R.I.P. Steven Bochco

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dws1982
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Re: R.I.P. Steven Bochco

Post by dws1982 »

The Original BJ wrote:His heyday was a bit before my time -- my parents were avid viewers of NYPD Blue, and I remember watching it plenty growing up, but I was too young to really have an opinion about it.
My ABC affiliate was one of the handful of stations that didn't air the first couple of seasons. I think it was outsourced to a local FOX affiliate (since FOX owned the show), who aired it at the same hour on a different night.

Growing up, it was one of the shows that was a no-go for me. My parents didn't outright ban many shows, but this was one. Others were Roseanne and The Simpsons (which I've still never seen a single episode of). Not sure why, but this was pretty common with other kids we grew up around. But at the same time, no one blinked when my sisters and their friends watched Beverly Hills 90210, which had plenty of teen drinking, sex, and drugs, but was somehow less controversial about it.

Worth noting that my parents have lightened up considerably since then--we actually watched the last couple of seasons of Breaking Bad together.
The Original BJ
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Re: R.I.P. Steven Bochco

Post by The Original BJ »

His heyday was a bit before my time -- my parents were avid viewers of NYPD Blue, and I remember watching it plenty growing up, but I was too young to really have an opinion about it. And I never saw his other famed shows at all, though I certainly was aware of their legacy.

I see on social media that many of my friends in the TV world crossed paths with him over the years -- including a few who worked for him for a LONG time -- and it sounds like he was a great guy, with many rating their time as part of the so-called Bochco Family as the high point of their careers, mainly due to the generosity and feeling of camaraderie fostered by the man at the top.
dws1982
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Re: R.I.P. Steven Bochco

Post by dws1982 »

One could definitely argue that the TV Drama never would've evolved and modernized that way it did without him. Serialized storylines and the anti-hero-as-protagonist weren't really big things of TV Dramas before some of Bochco's shows.But he was also someone who was completely left behind by the movement that he (in some small part, at least) helped to usher in. Even after he went to cable, everything he did just seemed completely outdated and out of step with everything else that was being produced around him.

I did enjoy L.A. Law back when A&E ran it in syndication, although to be honest, the seasons where David E. Kelley was running it were much more entertaining than Bochco's seasons. Never got into NYPD Blue, although since the entire series was just put up on Hulu two days ago, I may give it another shot.
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R.I.P. Steven Bochco

Post by anonymous1980 »

Story.

One could argue he helped usher in the Golden Age of Television.
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