"Hill Street Blues gave me an opportunity to work with an ensemble cast of people whose work I admired"
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Bochco’s line reads like the polite, industry-safe version of a much spikier truth: television is a team sport, and Hill Street Blues was his chance to build a roster good enough to change the game. On the surface, it’s gratitude. Underneath, it’s a statement of taste and power. “Ensemble cast” isn’t just a production detail; it’s a creative philosophy that rejects the old star system in favor of a crowded, living workplace where no single hero can tidy up the mess by episode’s end.
The subtext is about legitimacy. Bochco came up in an era when TV was still treated as lesser than film, and “people whose work I admired” signals a deliberate elevation: he isn’t merely hiring actors, he’s curating artists. Admiration becomes a hiring criterion, which is also a quiet flex: he has the clout to attract the talent he respects, and the confidence to let them complicate his material rather than simply deliver it.
Context does the rest. Hill Street Blues arrived in the early 1980s, when network television was hungry for novelty but wary of risk. Its overlapping dialogue, moral murk, and procedural chaos demanded performers who could play ambiguity without losing clarity. Bochco frames it as an “opportunity” because the show’s real innovation wasn’t only the format; it was the trust that an ensemble of strong voices could create a city-sized story, where character depth is the engine, not the reward.
The subtext is about legitimacy. Bochco came up in an era when TV was still treated as lesser than film, and “people whose work I admired” signals a deliberate elevation: he isn’t merely hiring actors, he’s curating artists. Admiration becomes a hiring criterion, which is also a quiet flex: he has the clout to attract the talent he respects, and the confidence to let them complicate his material rather than simply deliver it.
Context does the rest. Hill Street Blues arrived in the early 1980s, when network television was hungry for novelty but wary of risk. Its overlapping dialogue, moral murk, and procedural chaos demanded performers who could play ambiguity without losing clarity. Bochco frames it as an “opportunity” because the show’s real innovation wasn’t only the format; it was the trust that an ensemble of strong voices could create a city-sized story, where character depth is the engine, not the reward.
Quote Details
| Topic | Career |
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