Hills Street Blues was a breakthrough series that turned the concept of a cop show on its head. There were multiple cases in each episode, some that were resolved, some that continued to the next episode, and some that were never resolved. There were also story arcs for the regular characters both on the job and in their personal lives. In other words, there was a lot going on. While we are used to such shows now, those concepts were all new for a cop show when the Hill Street Blues premiered on January 15, 1981, 35 years ago today. If you were a fan, you might want to know how that all came about.
2. IT WAS INFLUENCED BY A 1977 DOCUMENTARY.
The show's creators looked to The Police Tapes, a 1977 documentary that chronicled a South Bronx police precinct during a particularly hostile time in New York City's history, for inspiration. NBC's then-president Fred Silverman was inspired to create a cop show in the first place after seeing Fort Apache, the Bronx (1981), which stars Paul Newman as a veteran cop in a South Bronx police district.
7. THE PILOT TESTED POORLY.
According to a network memo, among the many problems test audiences noted were that "the main characters were perceived as being not capable and having flawed personalities ... Audiences found the ending unsatisfying. There are too many loose ends ... 'Hill Street' did not come off as a real police station ... There was too much chaos in the station house, again reflecting that the police were incapable of maintaining control even on their home ground." NBC picked it up anyway.
Despite low ratings, the show went on to earn eight Emmys for its first season, and influenced many hit shows that came after. Read more about Hill Street Blues at mental_floss.