Steven Bochco, a producer whose boundary-pushing series such as “Hill Street Blues” and “NYPD Blue” helped define the modern TV drama, has died. He was 74.
Bochco had been battling a rare form of leukemia for several years. He had a transplant in late 2014 that was credited with prolonging his life. A family spokesman told the Associated Press that he died in his sleep on Sunday after a battle with cancer, but did not release details of a memorial service.
Working with different collaborators, Bochco co-created some of TV’s most popular series for more than 20 years while helping to create the template for modern hourlongs featuring large ensemble casts, serialized storylines and edgy content.
The recipient of numerous industry awards, including the Humanitas Prize and Peabody honors, Bochco was nominated for an Emmy 30 times in his capacities as producer and writer, winning 10.
On “NYPD Blue,” he consciously set out to expand the parameters of what was acceptable on broadcast television, and he recalled sitting with then-ABC Entertainment chief Robert Iger — who went on to become CEO of the Walt Disney Co. — drawing naked figures, determining exactly how much of the body could be shown.
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Bochco launched such series as “Hill Street Blues” — a ground-breaking, Emmy-winning cop show — and “L.A. Law” for NBC before entering into a landmark 10-series deal with ABC in the late 1980s. The relationship produced some clear hits (“NYPD Blue,” “Doogie Howser, M.D.”) and notable failures, including the musical police drama “Cop Rock” and the serialized courtroom drama “Murder One,” which followed a single murder trial over an entire season. As virtual proof the latter was ahead of its time, Bochco essentially revived it in 2014, under the title “Murder in the First,” for TNT, where it ran for three years.
Asked how he could risk gambling on a musical like “Cop Rock” given the richness of his ABC pact, Bochco once joked, “With my deal, how could I not?”
Bochco wasn’t above engaging in public spats and power struggles, from complaining about his treatment by network executives to tussling with recalcitrant stars. In one of the highest-profile tiffs, his rift with David Caruso during the first season of “NYPD Blue” led to the actor’s exit, a considerable gamble for a series in its first season. Bochco replaced him with former “L.A. Law” co-star Jimmy Smits, and the program went on to run for 11 years.
Although Bochco often consciously pressed against boundaries and seemed to delight in testing censors, he recalled that the breakthrough storytelling style of “Hill Street” was born more out of necessity than design.
“We had so many characters that we realized we couldn’t service 10 or 11 characters within the confines of a single episode, so the only way that we could really do justice to the size of the world was by creating storylines that spilled over the margins,” he told the New York Times.
The producer also had a way of celebrating even his failures. When “Cop Rock” came to an end after a mere 11 episodes, what turned out to be the final episode incorporated a musical sequence where a fat lady literally sang, signaling its cancellation.
Bochco also appeared to relish nettling his critics, saying that the pressure campaign waged against “NYPD Blue” – which helped prompt dozens of stations not to air the show when it premiered – ultimately helped promote the series and turned it into a hit.
Steven Ronald Bochco was born in New York, the son of a violin virtuoso (which inspired his production company’s onscreen logo). He attended NYU and subsequently Carnegie Institute of Technology, receiving a degree in theater.
He started his writing career in the 1960s. Credits included “Columbo,” with an episode directed by Steven Spielberg, who also came up through the ranks at Universal Television.
Bochco wrote such features as “The Movie Maker” and “Silent Running” before he began to steadfastly focus on television and create his own shows, including “Delvecchio,” a drama starring Judd Hirsch. Later came “Bay City Blues,” about a baseball team, which didn’t last.
With “Hill Street Blues,” Bochco and co-creator Michael Kozoll broke the dramatic mold, featuring a huge ensemble cast and gritty narrative while juggling various subplots. NBC was in the ratings cellar at the time, but its patience with prestige programs like “Hill Street” and “Cheers” was rewarded after “The Cosby Show” premiered in 1984, turning its Thursday lineup into a ratings juggernaut.
Beyond his own career, Bochco helped shepherd along those of several other prominent writers, hiring David Milch on “Hill Street” and enlisting David E. Kelley — then a Boston lawyer — to work on “L.A. Law.”
When the Producers Guild of America honored Bochco with its David Susskind lifetime achievement award in 1999, his track record of quality programs was cited as “the standard all television producers strive for.”
For all of his success with police dramas and legal shows, Bochco produced a wide variety of series, from the animated satire “Capitol Critters” to “Public Morals,” an edgy comedy on which he collaborated with Jay Tarses that also ran into standards-and-practices problems.
Although major successes eluded him in his later years, Bochco remained active and in demand, taking over as showrunner of “Commander in Chief” — an ABC drama that featured Geena Davis as the first female U.S. president — and co-creating “Over There,” an FX series that focused on soldiers in Iraq and their families back home. The latter, introduced while the war was ongoing in 2005, engendered controversy because of the timing and subject matter.
