The BEST episodes of Hill Street Blues

#1 - Personal Foul

Season 2 - Episode 16 - Aired 3/25/1982

Belker and Washington go undercover at a porno theater; Hill and Renko answer a domestic call concerning a suicidal man holding his wife and child hostage; a pickup basketball game between the cops and the gangs calls for full-scale negotiations.

#2 - The End of Logan's Run

Season 4 - Episode 17 - Aired 3/1/1984

Belker has a final run in with his bald headed pickpocket with many names; Joyce defends a man whose brother plans to threaten the prosecution witness into silence; and Operation Stop 'N Cop begins.

#3 - Last Chance Salon

Season 5 - Episode 11 - Aired 12/13/1984

Renewed gang feuding involves a small local grocery store and its owners; Belker takes his anger about Robin's decision to stop seeing him out on his frightened informant during a beauty parlor undercover; Garibaldi cuts corners to help a young hooker and in his night school class; and Furillo must work against Daniels to head off a major gang battle.

#4 - Washington Deceased

Season 5 - Episode 16 - Aired 2/7/1985

LaRue moonlights on a low budget horror picture and "borrows" one of the props for a joke on an obnoxious detective; a department accountant dogs Furillo; and Chief Daniels uses his position to punish Mayo for refusing his advances the night before.

#5 - The Second Oldest Profession

Season 2 - Episode 4 - Aired 11/19/1981

Bates loses a junkie prostitute through an error in judgement; Hudson beats up his lawyer after his release on bail; Furillo and Joyce reconsider their separation; and Esterhaus ends his friendship with Mac.

#6 - Grace Under Pressure

Season 4 - Episode 14 - Aired 2/2/1984

Sergeant Esterhaus dies unexpectedly and the whole station house tries to deal with their grief as they eulogize the man. Meanwhile, Leo finds out his wife is cheating on him; Bates may get a unique promotion; Mrs. Furillo is mistakenly arrested for soliciting by a rookie; Sandy is raped.

#7 - Fruits of the Poisonous Tree

Season 2 - Episode 5 - Aired 12/3/1981

Night court interferes with "Monday Night Football" as LaRue and Washington are accused of entrapping a mugger; Bates and Coffey look for gang members responsible for the drive-by shooting of a child; Fay announces that she's getting married again.

#8 - Freedom's Last Stand

Season 2 - Episode 11 - Aired 1/28/1982

Bates plays in the interdepartmental poker finals; Fuchs refuses to help out one of his own men caught forging prescriptions; Henry goes undercover on a smash-and-grab purse snatching detail; Delgado admits he's afraid of testifying before the commission; Joyce chides Furillo for being naive about his supposed innocence protecting him against the commission; the scam saloon closes down after a gun battle; and a furious Furillo testifies before the commission and offers his resignation to Chief Daniels.

#9 - Hill Street Station

Season 1 - Episode 1 - Aired 1/15/1981

Precinct Captain Furillo tries to defuse a hostage situation despite the advice of his gung-ho Emergency Action Team leader and the temperament of a self-absorbed gang leader; public defender Joyce Davenport tries to find a client who has been lost in the bureaucratic maze; Detective LaRue gets a lapful of coffee; Sgt. Esterhaus confides to Fay about his teenage sweetheart; Officers Hill and Renko are shot in the line of duty.

#10 - Pestolozzi's Revenge

Season 2 - Episode 9 - Aired 1/14/1982

The Captain meets LaRue and Washington when he returns from a purse snatching; Renko (who has lost his service revolver) and Hill are rear-ended by a wedding party; Bates gets mad at Coffey when he stands her up for a breakfast date; Lou threatens again to remove his vending machines from the precinct house; Daniels tells Furillo to initiate a scam saloon in the South Ferry Precinct as a preemptive move against the corruption-seeking Sullivan Commission.

#11 - Life, Death, Eternity

Season 1 - Episode 11 - Aired 3/14/1981

Furillo's chances for promotion are threatened when a city councilman is implicated in the murder of the teenage prostitute; LaRue continues to look for money for his "saloondramat"; Fay's obscene caller breaks into her home; and Belker confronts an anti-Semitic cop just transferred to the Hill.

