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RIP Steven Bochco (Hill Street Blues, L.A. Law, NYPD Blue)


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I'm so sad to hear this. I grew up hooked on LA Law - I was too young to be watching it, but the slickness and the likeable and believable characters mixed together drew me in. 

 

Years later I found Hill Street Blues. The first year of that is some of the finest TV drama ever - honest and raw and everyday, challenging, first rate. People you felt you knew, conversations you felt like you were eavesdropping on. 

 

America TV drama would not be anywhere near what it is without him.

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My father was addicted to both Hill Street Blues and L.A. Law - they were mostly before my time, and to this day are hard to track down. But everyone knows Steven Bochco, of course. RIP.

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In honor of my dad, who loved Hill Street Blues and L.A. Law when I was little, I am watching the Hill Street pilot on Hulu. I've always known Bochco's name and work since I was young but I was never a regular viewer of any of his huge shows - I just know the debt TV owes him, and the writers he cultivated, like David Milch, whose work on Deadwood is still so fascinating, and David E. Kelley, who certainly made his own stamp on TV both good and bad. You can already see the debt shows like ER owe to HSB in this raw camerawork.

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Is Hill Street Blues still rerunning on the Heroes & Icons channel? I unfortunately lost that channel when we switched cable providers. However, it is available in its entirety on DVD. The first three or so seasons of L.A. Law, plus its 2002 reunion movie, are on DVD as well.

 

What a loss. Mr. Bochco was definitely a visionary and turned the police/attorney drama genre on its ear. Even Cop Rock was creative, even though it was a huge flop. He seemed to have a sense of humor about it for years afterwards.

 

May he RIP.

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