Hill Street Blues is an American serial police procedural television series that aired on NBC in prime-time from January 15, 1981,[1] to May 12, 1987, for 146 episodes.

The show received critical acclaim, and its production innovations influenced many subsequent dramatic television series produced in the United States and Canada.

Television author John Javna described it as "a cop show for the Big Chill generation, discovering that it takes all of their energy to keep even a few of their ideals alive while they struggle to succeed.

Author Steven Johnson wrote of the importance to viewers of each episode's roll calls, saying that they "performed a crucial function, introducing some of the primary threads and providing helpful contextual explanations for them.

Hill Street Blues employed what was, at that time, a unique style of camera usage for weeknight television productions, such as filming close in with action cuts rapidly between stories.

Inspired by police procedural detective novels such as Ed McBain's 1956 Cop Hater, the show has been described as Barney Miller out of doors.

The theme music for Hill Street Blues was written by Mike Post, featuring Larry Carlton on guitar.

[22] It was released as a single and became a major US hit, reaching #10 on the Billboard Hot 100 in November 1981, winning the Grammy Award for Best Pop Instrumental Performance.

The firing was due to Bochco's cost overruns, coupled with the fact that the show had achieved the 100-episode milestone needed to successfully syndicate it.

However, at the awards ceremony, Barry Bremen, aka "The Great Imposter", rushed the stage ahead of Thomas and claimed she was unable to attend.

He then claimed the award and left the stage, confusing viewers and robbing Thomas of her moment in the sun, although she returned and spoke after the ad break.

Garibaldi, Lt. Ray Calletano (René Enríquez), Fay Furillo (Barbara Bosson) and Officer Leo Schnitz (Robert Hirschfeld) were all phased out at the start of the season, and Joe Coffey left near the end.

She left after a salary conflict with the new executive producer who, according to the actress, had also wanted her character, Fay, to go back to being a shrewish "thorn in her ex-husband's side".

[24] The season premiere opened with a roll call filled with officers never before seen on the show, briefly fooling viewers into thinking the entire cast had been replaced.

Stan Jablonski became a secondary character part way through this season, and when Travanti announced he would not return the next year, the producers decided to end the show in 1987.

The first episode of season three shows both a TV camera labeled "WREQ", and a shot of a Regional Transportation Authority suburban train arriving at the Chicago and North Western Terminal.

One indication of setting within the show was given by the Southern-accented character Officer Andy Renko when he stated in the season one episode "Politics as Usual": "Just drop that cowboy stuff.

In Season 1 episode 12, Captain Furillo informs Lieutenant Hunter that the armored vehicle he was test driving has been found "in the East River", implying New York City.

Throughout the series, characters occasionally mention well-known Chicago street names, such as Michigan Avenue, or other Chicago-related landmarks, such as the Blue Line subway and Mercy Hospital.

In a Season 5 episode, during an undercover detail, Detective Belker is knocked unconscious by a criminal and stashed in the luggage compartment of an interstate bus.

The run-down, shabby, drug-ridden impression of Pittsburgh's Hill District that Bochco acquired was apparently part of the inspiration for the show.

[35] Although the city is never named, the Illinois state flag is visible over the judge's left shoulder in the courtroom scenes in the Season 2 episode "Fruits of the Poisonous Tree," suggesting that the location is Chicago.

Some outdoor scenes, particularly in the first two seasons, capture palm trees and other Southern California flora not found in the Midwest or Northeastern United States.

Notable guest actors include: Initially, Hill Street Blues received rave reviews from critics but had dismal Nielsen ratings.

"[69] The choice to include African-Americans as mainstays in the core ensemble cast and to feature several interracial and interethnic cop partnerships drew notice and praise, as did the overlapping plots and examinations of moral conundrums such as police corruption, racism, alcoholism and both interpersonal and institutional forgiveness.

[70] The show was very influential, with many others imitating its use of handheld cameras, ensemble casts, and multiple overlapping story lines lasting for several episodes, set in urban decay.

Whether through shared actors, writers, directors or through stylistic and thematic complexity, its DNA can be found in nearly every great drama produced in the 30-plus years since it debuted."

He compared Hill Street Blues to Casablanca, which was so influential on other films that "if you come to see it for the first time after a lifetime of watching the copies, it could be at risk of playing like a bundle of clichés—even though it invented those clichés.

Hill Street Blues has inspired parodies, storylines, characters, and cultural references in numerous media vehicles.

The game runs on the Amiga, Atari ST and DOS platforms, and places the player in charge of Hill Street Station and its surrounding neighborhood with the aim of promptly dispatching officers to reported crimes, apprehending criminals, and making them testify at court.