HILL STREET BLUES: BUDDY, CAN YOU SPARE A HEART? (TV)

Summary

One in this series of police dramas about the personal and professional lives of the officers of Hill Street Station, a precinct located in a run-down urban area. In this episode, Esterhaus informs the cops that their paychecks are still delayed due to an ongoing budget debate. He updates them on the cases of Buddy Jannette, the murder victim whose body parts are turning up all over town, and of Reggie, a criminal with multiple personalities who has escaped from the mental hospital. After placing bets on which of Buddy's organs will show up next, the men use the TK460 robot to spy on Bates in the ladies' room. Renko, angry about the salary freeze, stumbles across a large bag of cash when a fleeing perp drops it and points out that they could simply choose not to turn it in, but Hill refuses. Calletano complaints to Hunter that his new assistant, Rico, is an unfocused junkie, and Benedetto and Washington inform Furillo that they have set up a meet with the dangerous loan shark Rollie Simone. As Bates seeks revenge and uses the robot in the men's room, it beeps and alerts them moments before a small bomb goes off.

Furillo is relieved to hear that no one was badly hurt and begins investigating recent visitors, and Rico discovers a phone message from a man threatening to deliver another "surprise package." LaRue schemes to win the Buddy bet and buys a cow heart from the butcher, though Belker feels that it would make a better meal. Washington sits down with Simone, pretending to be deeply in debt, and Simone tells him that he can save himself by stealing a certain bag from the midtown evidence locker, threatening him with Buddy's fate if he does not comply. Renko persuades Hill that keeping the money is "only fair" given their hard work, but they panic when their squad car is stolen by an adolescent boy. Hill is sure that they will be arrested if the money is found hidden in the truck without a proper report, but they soon find the car and haul the young joyrider in. Belker finds that the flame on his father's grave is actually not so "eternal," and when the graveyard director attempts to scam him, LaRue roughly orders him to fix it for good. Hunter checks out the precinct with a bomb-sniffing dog, and they receive another call from a man begging them to come and kill "TJ" in his sleep, as he is the one who made the bomb.

Goldblume and the others rush to the site of the phone call, where they find Reggie in great distress. Goldblume gently tries to explain that TJ is only a voice in his head, but Reggie leaps from the window. He manages to explain that TJ "took over" and planted the bomb, but gratefully adds that it is now "quiet" inside his head before dying. Washington calls Simone and haggles for more money to steal the evidence, though he dismisses Furillo's insistence that he wear a wire. Benedetto immediately sees through LaRue's trick and recognizes the heart as bovine, and Renko brings the stolen money to Furillo, timidly suggesting that it should not be "wasted" in lockup. Hill interviews the car thief, an aggressive youngster calling himself "Speedboat" who has no family or home, and he kindly gives the boy his phone number and tells him to call if he needs help. Hunter meets up with his Vietnamese masseuse, Colette, and after hearing of her terrible experience in the war, tells her his real name and asks her on a date. While waiting for Simone, Benedetto and Washington are robbed by a masked man, and Washington is shot in the shoulder as he attempts to grab the gun. Benedetto hurriedly drives away, assuring a panicked Washington that he will survive it. Commercials deleted.

Details

• NETWORK: NBC
• DATE: May 5, 1983 10:00 PM
• RUNNING TIME: 0:46:26
• COLOR/B&W: Color
• CATALOG ID: B:27837
• GENRE: Drama, police/detective
• SUBJECT HEADING: Drama, police/detective; Murder; Crime and criminals
• SERIES RUN: NBC - TV series, 1981-1987
• COMMERCIALS: N/A

CREDITS

• Steven Bochco … Executive Producer, Created by, Writer
• Gregory Hoblit … Co-Executive Producer
• Anthony Yerkovich … Supervising Producer, Writer
• David Anspaugh … Producer
• Scott Brazil … Producer
• David Latt … Associate Producer
• Thomas Carter … Director
• Michael Kozoll … Created by
• Michael Wagner … Writer
• David Milch … Writer
• Karen Hall … Writer
• Jeffrey Lewis … Writer
• Mike Post … Music by
• Daniel J. Travanti … Cast, Capt. Frank Furillo
• Michael Conrad … Cast, Sgt. Phil Esterhaus
• Michael Warren … Cast, Officer Bobby Hill
• Bruce Weitz … Cast, Sgt. Mick Belker
• James B. Sikking … Cast, Lt. Howard Hunter
• Joe Spano … Cast, Det. Henry Goldblume
• Barbara Bosson … Cast, Fay Furillo
• Taurean Blacque … Cast, Det. Neal Washington
• Kiel Martin … Cast, Officer J.D. LaRue
• René Enriquez … Cast, Lt. Ray Calletano
• Betty Thomas … Cast, Officer Lucy Bates
• Ed Marinaro … Cast, Officer Joe Coffey
• Charles Haid … Cast, Officer Andrew Renko
• Veronica Hamel … Cast, Joyce Davenport
• Dennis Franz … Cast, Det. Sal Benedetto
• Jonathan Banks … Cast, Reggie
• Michael Lerner … Cast, Rollie Simone
• Richard Roat … Cast, Mr. Farnsworth
• George Innes … Cast, James Willett Frame
• Marion Kodama Yue … Cast, Colette
• Marco Rodriguez … Cast, Rico
• Robert Hirschfeld … Cast, Leo
• David Fresco … Cast, Iggy
• Zerondrick Hubbard … Cast, Speedboat
• John La Motta … Cast, Bar Patron
• Gary Miller … Cast, Ballentine
• William Benedict … Cast, Old Man
• Aston S. Young … Cast, Bar Patron
• Hal Bokar … Cast, Bartender