Bochco also produced the legal drama “Raising the Bar” for TNT that ran two seasons in 2008 and 2009.
The producer also tried his hand at novels, writing “Death by Hollywood,” a darkly comic satire with a struggling screenwriter as its protagonist. His struggle with leukemia prompted him to write his autobiography, “Truth is a Total Defense: My Fifty Years in Television,” which he self-published in 2016.
Bochco was loyal to his friends — certain actors appeared in his shows time and again — but could also nurse a grudge. He also became disenchanted with what he saw as creative interference from the networks, hewing more toward cable.
Bochco’s association with the business extended to his family. His second wife, Barbara Bosson, co-starred in “Hill Street Blues,” and his sister, Joanna Frank, had a recurring role on “L.A. Law” as the wife of firm partner Douglas Brackman, played by her real-life husband (and thus Bochco’s brother-in-law), Alan Rachins. The producer later married Dayna Kalins, a TV executive. His son, Jesse, became a prominent director, working on many of his father’s shows.
Bochco was thrice married, the first time to Gabrielle Levin, the second to Bosson.
He is survived by his third wife Dayna Kalins, whom he married in 2000, as well children Melissa Bochco, Jesse Bochco and Sean Flanagan, and two grandchildren.
Steven Bochco, a writer and producer known for creating the groundbreaking police drama Hill Street Blues, died on Sunday. He was 74. A family spokesman says Bochco died in his sleep after a battle with cancer.
Bochco, who won 10 Emmy awards, created several hit television shows including LA Law, NYPD Blue and Doogie Howser, MD.
Premiering in January 1981, Hill Street Blues challenged, even confounded the meager audience that sampled it. Then, on a wave of critical acclaim, the series began to click with viewers, while scoring a history-making 27 Emmy nominations its first year.
During its seven-season run, it won 26 Emmys and launched Bochco on a course that led to dozens of series and earned him four Peabody awards, in addition to the 10 Emmys.
The year rookie cop series Hill Street Blues hijacked the Emmys Read more
Hill Street Blues had a sprawling universe of engaging yet flawed characters, a zippy pace and layers of overlapping, scripted dialogue, shot in a documentary style.
But what really set the show apart were the multiple narratives that interlaced each episode with those that came before and after. With the rare exception of the few prime-time soaps, almost every series up to that time whether comedy or drama made each episode freestanding, with a reset button for the one that came next.
Bochco once recalled a fan telling him that Hill Street Blues was the first TV series with a memory.
“That’s what I always thought of myself doing in the context of TV: craft a show that over time would have a memory,” he said in an interview two years ago. “I sensed that very early in my career. It just took me another 10 or 12 years to get to the point where I earned the right to take a shot at it.”
Review: Death By Hollywood by Steven Bochco Read more
Bochco grew up in Manhattan, the son of a painter and a concert violinist. On arriving in Los Angeles after college, he wrote for several series at Universal Studios. Then he got a big break: writing the screenplay for the 1972 sci-fi film Silent Running. But Bochco said the disrespect he confronted as the writer soured him on writing for the big screen.
“Once you’ve delivered the screenplay they don’t want you around, because you’re gonna get in the way of someone else’s vision,” Bochco said.
In his self-published memoir Truth Is a Total Defense: My Fifty Years in Television, Bochco tells the story of his prolific career, which he began at 22 as a story editor on a popular NBC drama, The Name of the Game, all the way to Murder in the First, which ran on TNT from 2014 to 2016.
In his book, Bochco recalls his great collaborations and his battles with actors, studio heads and network execs, along with the flops (Bay City Blues, Cop Rock) that made the triumphs even sweeter.
Steven Bochco, the legendary producer behind hit television cop dramas like Hill Street Blues, LA Law, and NYPD Blue, has died.
A spokesperson for the family told The Hollywood Reporter that the 10-time Emmy Award winner succumbed to leukemia on Sunday. He was 74 years old.
Bochco was diagnosed with a rare form of leukemia several years ago.
In 2014, he had a bone-marrow transplant which was credited with prolonging his life, according to Variety.
'Steven fought cancer with strength, courage, grace and his unsurpassed sense of humor,' spokesman Phillip Arnold said.
'He died peacefully in his sleep with his family close by.'
Among Bochco's credits are the 1980s hit Doogie Howser, M.D. with Neil Patrick Harris as well as the TNT drama Murder in the First.
Steven Bochco, the legendary producer behind hit television cop dramas like Hill Street Blues, LA Law, and NYPD Blue, has died
'It was his vision, style, taste and tenacity that made me love watching TV,' actress Sharon Lawrence, who starred in NYPD Blue, tweeted in tribute to Bochco.
