Hill Street Blues was a network show

Part I - A Dearth of Options

Quality drama tends to come from cable and pay-cable these days.  If I watch an old episode of The Wire or The Sopranos or Deadwood, or current episodes of Justified or Breaking Bad, I can figuratively feel the punch in the gut these shows pack.  And I think about how tame network was and is, and wonder how I enjoyed those shows, and doubt I ever will again.

Then I catch an old YouTube clip and remember why I liked it so much.  I still catch an occasional ER or NYPD Blue episode and see how great they are/were.  The fact that there's so few quality dramas on network these days is often chalked up to competition from cable and not being able to say certain swear words, but given the right story and characters, there's no reason networks can't put in the effort to bring back network drama.  ABC is at least trying.  While I haven't seen Scandal or Revenge, they have loyal followings and garnered critical success and respectable ratings.  ABC tried to continue their success and started the season with three new dramas (666 Park Avenue, Nashville, Last Resort*) , though only one made it through the gauntlet (Nashville - though it still has not been renewed for next Fall). 

The other three networks are almost trying.  NBC retread Hannibal Lecter and Dr. Jekyll in their attempts, Hannibal, whose main claim to fame is getting episodes pulled from TV (but on iTunes) and a Utah network's refusal to air the show**...and Do No Harm, which was cancelled after a second or two of being NBC's poorer man version of the poor man version of Sherlock.  Granted, they do have what appears to be a poor man's version of Revenge in Deception.  Plus their poor man version of Walking Dead/Hunger Games in Revolution.

I've become cautiously fond of Elementary, which more closely resembles CSI than Sherlock, as well as Hawaii Five O, which is watched more as an unintentional comedy.  But both tend to stockpile on the DVR for when nothing else is available or supply as background noise, and neither would cause much of a stir upon their cancellation. 

The Good Wife is the only network show *** currently airing that has been nominated for a 'Best Drama' Emmy.  Law & Order: SVU has been on for a decade and has an intense following.  But that is two hours in about 66 hours of network primetime Sunday-Friday****.  While reality shows are cheaper to produce and fill time easily (and are among the networks' highest rated shows) surely the networks besides ABC can at least try for an hour drama that's not a retread of a previously done idea from another network.

Part II - why we want the networks to do well

* Putting faith in Shawn Ryan (of The Shield), I have these final episodes sitting on my DVR.  I wouldn't bother but they apparently brought it to a legitimate conclusion following cancellation.

** Eventually folks will figure out that such action only brings more attention to a show.

*** Downtown Abbey is a BBC who and airing on PBS.  While not cable, it doesn't come from one of the four broadcast networks either.

**** Fox local news comes on at 10 p.m. so their model only allows pritmetime from 8:00-10:00