"Hill Street Blues" - an oral history

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http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/04/ar...lues.html?_r=0

Cop shows had never looked like this.

A dozen or so regular characters, including a detective who liked biting perps, an alcoholic ladies’ man and an imposing 50-something sergeant dating a high school senior. Sprawling story lines that played out over multiple episodes and veered into messy personal lives. A gritty visual style and a wildly careering tone alien to prime time.

All those elements were packed into “Hill Street Blues,” which followed a diverse squad policing a blighted urban landscape under the patient leadership of a tightly wound precinct captain named Frank Furillo. By the time it wrapped up its seven-season run in 1987, “Hill Street Blues” had won 26 Emmys, the most ever for a dramatic series until “The West Wing” matched it. Created by Steven Bochco and Michael Kozoll, it ushered in a new golden age of television, and its ripples are still felt now.

The writers and producers of “Hill Street Blues” went on to help create shows as different as “Miami Vice” (Anthony Yerkovich), “Twin Peaks” (Mark Frost), the various “Law & Order” series (Dick Wolf) and “Deadwood” (David Milch), while Mr. Bochco himself delivered “L.A. Law” and (with Mr. Milch) “N.Y.P.D. Blue.” And the show resonated with many of today’s show runners and executives.

“It’s a really important show in making our culture what it is today,” said David Nevins, president of Showtime Networks. “We’re at a point now where television is this legitimate, high-minded medium. And that began with “Hill Street Blues.’ “

For the first time, the entire series is available on DVD, from Shout! Factory. The New York Times recently chatted with a group of the show’s actors and writers, as well as show runners and executives in the TV business, about the experience of making “Hill Street Blues” and how the show changed television. The interviews have been condensed and edited.