It was true. About a year after it (finally!) got the ax I read a book all on TV crime dramas. It showed HSB as a focus of one chapter. And it stated something like the following: Don't let this show frighten you. It isn't that realistic. The TV cops on this show see more action in one episode than real-life cops see in a whole career.

That summed my thoughts of the show (when it was on prime time) too--scary with the depressing images it presented about cop life, city life or just life in general. It was always so unpleasant. By the late 1980's America was very much on the rerun for shows made prior to 1972 as bad comedies and dramas, like this one in particular, had definitely caused it. The prime time stuff was simply trash and growing trashier. And to think that this show is so tame by today's standards!