Often referred to as the grandaddy of all modern ensemble dramas,
Hill Street Blues came to NBC Thursday nights in 1981, and for seven seasons was a mainstay of the "Must See TV" lineup's drama spot that eventually gave way to
L.A. Law and then
ER. And it certainly paved the way for those shows in more than just its timeslot: the entire concept of the show's multi-threaded storylines which wove among the various members of the cast would be the inspiration for many of TV's greatest hour-long dramas of the past two decades. Leading the show was Daniel J. Travanti as "Capt. Frank Furillo." Travanti was personally responsible as "Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama" for two of the more than two dozen Emmy Awards the show would win during its run, including the "Outstanding Drama Series" category of course.
Some of our readers missed it, but most of you caught the
August news about Fox's upcoming slate of TV-DVDs, and that it included the too-long-awaited
Hill Street Blues - The Complete 1st Season among the titles! Now we finally have a release date for this highly anticipated release:
January 24, 2006...just a week after the 25th anniversary of the show's mid-season broadcast debut.
Look for 3 double-sided DVDs running 850 minutes, with all 15 episodes including the two double-length episodes which closed out the short first season. The tentative list of extras include "next on..." promos, commentary tracks, deleted scenes, and a "Roll Call" featurette (subject to change, of course...let's be careful out there).
Full screen video and mono audio in English, Spanish and French (including Mike Post's wonderful theme music, which I'm listening to as I write this up!), and subtitles in English and Spanish. Cost is just $39.98 SRP, and
DVDPlanet is pre-selling it already for a $27.97 discounted price. Cover art isn't available yet, but I predict a front view of a police car racing at you. Stay tuned to see if I'm right.
