How ‘Hill Street Blues’ Made Us Care About The Police

Michael Starr at the New York Post looks back at a TV cop drama that I and my wife enjoyed watching, Hill Street Blues. 

By the end of its first season in May 1981, “Hill Street Blues” was already a television classic — renowned for breaking barriers and forging a new path in police procedurals that still resonates 40 years later. 

The series, created by Steven Bochco and Michael Kozoll, set the gold standard for its “docudrama” approach: its innovative use of handheld cameras and quick-cut editing and the way in which it portrayed the personal and professional lives of cops in an unnamed metropolitan city. 

You can read the rest of the piece via the below link:

Gritty police TV show 'Hill Street Blues' turns 40 (nypost.com) 

Ed Burn's Real-Life Cop Father Inspired His New Police Drama, 'Public Morals'

Robert Rorke at the New York Post offers a piece one Ed Burns' new police drama, Public Morals, and how Burn's cop father inspired the TV program.

Ed Burns’ new crime drama, “Public Morals,” is a gritty valentine to his police-sergeant father.
Growing up on Long Island and in Queens, Burns was regaled by his father, Edward J. Burns, with stories of his cop exploits. Many of dad’s stories have found their way into the show, which premieres Tuesday at 10 p.m. on TNT.

Burns directs and stars as Terry Muldoon, head of the Public Morals Division, a plainclothes unit of the NYPD specializing in “victimless crimes.” He supervises a tightknit band of officers who crack down on everything from prostitution to illegal craps games.

The actor’s 78-year-old father, who lives on Long Island, served as both inspiration and informal adviser. Muldoon even has the same badge number — 5425 — as the elder Burns did.

You can read the rest of the piece via the below link:

http://nypost.com/2015/08/22/ed-burns-real-life-cop-father-inspired-his-new-police-drama/