still in their heyday at that point.

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    callmetootie

    Mon Apr 09 2001

    The character development on this show was the only thing holding it together.

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    jefroe20

    Wed Mar 28 2001

    The first of the angstridden,selfconscious dramas.This show has a lot to answer for.As"Castlebee"says,a yawn.

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    daredevil

    Tue Mar 20 2001

    Of course,we're so liberated and hip over here in dear old Blighty that we watched this masterpiece at 9.00 on Thursday nights(what is it about classic TV and Thursday nights?) I was going through a bad time in the early 80s(who of my generation wasn't?), and the HSB ensemble soon became a soi-dissant surrogate family. As I always say about my fave US shows from The Fugitive through MI, M.A.S.H to Frasier:intelligent not intellectual. Cheers, Daredevil xxxx

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    flai6201om

    Sun Feb 18 2001

    BELKER RULES

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    dsfan52f

    Wed Dec 27 2000

    Fast paced action, terrific repitoire of characters!

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    karched0

    Sun Nov 19 2000

    Probably my favorite drama ever on TV. As happens too often, it declined in the last year or so, mostly due to Steven Bochco's goofy need to KILL off all departing characters in tragic-style episodes. Ever count how many people in NYPD Blue's cast have been shot and or killed? C'mon!!

  • by

    munson

    Mon Oct 30 2000

    Every current, ensemble, one hour drama has Hill Street Blues to thank for blazing the trail. This was the first adult-type drama that I ever watched and I remember that it was a big deal that my parents would let me stay up until 11pm on Thursday nights to see it. It had great and memorable characters (who could forget Mick Belker), tremendous writing, quirky plot-twists (remember how they killed Michael Conrad's character), and a first class cast. It also gave us our first look at Dennis Franz as Detective Bunz. It's too bad that HSB isn't currently running in reruns on any mainstream channels.