Hill Street Blues is an American serial police drama that aired on NBC in primetime from to for a total of episodes. The show chronicled the lives of the staff of a single police station located on the fictional Hill Street, in an unnamed large city, with "blues" being a slang term for police officers for their blue uniforms.
The show received critical acclaim, and its production innovations influenced many subsequent dramatic television series produced in the United States and Canada.
Its debut season was rewarded with eight Emmy Awards , a debut season record surpassed only by The West Wing. The show received a total of 98 Emmy nominations during its run. The series ran for episodes over seven seasons. A hostage situation arises in Captain Furillo's precinct. Public defender Joyce Davenport is looking for her client, lost due to bureaucratic mismanagement. Officers Hill and Renko are shot in the line of duty.
The audience is introduced to Belker's growling, and his mother. This episode was awarded an Edgar for Best Teleplay from a Series. Goldblume goes undercover to solve a purse snatching and gets badly beaten, yet successfully apprehends the purse snatcher. Furillo testifies again before the Sullivan Commission and offers his resignation to Chief Daniels, who has clearly set him up. Daniels refuses the resignation and agrees to restore Delgado to 30 years service for pension purposes.
Still successfully entrapping corrupt officers in South Ferry, the fake saloon is raided by armed robbers - but in the ensuing shoot-out, "Captain Freedom" is fatally wounded and dies in Belker's arms. After 30 hours of successful gambling, Bates loses out in the final game of the Tenth Annual Inter-Precinct Poker tournament.
