[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 57 (Tuesday, April 10, 2018)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E410]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 CELEBRATING THE LIFE OF STEVEN BOCHCO

                                  _____
                                 

                             HON. TED LIEU

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                        Tuesday, April 10, 2018

  Mr. TED LIEU of California. Mr. Speaker, I rise to celebrate the life 
of Mr. Steven Bochco--an accomplished Los Angeles television writer and 
producer--who passed away on April 1, 2018 at the age of74.
  Steven was born in New York City on December 16, 1943 to Mimi and 
Rudolph Bochco, both artists in their own right; his mother was a 
painter and jewelry designer and his father was a violinist. Steven 
attended the High School of Music and Art in Manhattan and attended New 
York University for a year before transferring to Carnegie Mellon 
University in Pittsburgh. During summer vacations between his junior 
and senior year of college, Steven got a job at Universal Television in 
Los Angeles, which led to a job and cross country road trip that would 
forever change his life.
  During his time at Universal, Steven's first writing credit came from 
expanding an already filmed one-hour drama into two hours by adding 
backstory about the characters when they were kids. Steven later 
remarked that, at the time, he was, ``so naive about the business that 
it didn't even occur to me that my name would be up on the screen. 
Suddenly when this thing was finished and I went to see it, it said, 
`Written by Rod Serling and Steven Bochco.' That was my first 
professional writing credit.''
  In 1971, Steven wrote his first 90-minute television episode for the 
Steven Spielberg-directed installment of Columbo entitled `Murder by 
the Book,' which led to his first of 34 Emmy nominations and a lasting 
friendship of 47 years with Mr. Spielberg. After 12 years with 
Universal, Steven left in 1976 to work for the late television 
executive, Grant Tinker, at his company MTM Enterprises, where he would 
develop a ground-breaking show about the personal lives of police 
officers, Hill Street Blues. Hill Street Blues established broadcaster 
NBC as a powerhouse on Thursday nights and the shows' first round of 
Emmy nominations resulted in being awarded 8 out of 21 nominations. 
Hill Street Blues would eventually be nominated for 98 Emmy awards 
during its nearly 150-episode run.
  After five seasons of Hill Street Blues, Steven was fired from MTM 
because he refused to sacrifice quality storytelling in order to save 
on costs. Ever ambitious, Steven turned down an offer to become 
president of CBS's entertainment division and signed an unprecedented 
six-year, 10-series deal with ABC and a deal with 20th Century Fox to 
create the 15-time Emmy Award winning show, L.A. Law. Steven 
subsequently founded Steven Bochco Productions and, with David E. 
Kelly, created the beloved Doogie Howser M.D. with ABC Studios. Later 
describing the business of hour-long television drama as being `in the 
toilet' in 1991, Steven set out to create 1992's critically-acclaimed 
NYPD Blue which would ultimately earn 20 Emmy awards throughout its 
run.
  Steven's prodigious career was defined by the rare creative control 
he was able to exert on his projects and productions. His portfolio of 
work has contributed greatly to the canon of American television 
through the dark and gritty realism he was able to portray about the 
lives of our country's public servants and public defenders .
  Steven is survived by his wife of 17 years, Dayna, his children 
Jesse, Sean and Melissa, his grandchildren Wes and Stevie Rae, and his 
sister Joanna Frank. May his memory be a blessing to us all.

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