Daniel Michael DeVito Jr. is an American actor and filmmaker. He gained prominence for his portrayal of the taxi dispatcher Louie De Palma in the television series Taxi (1978–1983), which won him a Golden Globe Award and an Emmy Award. He plays Frank Reynolds on the FX and FXX sitcom It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia (2006–present).
Hill Street Blues is an American serial police procedural television series that aired on NBC in prime-time from January 15, 1981, to May 12, 1987, for 146 episodes. The show chronicles the lives of the Metropolitan Police Department staff of a single police station located on Hill Street in an unnamed large city, although the opening credits show scenes from the city of Chicago, contrasted with a discussion, at the start of the eighth episode, of the Department running a summer camp for juvenile delinquents in New York's Allegany State Park. The "blues" are the police officers in their blue uniforms. The show received critical acclaim, and its production innovations influenced many subsequent dramatic television series produced in the United States and Canada. In 1981, the series won eight Emmy Awards, a debut season record surpassed only by The West Wing, in 2000. The show won a total of 26 Emmy Awards during its run, including four consecutive wins for Outstanding Drama Series.
Peter Jurasik is an American actor known for his television roles as Londo Mollari in the 1990s science fiction series Babylon 5 and Sid the Snitch on the 1980s series Hill Street Blues and its short-lived spinoff Beverly Hills Buntz. Peter Jurasik also portrayed Oberon Geiger, Diana's boss, in the T.V. series Sliders.
The NBC Mystery Movie is an American television anthology series produced by Universal Pictures, that NBC broadcast from 1971 to 1977. Devoted to a rotating series of mystery episodes, it was sometimes split into two subsets broadcast on different nights of the week: The NBC Sunday Mystery Movie and The NBC Wednesday Mystery Movie.
Dennis Franz Schlachta, known professionally as Dennis Franz, is an American retired actor best known for his role as NYPD Detective Andy Sipowicz in the ABC television series NYPD Blue (1993–2005), a role that earned him a Golden Globe Award, three Screen Actors Guild Awards and four Primetime Emmy Awards. He also portrayed two different characters on the similar NBC series Hill Street Blues and its short-lived spinoff, Beverly Hills Buntz (1987–1988).
A recurring character is a fictional character, usually in a prime time TV series, who frequently appears from time to time during the series' run. Recurring characters often play major roles in more than one episode, sometimes being the main focus. They may be contrasted with "regular" characters, who typically appear in every or almost every episode of a series. Recurring characters appear less frequently than regulars, but more frequently than guest star characters, who may appear in only one, two or more episodes without being expected to return.
Fred Silverman was an American television executive and producer. He worked as an executive at all of the Big Three television networks, and was responsible for bringing to television such programs as Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!, All in the Family (1971–1979), The Waltons (1972–1981), and Charlie's Angels (1976–1981), as well as the miniseries Rich Man, Poor Man (1976), Roots (1977), and Shōgun (1980). For his success in programming such successful shows, Time magazine declared him "The Man with the Golden Gut" in 1977.
Must See TV was an American advertising slogan that was used by NBC to brand its primetime blocks during the 1990s, and most often applied to the network's Thursday night lineup, which featured some of its most popular sitcoms and drama series of the period, allowing the network to dominate prime time ratings on Thursday nights in the 1980s and 1990s. Ratings for NBC's lineup fell during the mid-to-late 2000s, and today the network ranks behind Fox, ABC, and CBS on Thursday nights. In 2015 and again in 2021, the network canceled comedy programming on Thursdays and switched entirely to dramas. However, the branding returned for the 2017–18 television season.
Bay City Blues is an American comedy-drama television series that aired on NBC from October 25 to November 15, 1983. The series stars Michael Nouri, Dennis Franz, and Pat Corley, and was created and produced by Steven Bochco. Eight episodes were produced, but only four were aired prior to its cancellation.
Olivia Brown is an American actress, best known for her role as detective Trudy Joplin in the NBC crime drama series Miami Vice (1984–1989).
Robert Clohessy is an American actor. He is best known for playing Correctional Officer Sean Murphy on the HBO prison drama Oz from seasons 3–6, in addition to playing Officer Patrick Flaherty on the NBC police procedural Hill Street Blues, Warden Boss James Neary on the HBO crime drama Boardwalk Empire for the first two seasons and Lieutenant Sid Gormley on the CBS police drama Blue Bloods.
Tattingers is an American comedy-drama television series that aired by the NBC television network from October 26, 1988, to April 26, 1989, as part of its 1988 fall lineup. After failing in the Nielsen ratings as an hour-long program, the plot and characters were briefly revived in the spring of 1989 as the half-hour sitcom Nick & Hillary.
Arnetia Walker is an American actress and singer, active since 1971. She played Nurse Annie Roland in the NBC sitcom Nurses from 1991 to 1994.
Lloyd Michael Warren is a retired American television actor and former college basketball player best known for playing Officer Bobby Hill on the NBC television series Hill Street Blues.
Jessica R. Lundy is an American actress. She began her career appearing in films Bright Lights, Big City (1988), Caddyshack II (1988) and Madhouse (1990), before regular roles in the short-lived police drama Over My Dead Body (1990–91) and six-episode revival of The Carol Burnett Show (1991). She starred as Gloria Utz in the NBC sitcom Hope & Gloria from 1995 to 1996, and the comedy films The Stupids (1996) and RocketMan (1997). From 2015 to 2019, Lundy starred as Amanda Wainwright in the CBS crime drama series, The Inspectors.
Dana Wheeler-Nicholson is an American actress and singer best known for her roles in the films Fletch (1985), Tombstone (1993), Fast Food Nation (2006) and Parkland (2013). She is also known for her roles on television series such as Friday Night Lights, Seinfeld and Nashville.
David Wayne Spade is an American comedian and actor. After several years as a stand-up comedian, Spade rose to prominence as a writer and cast member on the NBC sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live from 1990 to 1996. Following his departure from SNL, he began an acting career in both film and television, starring or co-starring in the films Tommy Boy (1995), Black Sheep (1996), Senseless (1998), Joe Dirt (2001), Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star (2003), The Benchwarmers (2006), Grown Ups (2010) and its 2013 sequel, The Ridiculous 6 (2015), The Do-Over (2016), and The Wrong Missy (2020).
Timothy Carhart is an American actor. He starred in the CBS drama Island Son (1989–90) and has had recurring roles in CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (2000–03) and 24 (2002). He also starred in the 1992 Broadway revival of A Streetcar Named Desire. His film appearances include Ghostbusters (1984), Pink Cadillac (1989), Thelma & Louise (1991), and Beverly Hills Cop III (1994).
Thurston is an English-language name. The name has several origins. In some cases it can have originated from the Old Norse personal name Þórsteinn. This name is derived from the Old Norse elements Þórr and steinn. In other cases the name can have originated from the name of Thurston, located in Suffolk, England. This place name is derived from the Old Norse personal name Þóri and the Old English element tūn.
