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Hill Street Blues is a US inner city police drama serial from the 1980s, revolutionary and influential in several ways. The show deconstructs the `hero' cop common in much police drama from the 1950s onward, going so far as to mock the influence of the iconic High Noon, and suggest that Gary Cooper, and hero cops in general, act out of some primitive male hormonal need, rather than the needs of their community. Replacing the Anglo, superman hero, the show gives us a sizeable core ensemble cast and an emphasis on teamwork by a racially diverse set of officers. Storylines play out among different groups of cops, often over 4-8 episodes. Reverse racism is a key element here: all of the Anglo officers are overly entitled and are either comically gung ho right-wingers (Hunter), have personal problems (JD & Renko), or get killed through there own arrogance and stupidity (Harris). The writers are keen to show their audience the benefits of Liberal Enlightenment working on inner city streets. Thus, assimilated Italian-American, Captain Furillo, is presented as a universally respected wise man, who negotiates the peace with gang leaders, who tries to save young hoodlums from a life of crime or an early death, and who is not afraid to stand in harm's way to achieve such noble ends. At the precinct, Furillo is polticially bordered to the left by the erudite & idealistic Jewish lieutenant Goldblume. Furillo's reward at the end of a hard day is the comfort of pretty public defender, Hamel. She, being even more liberal than he, allows Furillo to appear measured and practical, by comparison. Down in the trenches, the troops are led by the tall, handsome, & charming Sgt Esterhaus, who acts as liaison with Furillo and father figure to the patrolmen. Each episode begins with Esterhaus leading morning rollcall, which serves as a recap, a preview of later action, and a little ceremony for the viewers. Esterhaus always ends by warning his troops, `Let's be careful out there,' before the titles roll and we hear the superlative piano theme tune. Out on the streets, cases are worked by two ebony & ivory partnerships: Hill & Renko, JD & Washington, as well as by solo undercoverman, Belker. The early episodes are a bit misleading in their attempts to develop character: Washington is initially a little camp and flamboyant, and Belker is presented as almost a wild dog, but they become far more professional later. JD is initially presented as an attractive ladies' man, but soon becomes a boozy loser. Renko claims to be from New Jersey, but his accent clearly hails from south of the Mason-Dixon line. This plays into how far his black partner, Hill, is justified in assuming Renko is a closet racist. Despite these minor teething issues, all these characters seem fairly true to life, and one can forgive a little early overacting. Overall, we get a picture of postwar, liberal, inner-city policies carried out by caring, brave cops and public defenders. To the writers, the caring is key, since if one cares, surely one is doing the best possible for one's community. However, the American electorate were tired of 30 years of failed liberalism and rising murder statistics. Even before the first episode aired, they had elected the hard-line, right-wing Reagan as president. As the 80s evolved, it was right-wing, zero-tolerance policing which helped make inner city streets safe again, admittedly at the cost of increasing the number of those in jail. Thus, although the gung ho Lt Hunter is ridiculed, it is he who is on the right side of history, not Furillo. Nonetheless, it all makes for very entertaining drama, and a template for future cop and hospital dramas down to the present day. Read full review
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Watched first in 1980s, great characters and great stories, so many good actors starred in it, theme music is great too
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Brings back all the memories of an excellent tv series which has still yer to be bettered or even equalled.
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What can I say value for money and it's one of my favourite shows I have missed in ages.
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Absolutely fantastic this has taken me back to when I sat in front of a fire and thoroughly enjoyed every weekly episode. Thank you
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Good storylines for great characters; an enjoyable watch.
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Nice to revisit an old favorite. As good as ever.
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: Pre-owned
Brilliant, trying to source season 3
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: Pre-owned
Hill Street Blues is more a nostalgic thing with me. When first seen on TV when produced it become compulsive viewing for me and the Evening Standard's quote of ''The Show that Changed the look, language and landscape of TV Cop Shows'' is indeed true. Whilst this DVD version today still matches any others 'Cop' shows made to date it could do better than still showing it TV origins with unneeded breaks and lacks of continuity which, whilst acceptable for TV, fell out of place in todays arena. This of course my be just an old age thing on my part and when accepted it does not detract from enjoyable viewing. Some of the characterizations have, in todays world, become a little over the top and now look a little stupid scrip wise, but do reflect how things have changed and were quite normal for the time, so, again, if watched 'as is' it all hangs in and I am quit happy to have made this purchase and have also purchased the Season 2, again by 4DVD. If you enjoyed it the first time you will find it as was on these sets and will be taken back in time to 4:3 and mono sound - great. My only grip is that they have used DVD9 and numerous anti-rip process which, at times, seem to cause my portable DVD players to lose sync, drop frames and pixalate. I am really unable to check if this is just bad printing as it seems to have no real pattern and erratic repeatability. I have not run on PC because I know mine are a bit long in the tooth to prove anything.Read full review
Watching repeats of HSB on cable takes me back to the mid 1980s when I was a kid who stayed up late to watch this great series. I found it fascinating then, and I still enjoy it today. Possibly more so because now I understand the intricate relationships between the characters, rather than watch just to see if they catch the bad guy. HSB is certainly a pre-cursor to subsequent TV shows from the US we see today. Never before had screenwriters been allowed considerable creative freedom; and this brought together for the first time a number of ideas emerging in TV dramas to HSB. These include the close-in hand-held camera action, the intertwining of the characters professional and personal lives, real life footage and language, plus a number of intertwined storylines solved each episode with ongoing storylines that continued all season. The series also focused heavily on the conflict between what is right and what works in the job - something that hadn't been considered on a TV show before. With it's familiar Mike Post theme tune, regular cast members and great writing it's obvious why this series is such a firm favourite on both sides of the Atlantic and a multi award winner to boot. Now the series is fully presented here on this DVD set, there's the added bonus of extras - promos, deleted scenes, commentary and a featurette are all included. Highly recommended to fans of TV dramas, and the show itself.Read full review