Word: hills
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...programmers were always predictable, Hill Street Blues would have had a short life as one of the medium's more notable flops. Despite critical praise, the unorthodox police show settled near the bottom of the ratings after its January 1981 debut. But NBC renewed it anyway and then watched a remarkable success story take shape. First came a passel of Emmys (eight after its first season, a record-breaking number for one series; 26 all together), then a growing corps of dedicated viewers. People who claimed to watch little else on TV would tune in faithfully for the intricate...
...move was expected. Hill Street's ratings have been on a downward slide, and last December the series was unceremoniously evicted from its longtime Thursday-night time slot. Several cast members, including Daniel J. Travanti (Captain Frank Furillo), had said they would leave after this season. The show's producer, MTM Enterprises, was reluctant to continue churning out the expensive hourlong episodes (average cost: $1.5 million). "There was no financial reason to go on," says Executive Producer David Milch, "and aesthetically nothing left to prove...
...shows have proved so much. From the start, Hill Street's gritty, teeming visual style (created in part by shooting with hand-held cameras) set ) it apart from anything else on TV. Its cops were not macho superheroes but flawed men and women with interesting lives both on and off the beat. The show's dramatic structure (copied by such successors as St. Elsewhere and L.A. Law) was unusually complex, interweaving a dozen or so major characters and several ongoing plots each week. If the comic interludes were often heavy- handed and the drama sometimes soapy, Hill Street nevertheless defined...
...fleet's bow by arguing that "painful choices have to be made." The admiral said he would give higher priority to such matters as "modern munitions, antisubmarine warfare and the SSN ((attack submarine)) program." That may have sounded like mutiny to the Navy, but some budgeteers on Capitol Hill were applauding...
From Bob Goldthwait to Garry Shandling, offbeat, innovative comics are thriving on cable. -- The last roll call for Hill Street Blues...