Word: bochco
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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Simple, unchallenging procedurals and self-contained dramas were standard fare about 30 years ago--think of Cannon, Columbo and Fantasy Island. That began to change, in part because of prime-time soaps like Dallas but especially because of one show, Steven Bochco's Hill Street Blues, which debuted on NBC in January 1981. Hill Street told stories, unfolding over several episodes and even years, that were about more than the caper of the week. They were about politics, cops' psychology and the social and racial contexts of crime and law. Demanding a greater commitment from viewers, the show delivered...
...Blind Justice," from Steven Bochco, about a blind cop. (Surprisingly, the trailer actually looked better than it's parodically high-concept idea and title - but then, that's not that high...
...most ordinary declarative sentence." This, he says, was the point: Deadwood, S.D., was outside the bounds of the U.S., the law and propriety--just as Milch is now beyond the long reach of the ABC censors who dogged him on NYPD Blue, the show he created with Steven Bochco. Take a group of criminals and scofflaws, mostly men, risking ruin or murder to seek their fortunes--who then blow said fortunes on hookers, craps, dope and booze--and in any century, their epithets will be frequent and stronger than "dagnabbit...
...sparingly defined characters and dramas with self-contained, noncontinuing stories. Ironically, Wolf started in TV as a writer for Hill Street Blues, which pioneered TV's previous trend: "story arcs," or plots that stretch out over several episodes or seasons. The approach made creators like Hill Street's Steven Bochco and The X-Files' Chris Carter into auteurs. But business-wise, story arcs are a problem. Much of the money in TV is made from repeats and syndication, and viewers don't like to follow serial stories in reruns. "One of the best cop shows...
Ironically, it was a network cop show, Steven Bochco's Hill Street Blues, that introduced serial "story arcs" into genre drama. But networks have retreated to the pre-Bochco era of "procedural" cop shows, in which character comes second to plot. The cops may have perfunctory personal stories, but you can easily ignore them and still enjoy the mysteries--that's why L&O has lost every original cast member yet enjoys its highest ratings ever. Cop procedurals are the new sitcoms: easily digestible, with stories wrapped up in one episode, they demand little commitment (and sell well in syndication...