There is precious little information to be found about The Street at this late date. I am the only person I have ever met who saw even one episode. I watched about a dozen on late night TV, when I was living on Long Island in 1988. It was raw and funny, brilliant dialog, and looked like no cop show I’d ever seen at that point. Imagine Adam-12 filmed by Weegee with a handheld camera. It followed cops on their beat, but resolutely refused to get involved in their cases. It predated Cops, so that the first time I saw that I thought it was surely a ripoff. It prophesied Homicide. I would have thought it influenced a huge number of shows that came after it…except that apparently nobody ever saw it.
According to this NYT article, they filmed 40 episodes before releasing the first. It’s screaming for a DVD release.
Or anyway, I am.
”This show is the ne plus ultra hip show,” said Mr. Korris. ”We’re talking about urban hipsters watching this show. It’s for people on the cutting edge. I think it’s the first sitcom of the 1990′s.”
I used to watch it all the time. I think it was only on in NYC. It looked like a very low budget indie show. But as you imply, very much ahead of its time. I was sad to see it go and still wonder about it sometimes.
That’s cool, Glenn. So I’m not alone! I’m hoping someday the producers, or someone associated with the show and still possessing rights to it, will go a-Googling to see if anyone cares. And they’ll find their way here. If you’re reading this, o strange reader from the future, get those things into a DVD collection and release ‘em!