Let’s be careful out there.

Those were the final words from Sgt. Phil Esterhaus during morning Roll Call, as was the time and place the television show Hill Street Blues would open each week.

January 15, 1981 at 10 PM EST was the night Hill Street Blues premiered on NBC.  Walter Cronkite was still telling us “That’s the way it is…” just before 7 PM on CBS.  Walter wrapped that up on March 6, 1981.

To this day, when I am asked what my favorite television show of all time was I answer Hill Street Blues.  It was different.  The use of handheld cameras taking a more cinematographic approach made it look different immediately to the eye.  And the cast?  This ensemble made the number of memorable characters on MASH seem paltry.

We won’t get in to all the characters.  But as MASH was winding down, it would end in 1983, Hill Street gave so many of us something to discuss on Friday mornings at school.

MASH was the same, probably to a larger degree.  That was ‘THE SHOW” in the 70s. We all watched.

I get wistful at times thinking about all the great travel my dear wife, Carrie, and I done over the dozen years or so.  We have been fortunate to see a great deal.

A few years ago I tracked down a complete seried set of Hill Street Blues on DVD.  I watched it through.  I started it again a couple days ago.  I watch it as I excercise in the basement.  It is every bit as good as I remember.  The characters.  The lines I still remember.  And there is the Hill Street station.

A photo taken of my TV screen.

Hill Street Station is in Chicago.  Carrie is in front of it in this picture.  Yes, that is snow and ice around her feet.  It  was a chilly day.

This building, at least while we were there, was serving as a police station for the University of Chicago.  It took some looking to find.  But it was worth it.  I could see Captain Furrillo ducking out of the building in the dark of night to get into his car.  And let us not forget that great Mike Post Hill Street Blues Theme Song.

I think this classy piano driven theme song was part of Hill Street Blues’ great appeal.  There was violence on this show like we had not seen on network TV before.  The realism was a priority.  This was not CHIPs where every car that flipped turned over three times.  It was serious stuff.  The juxtaposition between sweet theme and ugly streets came out of the televison on those Thursday nights in buckets.  As a fan of the show, this was our show.  The critics were not kind when it started.  If a critic agrees with you, how much of a critic are they?  Exactly.

I will keep watching and keep rememberg this great show I grew up with from age 12 to 19.  Doing so keeps me young, until I have to climb the stairs after a workout.

Speaking the rights.

Danny Johnson