The Academy of Television Arts and Sciences gave out its Emmy awards last weekend. I don't especially care, what is interesting is that the show aired on Fox (the entertainment-oriented Fox network, not Fox News) and that this helped lead to a minor dust-up over a joke.
If you, dear reader, share my interest, you can follow this link. I'm afraid I have no value to add today.
http://insidetv.ew.com/2011/09/18/alec-baldwin-emmys-fox-joke/
Showing posts with label Emmys. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Emmys. Show all posts
22 September 2011
16 September 2011
Hill Street Blues
Thirty years ago this week, the rookie television drama Hill Street Blues won eight Emmy awards. This was at the time a debut-season record, although West Wing has since topped it.
HSB was great television. It was respectful of policemen and -women, yet it was not worshipful in the manner of Dragnet, it treated them all as fallible and foible-filled human beings.
In some respects it was analogous to Barney Miller, although with the humor/drama balance shifted toward the latter.
The visual style was very different from Barney Miller, though. It was quasi-documentary long before that had become a cliche -- hand-held cameras and unexpected points-of-view, with crucial bits of dialog spoken outside the visual frame. It was also crowded. People everywhere. That was addictive -- your mind, watching, became accustomed to making some sense out of this surface chaos.
There's a website put together by a British fan, here.
HSB was great television. It was respectful of policemen and -women, yet it was not worshipful in the manner of Dragnet, it treated them all as fallible and foible-filled human beings.
In some respects it was analogous to Barney Miller, although with the humor/drama balance shifted toward the latter.
The visual style was very different from Barney Miller, though. It was quasi-documentary long before that had become a cliche -- hand-held cameras and unexpected points-of-view, with crucial bits of dialog spoken outside the visual frame. It was also crowded. People everywhere. That was addictive -- your mind, watching, became accustomed to making some sense out of this surface chaos.
There's a website put together by a British fan, here.
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