'It was being on NYPD Blue that made me love working on TV.
'Thank you and rest well Steven Bochco. You were one of a kind.'
Bochco is considered one of the most successful writers and producers of television dramas in the last few decades.
A spokesperson for the family told The Hollywood Reporter that the 10-time Emmy Award winner succumbed to leukemia on Sunday. He was 74 years old. Bochco is seen above in 2016
Bochco and writer-producer Terry Louise Fisher, the co-creators of LA Law, attend the 39th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards on September 20, 1987 in Pasadena, California
Steven Bochco and wife Dayna arrive at the 32nd Annual Vision Awards on June 12, 2005 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills
Bochco was married three times. He is pictured above with his third wife, Dayna, in Santa Monica in 2014
He had two sons with his second wife, actress Barbara Bosson (seen right with their son Jesse in 1988)
In the 1980s, he was the brains behind two highly successful crime dramas - LA Law and Hill Street Blues.
LA Law aired on NBC for eight seasons, generating big audiences and winning a total of 15 Emmy Awards.
Bochco scored another hit for NBC, this time with Hill Street Blues. In its seven seasons on the air, the show garnered 98 Emmy nominations.
It won eight Emmy Awards.
In 1987, Bochco received an even larger jolt to his career.
He signed a landmark deal with ABC to produce ten series, leading him to create Steven Bochco Productions.
During his deal with ABC, Bochco created another hit show, Doogie Howser, M.D., starring Harris as a teen doctor.
LA Law, a 1980s legal drama, aired on NBC for eight seasons, generating big audiences and winning a total of 15 Emmy Awards. The cast of the show's eighth season is seen above
In 1993, Bochco brought to the air another cop drama that proved to be a hit with critics and audiences - NYPD Blue.
The cop drama was considered revolutionary at the time because of its explicit content, foul language, and occasional nudity - all part of the show's mission to tackle real-life, mature subject matter.
In his self-published 2016 memoir Truth Is a Total Defense: My Fifty Years in Television, Bochco takes the reader through his prolific career, which he began at 22 as a story editor on a popular NBC drama, The Name of the Game, and continued up to 2016 with his last creation, Murder in the First, on TNT.
Bochco grew up in Manhattan, the son of a painter and a concert violinist.
Viewers of his shows would remember seeing Rudolph Bochco fiddling away on the 'vanity card' that identifies each Steven Bochco production.
On arriving in Los Angeles after college, he wrote for several series at Universal Studios. Then he got a big break: writing the screenplay for the 1972 sci-fi film Silent Running.
It wasn't the paltry $1,500 fee that soured him on his fling with the big screen.
In the 1980s, Bochco scored another hit for NBC, this time with Hill Street Blues. In its seven seasons on the air, the show garnered 98 Emmy nominations. It won eight Emmy Awards
It was the disrespect he confronted as the writer: 'Once you've delivered the screenplay they don't want you around, because you're gonna get in the way of someone else's vision.'
Bochco resolved to stick with television, despite what, then, was its second-class standing.
He knew the strict schedule of completing an episode a week demands 'an informing voice, a central creative driver.'
In TV, the writer's vision was likely to prevail.
Nowhere was the writer's vision more revered than at MTM Enterprises, a creative hotbed where, after leaving Universal, he was invited to cook up a new kind of cop drama.
He eventually teamed with Michael Kozoll.
'I was never a one-man band,' Bochco said of his career.
Bochco was game for such an opportunity, with one proviso: He and Kozoll would have creative control over the script.
The pilot script they wrote, and the series that resulted, redefined TV drama.
In 1987, Bochco signed a landmark deal with ABC to produce ten series, leading him to create Steven Bochco Productions. During his deal with ABC, Bochco created another hit show, Doogie Howser, M.D., starring Neil Patrick Harris as a teen doctor
From The Sopranos to The Shield and Lost, from Game of Thrones to Mad Men and Orange Is the New Black, the fruits of TV's latter-day Golden Age stem from Hill Street Blues, which gave TV writers license to be TV trailblazers.
Hill Street Blues had a sprawling universe of engaging yet flawed characters, a zippy pace and layers of overlapping dialogue (all scripted, Bochco says), shot in a documentary style.
But what really set the show apart were the multiple narratives that interlaced each episode with those that came before and after.
With the rare exception of the few prime-time soaps, almost every series up to that time — whether comedy or drama — made each episode freestanding, with a reset button for the one that came next.
In 2016, Bochco recalled a fan telling him that Hill Street Blues was the first TV series with a memory.
