Hill Street Blues : Horribly depressing?

Early in the first season when critics urged people to give Hill St. Blues a chance, one TV Guide reader wrote that he wasn't gonna keep watching it because he found it horribly depressing. My mom once said she appreciated that it was believable but that she thought it was depressing too. She doesn't like cop shows anyhow. So what do you think?

It was suppose to be real life and as you know real life can be depressing. This show and ST. Elsewhere would have a gut wrenching scene and the next scene you bust out loud laughing, so it never got too heavy.

Anyone who found HSB depressing really needs to see a therapist.

Or just limit themselves to watching cartoons or old Disney movies.

Fair enough. It had its humor for sure.

How could anyone find it depressing? I found it exhilarating. The acting, the use of the hand-held camera, the writing were so new and it made the show seem more realistic than other dramas which seemed often like stage plays. The characters were well-drawn and honest.

I guess the critic preferred The Partridge Family.

I wonder what the same critic would say about Low Winter Sun? Now THAT's a horribly unrelentingly depressing show.

neat . . . sweet . . . petite

I've never even heard of Low Winter Sun. I'll have to look it up right here on IMDB.

I couldn't believe how multi-layered and engrossing this show was. I had just started what turned out to be a 31 year policing career and just loved all of the characters. I had a special place for Norm and his snitch, but always loved the exasperated, but always cool Frank Furillo. Howard, Phil such great people. My father, who was coming to the end of a 28 year policing career couldn't believe that police would be seen in such shoddy uniforms! Can't wait to get the newly released DVD.

A TV Guide reader claiming to be a cop himself complained that police stations wouldn't be as disorganized as the Hill, but I wouldn't know. We all know it's just TV.

Everyone gets to have their opinion. Cop work is depressing. Cops deal with horrible crimes, ravaged victims, remorseless criminals, a social safety net that's inadequate and often re-victimizes those it's supposed to help. Cops are victims too. They don't get the support they need from inadequate laws, legislatures that care more about cutting cost than robust law enforcement, overloaded courts and prisons, internal politics more vicious than most, and a macho culture that discourages help for emotional wounds.

It's a traumatic world for cops, sometimes more than for crime victims. I'm amazed more cops don't flame out sooner.

Sure, cop drama is depressing. I have my limits. I have to turn off many police, hospital, and legal dramas, movies and TV, because I can't handle the content. (I usually find the real world worse. I turn off news more than drama; what reality serves up is often far worse.) Today, though, compared to recent TV, Hill Street seems pretty tame. Oz, 24, Breaking Bad now those are depressing.

Even when Hill Street was hard to handle it always inspired me. The cops', victims', even perpetrators' struggles to hold on to life, integrity, and compassion inspired me. Especially, Frank Furillo inspired me. Growing up, I didn't have many men to admire. Well into adulthood, I turned to TV for examples of the kind of man I wanted to be: strong enough to work hard and handle tough challenges without having to repress my humanity. Frank Furillo and Jean-Luc Picard were the fathers I wanted but didn't get. Strong moral standards guided them through hard choices, strength and empathy made them leaders, they stayed in touch with their feelings, and they leaned on people they trusted. And despite all they endured, they were loyal and caring to compatriots, and loving and tender to friends and family.

That's why I've watched Hill Street Blues from start to finish, on my taped-from-cable sets, twenty or thirty times over the years. And why I've pre-ordered the series DVD set coming out in April.

Well put. And nice Star Trek TNG reference. I remember many complaints when Miami Vice even got depressing during its 3rd season, but I thought it was their most underrated season. It might have always been glamorous, but it had a lot of violence for its time.

what a wonderful comment chris!

Agreed.

It was called Hill Street Blues, not Hill Street Smiles.

And rightly so, but over the years I thought maybe Blues referred to them being East Coast cops.

It was in an unnamed Midwestern city. Most assume Chicago, but it is never mentioned.

No, what's depressing is shows like Brooklyn South (Hill St for the nineties on CBS) get cancelled while CSI Miami lasts 10 years, so many stupid people need to be spoon fed whats happening so we get dumbed down cop shows. It's historic how bad this show did and managed to stay on TV (mainly due to NBC not having a replacement, for once the critics were right).

HELP AGGRAVATE THE STATUS QUO, VOTE AGAINST EVERY INCUMBENT YOU SEE ON A BALLOT.

Its interesting how the context of time plays on our perceptions. I guess for a show produced in the 80s this show could be seen as depressing, but compared to something like The Wire, I find Hill Street outright uplifting. Somehow Hill Street found away to be realistic, yet uplifting, something that I no longer see in today's cynical dramas.

Our free range days are over.
Fr. Pearse J. Harman-Ultraviolet (1998)

Some people just look at the negative. Sons Of Anarchy could be horribly depressing, as well as a bit frightening.

Fair point.

Great reference to Brooklyn South - what a fabulous show that was. That and Mancuso FBI - broke my heart when they were cancelled.

Southland took up the mantle wonderfully too, I thought.

I saw the first act of Brooklyn South, which was hyped as being real violent. Next thing, it drew accusations of racism. Geez. Well, needless to say, there were not many more episodes to watch.

That's a fair point.

Life is horribly depressing, if you're poor and living in the inner city. It's also depressing, if you're charged with protecting people in a ghetto warzone from killing each other out of displaced rage. This was one of the greatest TV shows of the '80s, when you could still be frank on network TV despite the phony optimism of the Reagan era. Political correctness didn't ruin network TV until the 90's.

Scenes could be depressing! Belker at home alone on Xmas getting a wrong number sticks with me! ;-(

- - http://www.childrenofrassilon.com/fiero425.html - - homepage

The show has its dark moments, but there's usually some humor to balence it out. There's usually a goofy/silly subplot. The show is about people to do thier best in an impossible situation. It's the triumph of the human spirit. I like the show.

"Forget reality, give me a picture"-Remington Steele

Yes, from what I've seen of it. I remember a subplot about "saloondramats," and some of my classmates would laugh about those humorous parts. I believe this was the show where one character said something like, "You don't like music in any way, shape, or form. All you like is that shopping center music." Horribly depressing always did seem harsh, though of course there were gonna be many depressing situations.

I remember the saloondromat thing. I remember it because, while I didn't think it was a surefire idea, I wasn't sure it wouldn't work either.

I watched the show when it first aired. As I was a young career woman, I saw it as a portrayal of a workplace. I loved the show but now find the station to be too busy, chaotic, disorganized. I find it hard to believe that cops act so loose during roll call.

Yes it seems like this was the first tv show that didn't have that "veneer" over it. I t seemed really grimy and dirty, people did unspeakable things to themselves and others the good guys didn't always win. Loved this show, it ushered in a new age of television drama.

"Sorry I'm late guys. I was taking a crap."
Paul Newman

I didn't see it as being at all depressing when I first watched the show years ago. Now, yeah, I do.

I also didn't realize how formulaic many of the episodes were. Or how much overacting some of the actors did. I still like the show, but not as much.

AHA! So someone thinks it's formulaic. Figured someone would.

I don't understand your comment. If you think I'm saying the show is so formulaic I can't stand it. I'm not.

I'm not saying you think it's that formulaic, just that some episodes were, like you said. Of course it isn't necessarily as formulaic as some of the very shows I was more into.