Product Description

"LET’S BE CAREFUL OUT THERE." So ends each roll call session at the Hill Street station house. As the cops and detectives head out to the streets, Captain Frank Furillo begins the delicate balancing act of providing enough protection for the law-abiding citizens without inciting the neighborhood gangs and local criminal elements who are openly hostile towards any police presence. Yet as dangerous as his inner city precinct can be, Furillo's biggest battles often involve protecting his own cops from the Public Defender's office, self-serving bureaucrats, and even each other.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1382 in DVD
• Brand: HILL STREET BLUES
• Released on: 2006-01-31
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Closed-captioned, Color, Dubbed, DVD, Full Screen, Subtitled, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English, Spanish
• Dubbed in: English, French, Spanish
• Number of discs: 3
• Running time: 850 minutes

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

Customer Reviews

Hold It Right There Dogbreath!!!
I loved this show when it premiered and watched it eagerly every week. I was in the Air Force then and remember this show being one of the absolute best on television. To those who are quick to forget, Hill Street Blues set the precedent for cop shows to come. By killing off key characters occasionally the show had a sense of stark, gritty realism that made most of the cop shows of it's time seem like 'Car 54'. This show was in the forefront of bold, daring originality. True, when Michael Conrad died there WAS a decline in the show because he was such a well-loved character, but the show retained it's greatness nonetheless. In MY book Hill Street will always be remembered as the show that all other cop shows, and even non-cop shows, tip their hats to.

A real classic: Finally on DVD
Fans of this show wanted it so badly that the VHS release that was published a few years ago goes for as much as $200 in the amazon sellers (original price was around $30).
Anyway, it's been worth the wait, as this promises to be a real good DVD set: Not only the episodes are there (of course), but also commentary tracks, deleted scenes, a roll call featurette...
So...anyway, was this a good season? For starters, it was a short one: Only 17 episodes. But what episodes! Worth every minute! I won't spoil them for you though, whether you are an old fan who don't remember the show or someone who heard so much about it that are going to get the DVDs to watch the show for the first time.
Even if you aren't a Hill Street fan, you might want to pick this set just for the incredible guest star list... people that a few year later became real stars, with their own shows: Ken Olin (thirtysomething), David Caruso (NYPD Blue), Dwight Schultz (A-Team), Mimi Rogers (lots of things).

Musings from the SALOON-DRO-MAT (thank you, J.D.)
When this series was first on in the '80's, it was pre-VCR for me. I loved it so much that I carried a portable TV with me in the car (ran off the cigarette lighter) to be able to catch each episode up until it's finish because I had to be in work at the hospital at 11:00p.m., which was when HSB finished for the evening. Also because I was such a fanatic for the show, I made little notes in a pad about dialogue snippets, plot elements, etc.
Time passed and because I never saw the show in reruns, I mostly forgot about it, except for a vague memory that I loved it dearly.
Then Season One comes out on DVD and my love affair starts all over again!!! I've seen very few dramas that combine such superb writing, acting and editing skills as HSB. The characters are immortal and stay with you long after. If you're a fan from the original broadcast run like I was, you'll have a great time having your memory rejogged by all the teriffic supporting characters and situations from the first time you saw them.
I just finished Seasons 1 & 2 and I couldn't be happier with the extras included, the transfer quality and the more-than-reasonable price for one of my TOP TEN TV SHOWS OF ALL TIME!!!

Can't wait for Season #3!