Hill Street Blues - Season 1 | 
 enlarge | Directors: Arnold Laven, Ben Bolt, Corey Allen, Dale White, Don Weis
Actors: Daniel J. Travanti, Bruce Weitz, Betty Thomas, Michael Warren, Taurean Blacque
Studio: 20th Century Fox
Category: DVD
List Price: $29.98
Buy New: $17.75
You Save: $12.23 (41%)
New (34) Used (14) Collectible (1) from $13.64
Rating:  90 reviews
Sales Rank: 5581
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dubbed, Dvd-video, Full Screen, Subtitled, Ntsc
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Subtitled), Spanish (Subtitled), English (Dubbed), French (Dubbed), Spanish (Dubbed)
Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Region: 1
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Number Of Discs: 3
Running Time: 850 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.5
Dimensions (in): 7.6 x 5.4 x 0.7
MPN: FOXD2232346D
UPC: 024543223450
EAN: 0024543223450
ASIN: B000BOH8YG
Theatrical Release Date: January 15, 1981
Release Date: January 31, 2006
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
Studio: Tcfhe Release Date: 08/05/2008 Run time: 850 minutes Rating: Nr
Amazon.com essential video
Created by Steven Bochco and one of television's most influential series, Hill Street Blues was not your father's cop show. The Emmy-winning pilot episode, "Hill Street Station," immediately established the series as less a police procedural than an up-close and personal "interface with the police experience." To establish gritty, documentary-like realism, the show featured sequences, such as the pre-credit roll call, that were filmed with a hand-held camera. There was chaotic, overlapping dialogue. There were sudden, shocking bursts of violence that claimed popular characters. Story lines were not wrapped up at the end of the hour, but instead, unfolded serially throughout the season. It's no wonder that Hill Street, while championed by most critics, was initially not embraced by viewers. It was, in the beginning, one of television's lowest rated shows, its case not helped by NBC's criminal practice of juggling it in its primetime schedule). But there is justice in Hollywood. Hill Street Blues won the Emmy for best drama in its first season. Also honored were several members of the ensemble, including Daniel J. Travanti as the compassionate and incorruptible Precinct Capt. Frank Furillo, Michael Conrad as the avuncular Sgt. Phil Esterhaus (whose cautionary, "Let's be careful out there," became the show's pop culture signature), and Barbara Babcock as the wildly sexual Grace Gardner, who rocks Esterhaus's world (particularly in the episode that earned her her statuette, "Fecund Hand Rose"). There were no big stars on Hill Street Blues (or, for that matter, no little stars, as one of the cast members jokes during a near-hour-long reunion featurette included as a bonus feature on this three double-sided disc set). Each was an indelible character, among them Charles Haid as cowboy cop Andy Renko, Veronica Hammel as sexy public defender Joyce Davenport, Bruce Weitz as the untamed, animalistic Belker, Keil Martin as LaRue, whose descent into alcoholism is one of the season's most compelling dramatic arcs, and James Sikking as the gung-ho Howard Hunter. Once daring, Hill Street Blues seems almost quaint today, with none of the graphic sex or language that scandalized NYPD Blue (in one episode, a captured cat burglar, portrayed by a pre-L.A. Law Michael Tucker, makes a reference to "wolf pee-pee"). The ethnic portrayals, too, are not exactly nuanced. But the human dramas at the heart of Hill Street still make for arresting television. --Donald Liebenson
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| Customer Reviews: Read 85 more reviews...
My Favorite Television Series of All Time! December 11, 2008
Archie Mercer (Yorba Linda, CA)
What a great trip back to what I consider one of the best television series ever filmed. I actually didn't start watching Hill Street Blues until midway through season 2, so other than catching a couple of the episodes from Season 1 in reruns these shows were mostly new to me. Writers Steven Bochco and Michael Kozoll created some of the most original characters ever seen on TV up to that point. Although the show was never a ratings smash it achieved cult status with its extremely loyal fan base and earned 98 Emmy Award Nominations during its seven year run.
The Season One set has all 17 episodes, including the award-winning pilot "Hill Street Station". It is interesting to note, three actors who became major characters in the show, Michael Warren (Hill), Charles Haid (Renko), and Ed Marinaro (Coffey) were all originally scripted to be killed during this season. Hill & Renko in the pilot, and Coffey in episode 17. In fact, Coffey WAS killed in the original airing of the show but was such a hit that the producers decided to remake the final scene for reruns, referring to him as wounded.
Also included is an hour-long reunion show with many of the stars, including Michael Warren, Charles Haid, Barbara Bosson, Veronica Hamel, and Bruce Weitz. It's a blast watching them reminisce about the show and how much they enjoyed it.
I would highly recommend this to fans of television police shows. This was such an original show many shows have tried to copy. Without Hill Street Blues there would have been no NYPD Blue.
The best show of its era September 28, 2008
mrliteral
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
There was a time in the 1980s when the best hour of television was on Thursdays at 10:00 when Hill Street Blues came on. At the time, I was a dedicated fan, and though I'd caught the show occasionally in syndication, it'd been years since I'd really seen the show. Rewatching the first season of this show reminded me that even two decades later, this remains a quality show.
Prior to Hill Street Blues, cop shows tended to focus almost entirely on the mystery of the week. Characters rarely changed from week to week, so you could watch the episodes in almost any order. The personal lives of the characters was completely secondary, often just enough to give them a bit of dimension. Hill Street Blues changed that.
Unlike most cop shows, Hill Street Blues really was an ensemble show, taking place in the Hill Street Precinct of an unnamed but generally run-down city. The central character is Captain Frank Furillo, who is as much a bureaucrat as a cop; while generally a good guy, he knows when rules need to be bent or broken, but there are certain lines he won't cross. There are street cops, most notably Officers Hill and Renko who bicker like a married couple and detectives like LaRue and Washington, the former being an alcoholic who is always on the brink of self-destruction. A favorite of many is Mick Belker, a grungy diminutive detective whose bite is as bad as his bark, yet he always has time to talk to his mother.
Some cop characters start off as stereotypes, but eventually develop some depth. Howard Hunter starts off as the semi-fascist leader of the EAT (essentially a SWAT team) and Henry Goldblume is Hunter's bleeding-heart liberal contrast. Goldblume evolves in this season, but Hunter will take several seasons to really seem human.
It is amazing that in this era when story arcs can often takes many episodes if not entire seasons, that there was concern when certain Hill Street Blues stories took three or four episodes to resolve; could the audience handle it? Apparently so. In fact, though some parts of this show are dated (the first season is 28 years old, after all), overall Hill Street Blues holds up well. With both humor and gravity, this is an excellent show. If you enjoy today's crime dramas (CSI, Numbers, Cold Case, etc.), check out the show that really kicked off the modern version of the genre.
Hill Stree Blues DVD September 24, 2008
Becky L. Thomas
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
Product was received quickly and it was just as described. I'm very pleased. Thank you!
 Great Show; by awesomep August 28, 2008
awesomep
This show was terrific during its time. I really enjoyed watching them then and I will equally enjoy watching the show now. Oh and by the way, I purchased both season one and season two at Target's in a double pack for $19.99. A great bargain.
Classic TV July 28, 2008
Eric W. (PA)
Excellent packaging for a ground-breaking, insightful TV program. Most of the content is timeless, although a few themes reflecting the times now appear dated. I hope all seasons of this show are available soon.
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