More ‘Hill Street’ Joy Rides

Jan. 15, 1981, is a milestone in television history.

On that Thursday evening, NBC changed the world of series television when a group of unknowns filled the screen for the premiere of “Hill Street Blues,” a mid-season replacement police series from MTM Studios.

“Hill Street,” created by Steven Bochco and Michael Kozol, was guerrilla television. It was brutally realistic and often surreal. Sequences seemed to be improvised. The cinematography was gritty, dark. Camera were hand-held. The editing was fast-paced. The action never stopped.

After several years off the air in the Los Angeles area, repeats of “Hill Street” join the KDOC lineup this week.

The one-hour series focused on the professional and private lives of the officers of Hill Street Station, which was in a ghetto area of a nameless Eastern metropolitan city. Hill Street was commanded by the stalwart, earnest and recovering alcoholic Capt. Frank Furillo (Daniel J. Travanti). Bochco’s wife, Barbara Bosson, played Furillo’s nagging ex-wife Fay; former model Veronica Hamel was the cool, elegant public defender Joyce Davenport, Furillo’s girlfriend and later his wife.

The station was filled with a group of eccentrics. There was Sgt. Phil Esterhaus (Michael Conrad), who told the officers, “Hey, let’s be careful out there,” after each morning roll call. Scrappy detective Mick Belker (Bruce Weitz) had a tendency to growl and bite his prisoners. Howard Hunter (James B. Sikking) was the right-wing, gung-ho leader of the SWAT team who became so despondent during the 1984 season he attempted suicide. Good ol’ boy Andy Renko (Charles Haid) was teamed with nice guy black officer Bobby Hill (Michael Warren). The sleazy detective Johnny LaRue (Kiel Martin) was usually up to no good, much to the chagrin of his streetwise partner Neal Washington (Taurean Blacque). Lucy Bates (Betty Thomas) was one of the Hill’s few female officers.

Community affairs officer Henry Goldblume (Joe Spano) was often too sensitive for his own good. Lt. Ray Calletano (Rene Enriquez) was Furillo’s second-in-command. The sexy widow Grace Gardner (Barbara Babcock) heated up the passions of Sgt. Esterhaus. After cancer killed Conrad during the 1983-84 season, the writers explained his absence by having Esterhaus die while making love to Grace.

“Hill Street Blues” became the critics’ darling and won six Emmys, including best dramatic series, during its first abbreviated season. During its seven seasons, “Hill Street” won 18 Emmys. Mike Post’s theme song reached No. 10 on the pop music charts.

The series, however, got off to a real shaky state. It initially performed dismally on Saturdays at 10 p.m., proving to be no match for ABC’s “Fantasy Island.” But after NBC moved it to Thursdays at 10 p.m., the ratings improved. Although the series only cracked the Top 25 during the 1982-83 season, “Hill Street Blues” developed an extremely devoted following.

“Hill Street Blues” airs weeknights at 7 and 10 on KDOC and 7 on KTTY.