Starring: Barbara Bosson, Lisa Sutton, Lindsay Crouse Directed By: Edwin Sherin, Don Weis, Ben Bolt (II), Mark Frost, John D. Hancock Average Rating: Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1 Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated) Binding: DVD Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dubbed, DVD-Video, Full Screen, Subtitled, NTSC Label: 20th Century Fox Number of Items: 3 Region Code: 1 Release Date: January 31, 2006 Running Time: 850 minutes Theatrical Release Date: January 15, 1981
Product Description: Drama that explores the lives and careers of a group of people who work at an inner city police precinct. No Track Information Available Media Type: DVD Artist: HILL STREET BLUES Title: SEASON 1 Street Release Date: 02/06/2007 Domestic Genre: TELEVISION
Amazon.com essential video: Created by Steven Bochco and one of television's most influential series, Hill Street Blues was not your father's cop show. The Emmy-winning pilot episode, "Hill Street Station," immediately established the series as less a police procedural than an up-close and personal "interface with the police experience." To establish gritty, documentary-like realism, the show featured sequences, such as the pre-credit roll call, that were filmed with a hand-held camera. There was chaotic, overlapping dialogue. There were sudden, shocking bursts of violence that claimed popular characters. Story lines were not wrapped up at the end of the hour, but instead, unfolded serially throughout the season. It's no wonder that Hill Street, while championed by most critics, was initially not embraced by viewers. It was, in the beginning, one of television's lowest rated shows, its case not helped by NBC's criminal practice of juggling it in its primetime schedule). But there is justice in Hollywood. Hill Street Blues won the Emmy for best drama in its first season. Also honored were several members of the ensemble, including Daniel J. Travanti as the compassionate and incorruptible Precinct Capt. Frank Furillo, Michael Conrad as the avuncular Sgt. Phil Esterhaus (whose cautionary, "Let's be careful out there," became the show's pop culture signature), and Barbara Babcock as the wildly sexual Grace Gardner, who rocks Esterhaus's world (particularly in the episode that earned her her statuette, "Fecund Hand Rose").
There were no big stars on Hill Street Blues (or, for that matter, no little stars, as one of the cast members jokes during a near-hour-long reunion featurette included as a bonus feature on this three double-sided disc set). Each was an indelible character, among them Charles Haid as cowboy cop Andy Renko, Veronica Hammel as sexy public defender Joyce Davenport, Bruce Weitz as the untamed, animalistic Belker, Keil Martin as LaRue, whose descent into alcoholism is one of the season's most compelling dramatic arcs, and James Sikking as the gung-ho Howard Hunter. Once daring, Hill Street Blues seems almost quaint today, with none of the graphic sex or language that scandalized NYPD Blue (in one episode, a captured cat burglar, portrayed by a pre-L.A. Law Michael Tucker, makes a reference to "wolf pee-pee"). The ethnic portrayals, too, are not exactly nuanced. But the human dramas at the heart of Hill Street still make for arresting television. --Donald Liebenson
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.
Hill Stree Blues DVD Product was received quickly and it was just as described. I'm very pleased. Thank you!
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.
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.
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!
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