Hi there and welcome to Ado's Blog. I am obsessed with nostalgia, especially 1960s & 1970s nostalgia and I enjoy nothing more than reflecting on days and times that have sadly long since gone! So join me, as I take a nostalgic gander down Memory Lane and celebrate all things past and occasional present, both good and bad! (All images used that are copyrighted are copyrighted to their respective publishers and are only used here for review purposes.)
One of my all time favourite series. Hill Street Blues first aired on NBC back in 1981 and ran for 146 episodes ending in1987. Chronicling the lives of the staff of a single police precinct in an unnamed American city, the show received critical acclaim and its production innovations influenced many subsequent dramatic television series produced in North America. Its debut season was rewarded with eight Emmy awards, a debut season record surpassed only by The West Wing, and the show received a total of 98 Emmy Award nominations during its run.
In 2002, Hill Street Blues was ranked No14 on TV Guides 50 All time TV shows.
Mary Tyler Moore Enterprises developed the series on behalf of NBC, appointing Steven Bochco and Michael Kozoll as series writers. The writers were allowed considerable creative freedom, and created a series which brought together, for the first time, a number of emerging ideas in TV drama.
Although filmed in Los Angeles (both on location and at CBS Studio Center in Studio City), the series is set in a generic unnamed inner-city location with a feel of a US urban center such as Detriot or Chicago.
The programme's focus on failure and those at the bottom of the social scale is pronounced, and very much in contrast to Bochco's later project, L.A. Law. Inspired by Police Procedural detective novels such as Ed McBain's 1956 Cop Hater, it has been described as Barney Miller out of doors; the focus on the bitter realities of 1980s urban living was revolutionary for its time. Later seasons were accused of becoming formulaic (a shift that some believe to have begun after the death from cancer of Michael Conrad midway through the fourth season, which led to the replacement of the beloved Sergeant Esterhaus by Sergeant Stan Jablonski, played by Robert Prosky); thus, the series that broke the established rules of television ultimately failed to break its own rules. Nonetheless it is a landmark piece of television programming, the influence of which was seen in such series as NYPD Blue and ER. In 1982, St. Elsewhere was hyped as Hill Street Blues in a hospital. The quality work done by MTM led to the appointment of Grant Tinker as NBC chairman in 1982.
There was also a short-lived Dennis Franz called Beverly Hills Buntz, in which Franz's dismissed Lt. Buntz character moves from the Hill to Los Angeles to become a Private Eye, taking along "Sid the Snitch" Thurston (Peter Jurassik) as his sidekick.
The producers went to great lengths to avoid specifying where the series took place, even going so far as to obscure whether the call letters of local TV stations began with "W" (the Federal Communications Commission designation for stations east of the Mississippi) or "K" (signifying a station west of the Mississippi). However, occasionally they would let something slip, such as the use of call letters WREQ, TV channel 6, in the season 3 episode "Domestic Beef". Another indication that the series took place in the Midwest or Northeast was Renko's statement to his partner in the season one episode "Politics As Usual": "Just drop that 'cowboy' stuff. "I was born in New Jersey, [and] never been west of Chicago in my life."
Specific references in other episodes to New York City, Boston, Philadelphia, Detroit, Cleveland, and Columbus, Ohio would exclude those locales, while the clearest indication where the program was set lies in brief and occasional glances at Interstate Highway signs, including one sign designating the junction of I-55 and I-90, which is in Chicago.
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| SONG | ARTIST | No OF WEEKS | DATE | |
| Wonderland By Night | Bert Kaempfert | 3 | 1/09 | |
| Will You Love Me Tomorrow | The Shirelles | 2 | 1/30 | |
| Calcutta | Lawrence Welk | 2 | 2/13 | |
| Pony Time | Chubby Checker | 3 | 2/27 | |
| Surrender | Elvis Presley | 2 | 3/20 | |
| Blue Moon | The Marcels | 3 | 4/03 | |
| Runaway | Del Shannon | 4 | 4/24 | |
| Mother-In-Law | Ernie-K-Doe | 1 | 5/22 | |
| Travelin' Man | Ricky Nelson | 2 | 5/29 | |
| Running Scared | Roy Orbison | 1 | 6/05 | |
| Moody River | Pat Boone | 1 | 6/19 | |
| Quarter To Three | Gary U.S. Bonds | 2 | 6/26 | |
| Tossin' And Turnin' | Bobby Lewish | 7 | 7/10 | |
| Wooden Heart | Joe Dowell | 1 | 8/28 | |
| Michael | Highwaymen | 2 | 9/4 | |
| Take Good Care Of My Baby | Bobby Vee | 3 | 9/18 | |
| Hit The Road Jack | Ray Charles | 2 | 10/09 | |
| Runaround Sue | Dion | 2 | 10/23 | |
| Stay | Jimmy Dean | 5 | 11/06 | |
| Please Mr. Postman | Marvalettes | 1 | 12/11 | |
| The Lion Sleeps Tonight | Tokens | 3 | 12/18 | |
| "Tiger Feet" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single by Mud | ||||
| B-Side | "Mr Bagatelle" | |||
| Released | January 1974 | |||
| Format | 7" | |||
| Recorded | 1973 | |||
| Genre | Pop, Glam rock | |||
| Length | 3:45 | |||
| Label | RAK | |||
| Writer(s) | Mike Chapman & Nicky Chinn | |||
| Producer | Mike Chapman, Nicky Chinn | |||
| Mud singles chronology | ||||
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Doug tells David that Kevin needs a good belting. David tells his father that he should have learnt something in twenty years about interfering - he adds that Doug nearly ruined his life by keeping him and Patricia apart. David goes into Kevin's room and tells his son that Doug is off his trolley. Kevin says he and Lynn were just mucking around. David tells his father that he owes Kevin an apology, but Doug won't apologise, and he tells his son that if he's not careful, Kevin and Susan will end up like John. After further argument, Doug says he's leaving. Beryl tries to persuade him to stay, and she tells him that he upset David by bringing up the subject of Patricia. Doug tells Beryl that David will have to apologise to him; he leaves the house as David sits and watches tennis on television.
