Free Republic

The unwavering TV writer-producer, winner of 10 Emmys, butted heads with networks and almost always won. Steven Bochco, the strong-willed writer and producer who brought gritty realism and sprawling ensemble casts to the small screen with such iconic series as Hill Street Blues, L.A. Law and NYPD Blue, died Sunday morning, a family spokesman told The Hollywood Reporter. He was 74. Suffering with leukemia, Bochco received a stem cell transplant from an anonymous 23-year-old in late 2014. "Steven fought cancer with strength, courage, grace and his unsurpassed sense of humor," spokesman Phillip Arnold said. "He died peacefully in his sleep...

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - In 1993, many ABC network affiliates and conservative watchdogs told Steven Bochco that an adult-themed drama like "NYPD Blue" had no place on network television. Bochco, the man behind such hits as "Hill Street Blues" and "L.A. Law," prevailed and got his gritty cop show on the air, but he thinks that wouldn't be possible in today's politically charged media landscape. "The medium has become increasingly conservative," he told reporters who visited the "Blue" set on the 20th Century Fox lot Thursday as part of the Television Critics Assn. winter press tour. The Emmy-winning police...

Kelleyvision A year or two ago, Chi McBride, then starring in the Fox TV series Boston Public (2001-2004), said that we needed a new phrase to describe the world of Boston Public creator-producer-writer, David E. Kelley: “Kelleyvision.” Though McBride meant the term as a compliment, it is a double-edged sword. “Kelleyvision” embraces the absurd, the magical, and the love of love. Unfortunately, it also embraces the politically correct, hatred of the law, talking heads drama, the limited attention span of the MTV generation and the reduction of even the absurd and the magical to paint-by-the-numbers hackery. Well, Kelleyvision is back....

A year or two ago, actor Chi McBride, then the star of the Fox TV series Boston Public (2001-2004), said that we needed a new phrase, “Kelleyvision,” to describe the world of Boston Public creator-producer-writer, David E. Kelley. Though McBride meant the term as an unequivocal compliment, it is a double-edged sword. Kelleyvision embraces the absurd, the magical, the love of love, the politically correct, talking heads drama, the limited attention span of the MTV generation and the reduction of even the absurd and the magical to paint-by-the-numbers hackery. Well, Kelleyvision is back. Tonight is the premiere of Kelley’s newest...