Finer Things Club: Hill Street Blues

I haven't made much progress through the home videos lately, so those forgotten and potentially embarrassing clips will have to wait a bit longer.
Instead, I've been trying to track down some old movies that I watched as a kid, so our kids could enjoy them too. Among the ones I have found so far: Short Circuit, Flight of the Navigator, Benji, Herbie, Goonies, Pete's Dragon, and Bed-knobs and Broomsticks. I was pleased to see that Batteries Not Included and (especially) The Boy Who Could Fly, are just as good today as they were when I first saw them (maybe even better). But it came as a total shock to realize that Airwolf, the show that I have grown up regarding as the coolest thing ever in the history of the world, is actually kind of dumb. I really wasn't prepared for that...

During this search, I came across an episode of the old TV series Hill Street Blues and I was blown away by how realistic, or at least "familiar" it seemed. I know that my dad watched the show when I was a kid, but I never gave it a second thought - I guess I am now looking at it from a new perspective. Here is a short clip that shows the camaraderie and hijinx of a start-of-shift Parade (or as they call it, Roll Call):




The police in that show actually look and talk like real cops. I couldn't help but compare it to modern police shows where the officers all look and dress like models, speak in dramatic monologues that are carefully scripted to properly convey their coolness, and sashay through ultra modern offices with floor-to-ceiling glass walls and subdued, flattering lighting. The lab where CSI works looks like a cross between NASA and the Bat Cave. A real-life crime scenes lab looks like a cross between the science lab in your high school, and the janitor's closet in your high school. In real life, it takes almost six months to get DNA results back. There is no "main character" who photographs the scene, then conducts surveillance, then leads the tactical unit through the badguy's front door, and finishes off by doing the interview and getting the confession.

I realize that the details I am criticizing have been added to make these shows more appealing; however, in my opinion, they actually make the shows less appealing. I have never seen any character as wierd or interesting as the real people. The actual situations are funnier than the TV ones. And although I still have yet to see so much as a single car explode, the real-life calls are even more exciting than the Hollywood portrayals.

But if I had to recommend something for Finer Things Club members, I would say that Hill Street Blues comes closest to the real deal. I just wonder why the most realistic police show I've ever seen, happens to be more than 25 years old...


- C