{"id":14332,"date":"2014-05-08T08:18:46","date_gmt":"2014-05-08T15:18:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/qgp.ykq.mybluehost.me\/cinephiled\/?p=14332"},"modified":"2014-05-07T08:22:24","modified_gmt":"2014-05-07T15:22:24","slug":"videophiled-tvd-back-beat-hill-street-blues-complete-series","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cinephiled.com\/videophiled-tvd-back-beat-hill-street-blues-complete-series\/","title":{"rendered":"Videophiled TVD: Back on the Beat with ‘Hill Street Blues: The Complete Series’"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"HillStreetBlues\"<\/a>Hill Street Blues: The Complete Series<\/i><\/b> (Shout Factory, DVD) \u2013 Steven Bochco had racked up over 15 years of writing and producing credits when he revolutionized the cop drama with this groundbreaking series, an ensemble serial set in an unidentified inner city precinct, that he co-created with Michael Kozoll. The culture of poverty, rampant crime, racial tensions and the combustible presence of volatile gangs sets the tone of this big city beat while the handheld camerawork gives it a docu-look and feel unique among primetime shows (and later to be picked up by such shows as Homicide<\/i>, NYPD Blue<\/i>, The Shield<\/i>, The Wire<\/i> and any number of series). But it didn’t just change the face of police dramas. It set the stage for shows of all genres to present stories that play out over multiple episodes or weave in and out of the season, gave us characters that evolved over the course of the show, and focused more on the lives of the men and women in blue than on the case of the week. It wasn’t about solving a mystery, it was about engaging with suspects, victims, civilians, and each other.<\/p>\n

The style and tone is established right in the series pilot, which opens on the defining morning roll call, the noise and jovial chaos of the precinct house\u2014a first on TV cop shows\u2014and the trademark \u201cLet\u2019s be careful out there\u201d (uttered by Michael Conrad) and ends with officers Hill and Renko (Michael Warren and Charles Haid) shot by drug squatters in an abandoned building and left for dead. In between we get Precinct Captain Frank Furillo (Daniel J. Travanti), his emotionally frayed ex-wife (Barbara Bosson), a hostage situation and a colorful squad of detectives, uniforms and officers alike, including the indefinable, cigar-chomping Det. Belker (Bruce Weitz), who looks like a derelict and growls (and sometimes bites) like a dog. Veronica Hamel is the hardcase defense attorney who makes Furrillo\u2019s job harder by day and then meets up as his secret love by night and the squad is filled out by Joe Spano, Taurean Blacque, Kiel Martin, Rene Enriquez, Betty Thomas, Ed Marinaro (who joins the cast mid-season) and James B. Sikking as the military vet who runs their tactical unit.<\/p>\n