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From: jimc@haddock.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.tv
Subject: Re: Hill Street Blues; Who's the best Co
Message-ID: <96000011@haddock.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 20-Dec-85 12:10:00 EST
Article-I.D.: haddock.96000011
Posted: Fri Dec 20 12:10:00 1985
Date-Received: Sun, 22-Dec-85 01:02:29 EST
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Nf-ID: #R:boulder:-22800:haddock:96000011:000:2134
Nf-From: haddock!jimc    Dec 20 12:10:00 1985


> Hill Street Blues has a wealth of characters and personalities.
> The new lieutenant played by Dennis Franz is a good example of
> a complex, flawed cop, with some really good police skills.
> 
> With this in mind, WHO IS THE BEST COP IN THE HILL STREET STATION, AND WHY?
> 

It certainly is not Lieutenant Buntz, who is the character portrayed
by Dennis Franz.  I find his character so repulsive that I feel less
inclined to watch Hill Street than in previous seasons, and believe me,
it takes some doing to turn me off to this show.  Personally, I think
the best cops are (of course), Captain Frank Furillo and Lieutenant
Henry Goldblum.  In the former's case, I don't believe there has ever
been a better authoritative character in any television series.  
He is a modern-day leader who has no gimmicks, not particularly good
looks, no glamor.  He, unlike his television predecessors like Captain
James T. Kirk or Kojak, is a three-dimensional, well-developed character who
I find so convincing that it is hard to separate him from the man who portrays
him (excellently), Daniel J. Travanti.

Henry Goldblum, less mature than Frank, is naturally not as good a cop
as his captain, but is a man who I have come to respect.  Yes, he
has made bad decisions (such as stalking his ex-wife's assailant),
but he is a generally fair-minded law enforcer who admits his faults and
seems to be aiming continually to make himself a better person.

Anyway, that's where I stand.  I don't mean to say that I think less
of some other characters.  Robert Prosky as Sergeant Stan Jablonsky
is absolutely phenomenal, as is Bruce Weitz as Belker.  I have never
really thought of James B. Sikking's Howard Hunter as anything but a
sterotypical "Hunter S. Thompson" or "Duke" character, but every now
and then the script writers give him some depth (though not often enough).

______________________________
Jim Campbell
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