#12 - I Never Promised You a Rose, Marvin

Season 1 - Episode 12 - Aired 3/21/1981

Furillo pushes the investigation of Councilman McAuley; LaRue's business dream comes to a bitter end; Lt. Hunter gets his chance to test out an "urban tank" in sniper alley.

#13 - The World According to Freedom

Season 2 - Episode 8 - Aired 1/7/1982

Belker meets an eccentric calling himself "Captain Freedom" while on a stakeout; LaRue gets more than he bargained for as a cell plant when he overhears an arson suspect taunting an accused child molester; and Furillo issues an ultimatum to the gangs after a savage massacre in a local tavern.

#14 - Can World War III be an Attitude?

Season 1 - Episode 4 - Aired 1/24/1981

Furillo backs LaRue in the bribery case brought by Macafee; Hill and Renko bust a car thief who's a mechanical whiz; and Esterhaus sees Grace in a new light when they share a crisis at the station house when the Presidential visit is cancelled and gang revenge is feared.

#15 - Chipped Beef

Season 2 - Episode 7 - Aired 12/17/1981

Furillo pushes Hill about his support of Nash; Belker goes under to catch a gang preying on automatic bank tellers; Fay's engagement ends abruptly; and a good samaritan faces arrest on old out of town warrants.

#16 - Cranky Streets

Season 2 - Episode 6 - Aired 12/10/1981

Hill covers for an old friend with personal problems who uses excessive force on an arrest; Coffey arrests an old family friend during a visit to his old neighborhood; Fay introduces her fiance; and negotiations breakdown between the police union and the city.

#17 - The Last White Man on East Ferry Avenue

Season 2 - Episode 3 - Aired 11/12/1981

Hill and Renko handle a domestic call involving an old man threatening his neighbors with a shotgun; Hudson looks for the informer in his gang; and Joyce asks Furillo for advice about the Downey case.

#18 - Blood Money

Season 2 - Episode 2 - Aired 11/5/1981

Goldblume meets a lonely woman while driving a cab undercover; LaRue and Washington use a desperate snitch to solve a prostitute murder; Virgil reports on Hudson's takeover of the Black Arrow gang; and Furillo and Joyce meet socially after splitting up.

#19 - Jungle Madness (2)

Season 1 - Episode 17 - Aired 5/26/1981

#20 - Fecund Hand Rose

Season 1 - Episode 13 - Aired 3/25/1981

Esterhaus faces immense pressure as his wedding day to Cindy dawns and Grace shows him what he's giving up; Furillo resents providing protection for Ralph Macafee, who's now a state witness; Belker busts an entertaining professional cat burglar; and everyone scrambles to get ready for the wedding ceremony.

#21 - Film at Eleven

Season 1 - Episode 6 - Aired 2/7/1981

A television reporter rides with Hill and Renko; Washington and LaRue find the gun that shot Hill and Renko; and Belker busts Kevin Herman Dracula for biting a prostitute.

#22 - Rites of Spring (1)

Season 1 - Episode 14 - Aired 5/19/1981

Furillo and Neal go out of their way to help clear an obnoxious, racist narcotics detective accused of shooting an unarmed black man; LaRue's drinking gets really out of hand; and Hill and Renko try to help a young black woman accused of neglecting her children.

#23 - Rites of Spring (2)

Season 1 - Episode 15 - Aired 5/19/1981

#24 - Jungle Madness (1)

Season 1 - Episode 16 - Aired 5/26/1981

Neal continues to investigate the Weeks shooting, despite pressure from the Chief to drop it because of the bad publicity; LaRue goes from one shady scam to another as he tries to raise money; Belker's sham fence operation nets a surprise; Shirrett Anders leaves her children again; Furillo warns LaRue to get help for his drinking problem after he ruins a drug bust; and Joe Coffey, Lucy's new partner, is shot.

#25 - The Spy Who Came in from Delgado

Season 2 - Episode 10 - Aired 1/21/1982

Hunter uses pedigreed hounds to track wild city dogs; the scam saloon begins producing results, despite Captain Freedom's help; Fay fixates on cemetery plots; Frank becomes incresingly disgusted with his lawyer and Chief Daniels over the actions of the Sullivan Commission; and a suspicious Calletano learns the truth about a gorgeous new khaki officer.