In 1993, Bochco brought to the air another cop drama that proved to be a hit with critics and audiences - NYPD Blue
'That's what I always thought of myself doing in the context of TV: craft a show that over time would have a memory,' he told AP in 2016.
'I sensed that very early in my career. It just took me another 10 or 12 years to get to the point where I earned the right to take a shot at it.'
Premiering in January 1981, Hill Street Blues challenged, even confounded the meager audience that sampled it.
Then, on a wave of critical acclaim, the series began to click with viewers, while scoring a history-making 27 Emmy nominations its first year.
During its seven-season run, it would win 26 Emmys and launch Bochco on a course that has led to dozens of series and earned him 10 Emmys and four Peabody awards.
'I had a 20-plus-year run where I was pretty much the captain of my own boat,' he said, 'and I loved it. But TV is a business where the goal posts keep moving.'
Debra Messing, star of Will & Grace, was hired by Bochco to appear on NYPD Blue
Reginald Hudlin, the film writer and director, tweeted: 'This man meant the world to me'
'Damn. He truly innovated AMERICAN television,' actor Wendell Pierce, star of hit shows like The Wire and Suits, tweeted on Sunday
TV producer Jim Michaels tweeted: 'Television really lost a legend today... RIP Steven Bochco'
'He was a true maverick,' Jennifer Tilly, an Oscar-nominated actress who appeared on Hill Street Blues in 1984-85, tweeted on Sunday
Tributes for Bochco kept pouring in on Sunday.
'If you were a TV fan in the 80s you know what a huge loss this is,' tweeted actor Nik Carter.
Debra Messing, the star of Will & Grace, was hired by Bochco to appear on NYPD Blue.
'So sad to hear of Steven Bochco's passing,' she tweeted.
'He was a pioneer, a gentleman, and gave me my first job in prime time tv.
'Rest well, sir. You will be missed.'
'Damn. He truly innovated AMERICAN television,' actor Wendell Pierce, star of hit shows like The Wire and Suits, tweeted on Sunday.
'He was a true maverick,' Jennifer Tilly, an Oscar-nominated actress who appeared on Hill Street Blues in 1984-85, tweeted on Sunday.
'Hill Street Blues changed the way we watched TV. It was an honor to work with him.'
Reginald Hudlin, the film writer and director, tweeted: 'This man meant the world to me.
'Mentor is not a strong enough word. Nor is friend.
'He taught me so much about the business, and life, and always had my back.
'I'm so sad.'
Bochco was married three times. He is survived by his wife, Dayna, and two children from a previous marriage to actress Barbara Bosson.
Image copyright Reuters Image caption Bochco is seen here in 1996
US television producer and writer Steven Bochco, who created some of America's best known police drama series, has died aged 74.
Born in New York, he helped define modern TV drama through work like Hill Street Blues, LA Law and NYPD Blue.
His award-winning innovations included story lines spread over several hour-long programmes, ensemble casts and edgy content.
Bochco had been battling a rare form of leukaemia for several years.
The writer was nominated for 30 Emmy awards and won 10 of them. The seven series of cop show Hill Street Blues won a further 26.
The son of a painter and violin virtuoso, he grew up in Manhattan. After studying at New York University and the Carnegie Institute of Technology, he went to work for Universal Pictures as a writer and story editor on the detective series Ironside and Columbo.
From 2014 until 2016, he wrote and produced Murder in the First, a US police drama starring Taye Diggs and Kathleen Robertson.
As news of Bochco's death emerged, actors and industry insiders paid tribute to a man who changed their art-form forever.
Actress Debra Messing, who starred in the US sitcom Will & Grace, called him "a pioneer, a gentleman".
Skip Twitter post by @DebraMessing So sad to hear of Steven Bochco’s passing. He was a pioneer, a gentleman, and gave me my first job in prime time tv. Rest well, sir. You will be missed. #RIP — Debra Messing (@DebraMessing) April 2, 2018 Report
Joss Whedon, creator of the cult TV series Buffy the Vampire Slayer, cited him as a major personal influence.
Skip Twitter post by @joss Absolutely one of the biggest influences on Buffy (and me) was HILL STREET BLUES. Complex,unpredictable and unfailingly humane. Steven Bochco changed television, more than once. He’s a legend. All love to his family, R.I.P., and thank you.#LetsBeSafeOutThere — Joss Whedon (@joss) April 2, 2018 Report
Former USA Today TV critic Robert Bianco summed up: "If this is the Golden Age of television, Steven Bochco launched it and helped sustain it. Every great modern drama owes 'Hill Street' a debt."
Bochco is survived by his third wife, Dayna Kalins, his children Melissa Bochco, Jesse Bochco and Sean Flanagan, and two grandchildren.
