Ten-time Emmy Award winner Steven Bochco, one of the most prominent television figures for decades, died at the age of 74 this week, according to reports.
Bochco died after a battle with cancer, according to Rolling Stone magazine.
Remembering Steven Bochco: Read an excerpt from the prolific showrunner's 2016 memoir that detailed 'NYPD Blue's' crazy first year and David Caruso's outrageous demands https://t.co/5iRmO3Qkg6 #RIP pic.twitter.com/xUEBG3mKg5
— Hollywood Reporter (@THR) April 2, 2018
Steven Bochco, creative force behind 'Hill Street Blues,' 'L.A. Law' and 'NYPD Blue,' dies at 74 https://t.co/ug77afrksy #RIP pic.twitter.com/k0Inxb1Aws
— Hollywood Reporter (@THR) April 1, 2018
“Steven fought cancer with strength, courage, grace and his unsurpassed sense of humor,” his spokesman said in a statement. “He died peacefully in his sleep [at home] with his family close by.”
He co-created “Hill Street Blues,” “NYPD Blue,” and “L.A. Law.” He also worked on shows like “The Twilight Zone” and “Colombo.”
“I’m a realist,” Bochco said of working in TV. “I know that I function in a medium that is not an art medium. It’s not even fundamentally an entertainment medium. It’s basically a selling medium.”
Damn. He truly innovated AMERICAN television. https://t.co/mtkmH0cljO
— Wendell Pierce (@WendellPierce) April 2, 2018
Steven Bochco, a producer whose boundary-pushing series like "Hill Street Blues" and "NYPD Blue" helped define the modern TV drama, died on Sunday after a battle with leukemia. He was 74. https://t.co/G7A0fr0V4b pic.twitter.com/Mro1vl03r1
— CNN (@CNN) April 2, 2018
“Hill Street Blues” is widely considered one of the best TV shows of all time and established numerous tropes about television cops. “The idea of almost every other cop show was that the private lives of these folks was what happened the other 23 hours of the day that you weren’t watching them, and we turned that inside out,” Bochco told The New York Times about the creation of “Hill Street Blues.”
“Bochco is a genius,” his friend, David Milch, told Rolling Stone in 1988. “What’s been missed in all the Sturm und Drang involving Steven are the two gifts he has: an extraordinary sense of what works and what doesn’t, as well as a tremendous administrative ability. He is also an extraordinary discoverer of ability—once he’s discovered it, he enjoys seeing it develop independently.”
Recommended Video: