Steven Bochco - Biography, Awards, Bibliography

Television writer and producer, born in New York City, New York, USA. He worked as a screenwriter and story editor for shows such as Colombo during the 1970s. He created Hill Street Blues (1981–7) and LA Law (1986) for NBC, both dramatic series with ensemble acting and overlapping plots. Under contract to ABC, he introduced Doogie Howser, MD (1989) and the controversial NYPD Blue (1993– ). Later series include Murder One (1995–7), Brooklyn South (1997–8), and City of Angels (2000). His debut novel, Death by Hollywood, appeared in 2003.

Steven Ronald Bochco (born December 16, 1943) is an American television producer and writer.

Biography

Bochco was born in New York City into an Italian family.

He achieved major success for NBC with the police drama Hill Street Blues. Bochco was fired from MTM in 1985 following the failure of his (1983) Bay City Blues baseball project.

Bochco moved to Twentieth Century Fox (which ironically now owns the MTM library) where he made as creator and executive producer, L.A. In 1987 Bochco created the half-hour dramedy Hooperman which starred John Ritter and lasted two seasons, despite Bochco offering to take over direct day-to-day control of a third season.

He was given a lucrative deal with ABC in 1987 to create and executive-produce ten new TV series, forming 'Steven Bochco Productions'. From this deal came Doogie Howser, M.D. (1989-1993) and the 1990 musical flop Cop Rock, which notoriously combined straight police drama with live-action Broadway singing and dancing. He created the show with the express intention of changing the nature of network one-hour drama to compete with the more adult fare broadcast on cable networks.

In 2005, Bochco took charge of Commander in Chief (2005-2006) which was the creation of Rod Lurie and brought in a new writing team. Bochco has completed a pilot ABC show, Hollis and Rae, and is said to be developing a baseball drama and another legal drama for ABC in partnership with Chris Gerolmo.

His impact on the nature of American primetime network television drama is considerable: prior to Hill Street Blues it was rare for American straight drama shows to have story arcs, i.e. The structure of the modern 'ensemble' television drama comes from Bochco who many regard as having changed the 'language' of television drama.

Awards

Emmy Awards

1981 Outstanding Drama Series, for Hill Street Blues 1981 Outstanding Writing in a Drama Series, for Hill Street Blues, "Hill Street Station" (premiere episode) 1982 Outstanding Drama Series, for Hill Street Blues 1982 Outstanding Writing in a Drama Series, for Hill Street Blues, "Freedom's Last Stand" 1983 Outstanding Drama Series, for Hill Street Blues 1984 Outstanding Drama Series, for Hill Street Blues 1987 Outstanding Drama Series, for L.A. Law 1987 Outstanding Writing in a Drama Series, for L.A. Law, "The Venus Butterfly" 1989 Outstanding Drama Series, for L.A. Law 1995 Outstanding Drama Series, for NYPD Blue

Humanitas Prize

1981 60-minute Category, for Hill Street Blues 1999 90-Minute Category, for NYPD Blue

Edgar Awards

1982 Best Episode in a TV Series Teleplay, for Hill Street Blues, "Hill Street Station" 1995 Best Episode in a TV Series Teleplay, for NYPD Blue, "Simone Says"

Directors Guild of America

1999 Diversity Award

Writers Guild of America

1994 Laurel Award for TV Writing Achievement

Bibliography

Death by Hollywood (2003)