The Jay Leno Show
Hill Street Blues
May 14, 2010
by David Krell
david@davidkrell.com
Hill Street Blues began NBC’s tradition of quality drama in the Thursday night 10:00pm time slot. That tradition ended in 2009 when The Jay Leno Show took over 10:00pm time slot. Now The Marriage Ref owns the time slot.
Airing from 1981 to 1987, Hill Street Blues changed television.
The bad guys didn’t always get caught by the end of the hour.
The good guys weren’t always angels.
And story lines could last for multiple episodes, maybe even a season.
At the heart of Hill Street Blues was Captain Frank Furillo, a recovering alcoholic who guided the Hill Street precinct with compassion, toughness, and experience. He was trusted by his officers, detectives, and the gangs. Jesus Martinez, leader of the Diablos, often called him ‘Frankie’ out of affection, respect, and teasing. In later years, Jesus became a paralegal.
If Frank Furillo was the Hill Street precinct’s heart, Sergeant Phil Esterhaus was its soul. Played by Michael Conrad with a textbook definition of being avuncular, Esterhaus led off each episode in the middle of the morning Roll Call with the phrase Let’s be careful out there. Conrad died in 1983. Robert Prosky replaced him at the Roll Call as Sergeant Stan Jablonski with the less watchful and more bombastic Let’s do it to them before they do it to us.
Veronica Hamel played the sensitive, skilled, and sexy Joyce Davenport of the Public Defender’s office. The advocate shared a bed with Captain Furillo and later married him.
Despite the urban chaos surrounding them, the officers and detectives never stopped in their mission to clean up the streets.
And creators Steven Bochco and Michael Kozoll set a standard for television producing. Multiple story arcs, scenes involving walking and talking, and three dimensional characters are hallmarks seen in St. Elsewhere, L.A. Law, thirtysomething, ER, The West Wing, and Friday Night Lights, to name a few.
david@davidkrell.com
Hill Street Blues began NBC’s tradition of quality drama in the Thursday night 10:00pm time slot. That tradition ended in 2009 when The Jay Leno Show took over 10:00pm time slot. Now The Marriage Ref owns the time slot.
Airing from 1981 to 1987, Hill Street Blues changed television.
The bad guys didn’t always get caught by the end of the hour.
The good guys weren’t always angels.
And story lines could last for multiple episodes, maybe even a season.
At the heart of Hill Street Blues was Captain Frank Furillo, a recovering alcoholic who guided the Hill Street precinct with compassion, toughness, and experience. He was trusted by his officers, detectives, and the gangs. Jesus Martinez, leader of the Diablos, often called him ‘Frankie’ out of affection, respect, and teasing. In later years, Jesus became a paralegal.
If Frank Furillo was the Hill Street precinct’s heart, Sergeant Phil Esterhaus was its soul. Played by Michael Conrad with a textbook definition of being avuncular, Esterhaus led off each episode in the middle of the morning Roll Call with the phrase Let’s be careful out there. Conrad died in 1983. Robert Prosky replaced him at the Roll Call as Sergeant Stan Jablonski with the less watchful and more bombastic Let’s do it to them before they do it to us.
Veronica Hamel played the sensitive, skilled, and sexy Joyce Davenport of the Public Defender’s office. The advocate shared a bed with Captain Furillo and later married him.
Despite the urban chaos surrounding them, the officers and detectives never stopped in their mission to clean up the streets.
And creators Steven Bochco and Michael Kozoll set a standard for television producing. Multiple story arcs, scenes involving walking and talking, and three dimensional characters are hallmarks seen in St. Elsewhere, L.A. Law, thirtysomething, ER, The West Wing, and Friday Night Lights, to name a few.