Bill and Susan check into their honeymoon hotel. They are staying in a very plush room, and Bill says they'll get their money's worth!
Angela returns home from a game of tennis. Patricia and Gordon are getting ready to go to a social gathering, and as Angela goes upstairs to prepare to join them, Patricia tells her husband that her daughter is looking more cheerful. When Angela comes back downstairs, Gordon tells her she doesn't have to come if she doesn't want to (he says he'll sort it out with Patricia) but Angela decides she does want to go.
At the boarding house, Fiona tells Jill that she hasn't told "Scott" about the baby he's supposed to be fathering and adds that he seems to be losing interest in Angela anyway. Fiona states that if she's any judge, there won't be any more contact from Ms. Hamilton because she's too proud.
After the party, Angela is tired, but she says she enjoyed herself. Patricia tells Gordon the night was perfect and Angela had a good time - she is particuarly pleased that her daughter spent all her time with Simon Armstrong. Patricia says she and Gordon should throw a party and invite Simon and his mother as guests. She tells her husband that she'd like to see Angela and Simon get together, but Gordon says Angela was just acting at the party and she's not really interested in Simon.
Beryl tells David that he should talk to Kevin because he's hurting about John. She says the kids need their father, but David retorts that his son didn't look like he wanted to talk, so he'd leave it.
Jill wakes up "Scott" with breakfast in bed. She reminds him that it's his last day of freedom before he starts the job Fiona has lined up for him as a brickie's labourer, so he suggests they go to the beach. While there, John tries to find out a bit about Jill, asking her how long she has lodged at Fiona's. But Jill just says, "A while," and makes it clear that she doesn't want to talk.
Angela is on her way out when she is stopped by Patricia, who wants to show her the guest list she's drawn up for the party. Angela's not really interested, though. Gordon tells Patricia he thinks Angela is going to Manly - and this is indeed the case. She pulls up at the beach in her car and gets out. She watches "Scott" toweling himself and starts walking towards him, when all-of-a-sudden, Jill runs towards him with two ice creams. Angela stops in her tracks and goes to turn back, but she is suddenly spotted by John who chases after her. Angela tells "Scott" she knows all about the baby. "Scott" denies it, but Angela says Fiona told her. John is annoyed and tells Jill that Fiona had no right to lie. Jill tells "Scott" that Fiona did him a favour. They get back to the boarding house, and John goes into Fiona's room to await her return.
Angela goes back to Dural and tells her parents what happened. Patricia wants to know what exactly is going on, as she has been left in the dark. Gordon tells her, "Later," and he escorts his daughter to his office, where Angela tells him that she just wanted to sort things out with "Scott". Angela tells her father it's alright for him to tell Patricia what's going on.
Bill and Susan are in bed with the television on but the sound turned down. Bill doesn't want to watch TV, and flicks round the channels to see if there's anything else on. On one channel, he suddenly sees himself from when he abused the reporter who turned up at the Palmer house on the day of the wedding. Horrified, he quickly turns the set off before Susan notices.
Kevin asks Beryl about David and Doug, saying, "There's more to it, isn't there?" He wants to know why he can't be told about John's real mum. Beryl says there are some things that David just cannot talk about. Later, Beryl tells her husband that Kevin's been asking questions again and adds that they should have told the kids when they were younger. Beryl says John was entitled to the truth about his mother, and adds that if David keeps ignoring Kevin's questions, they might lose him, too.
Patricia tries to have a heart-to-heart with Angela, and apologises for being insensitive earlier. She tells her daughter that she could see what was going to happen with "Scott" because she has lived a lot longer than her daughter, and knows what it's like to fall in love with someone totally wrong for you.
At the boarding house, John confronts Fiona and says he'll ring Angela and tell her the pregnancy is a lie. He's very angry that Fiona lied to Angela, and says he's going to tell her he loves her. Fiona says he can't do that as there's something he doesn't know. She tells John that she's done everything to avoid it, but she's got to tell the truth - John can't go on with the liaison, because Angela Hamilton is his sister...
