From start to finish this show has it all; great acting, characters and writing. It gave us some memorable and well beloved characters. Add to the mix the veritable who's who of guest stars. It swings from ‘Hey, let’s be careful out there’ to ‘Let's go out there and do it to them before they do it to us’ and beyond. It also proffered a fantastic theme tune and at the time of its release nothing encapsulated the gritty realism of inner city USA like it. Thankfully, comic relief (however unintentional) is nearly always provided by Lieutenant Howard Hunter (James B. Sikking). It’s an absolute classic and one of the best TV shows to ever grace our screens.

I this era of streaming and binge-watching today’s viewers will be surprised to hear that it took me almost 7 years to watch HSB’s 146, 49-minute episodes. That’s over 119 hours. I did rewatch the whole thing a few years ago in about a month. This show is what brought about Thursday Night, Must-See-TV; first on its own in ’81. Cheers was added in ’82 and then Family Ties in ’83. In ’85 there was the all-time line up of Cosby, Family Ties, Cheers, Night Court and Hill Street which was unchanged for ’86-’87. When it was cancelled, I stopped watching TV for a while, only watching PBS documentaries. In my opinion it was the best TV ever.