User reviews

I have a background in TV production and technical aspects, and I do love a good cop show. I think several factors helped HI become one of the best ever.

First in my mind was the involvement of Steven Spielberg. Look at the man's early work and his great use of pacing for the stories, but often with a well-positioned 'BOO!!!' at some point in the show. HI often had more action before the opening credits than other shows had in their first half hour with many instances coming from the 'total shock' department.

Next, the Technical work was magnificent! From the precision driving to the firearms aspects to the lighting of suspenseful scenes, this series rocked! The series made use of special cutaway Crown Vic Police cars that enabled seamless camera transitions from in-car to exterior camera work, perhaps another Spielberg method...

Casting was magnificent! Louis Mustillo as Russell Topps was and remains one of my favorite characters ever! R Lee Ermey as the female officer's retired Marine father in ep 2 was a masterstroke! The sense of history, the San Fernando Valley quirkiness, the frequent onset of genuinely funny and sweet comments from even minor characters was just about perfect. ('Richard, you were the best of them all!') Officer Topps in particular was put in many situations that showed the humanity of the character.

With the second season Lindsay Frost was added to the cast, and I'd watch Ms. Frost read the phone book!

Much was made of the final episode, 'Shootout' written by Ann Donahue after the infamous North Hollywood bank robbery shootout. Better fare has never been shown on TV! It had everything, and was a fitting sendoff to a great series that ended many seasons too early.

H.I. should rank with 'Boomtown' and 'NYPD Blue' as the best ever. Ms. Donahue's reward for her work on HI was her EP gig for the various CSI series, and many of the cast went on to greatness. Wonderful work!

A frequent remark that Policemen encounter is something along the lines of, "You don't look like a Cop!" Another one is, "You don't seem like a Cop!" You can ask a Cop and see if it isn't true (as a question, not a condition). These questions certainly are a peculiarity to the job or vocation of being a Policeman; that have no counterparts in other fields.

TO sort of turn the tables, we can ask some well known Second Story men to participate in an experiment with a control group consisting of a fine cross section of the Public. In all likelihood, a good number of the participating citizens of this panel would say something like, "Gee Mr. Breakandenter, you sure don't look like any old Burglar!"

AND so we are left with the question of just what causes there to be such uniformly wide spread attitudes? Quite simply put, the responding people are the end product of some outside influence. The name of that great and influential force is our popular fiction; which does by the way, cut as a double edged sword in both directions. The fictional persona of the Tough Talking', Ass Kickin', Rough and Tumble Street Copper is also propagated by our popular literature, film, Radio and Television. This is particularly true of Police assigned to quiet residential areas or central business districts; who have never worked in some of the hell holes of precincts/districts where the low guy on the lowest rung of the socio-economic ladder collides with the most brutal, unspeakable street crime.

IT was this idea of portraying Cops as individuals who have their own varying personalities that was a central founding premise of HIGH INCIDENT (Donwell Productions/Dreamworks/ABC TV, 1997-98). The show presented us with about 'everybody' as being Policemen. Other than David Keith's portrayal of Sgt. Jim Marsh, all of the rest of the characters were a real mixed bag of nuts. We had not one, but a whole bunch of characters and the actors cast in the parts seemed to quite against type.

AGAIN as a standard to measure all others, Mr. Keith's Sgt. Marsh is at once both the prototype and yet the quintessential of the Super Cop. He is experienced, incorruptible, tough, and strong, quasi-militarily disposed, physically fit and cuts a fine figure of a man in his uniform. His holding the rank of Sergeant also places him in that small, select circle of people who truly run the operations on the street. His demeanor and obvious knowledge of both Police Procedure and the Law are readily observable in any of the scenes featuring any of those "High Incidents'. This puts him on the same plane as Jack Webb's Sgt. Joe Friday from DRAGNET (Mark VII, Universal TV, 1951-59, 67-70).

HIGH INCIDENT is set in a fictional Southern California town of "El Camino", in English literally, "the Highway". All things about the Department and the town are very Los Angeles-like. (Boy, what a surprise that is!) The town seems to be a very "upscale" slice of suburbia, yet still displays areas of blight and economic depression.* This afforded a wide variety of possibilities for story lines.

THE Production team** was not afraid to take the stories all around the full spectrum of emotions. We saw a virtual out and out farce in one episode with a couple of the guys taking an expensive recovered auto for a brief cruise; only to have it come up missing and then clearing up the whole mess. Another very different sort of fare, Officer Len Gayer (Matt Craven) has a brief (once only) fling with the widow of his slain partner. The situation is complicated with her being a Black Lady with a young Son. Fearing his discovering the relationship, she selflessly and boldly puts an abrupt end to it. In a short, but highly emotional and literate few scenes, HIGH INCIDENT reminds and demonstrates us of how complex these situations are and how there are many unintended consequences that could be far reaching and hurtful to our loved ones, even far down the line.

ONCE again, in HIGH INCIDENT we find a Cop Show about Uniformed Policemen, which managed to strike fine balance between being character-driven or incident driven, storyline and action, Police Work and Soap Opera. It was hanging in there with the ratings game when the axe fell. In total, they did 32 Episodes over parts of 2 Seasons. It would sure be great if we could get those in DVD, VHS, even Beta!

NOTE: * We recall a Dr. Kosinar in lecture at The City Colleges of Chicago, Woodrow Wilson Branch, saying that many areas of future urban blight will appear in some of those quick-sprouting hunks of Suburbia & the American Dream. Now, 40 + years later, we can clearly see that the Good Professor was right!

NOTE: ** The series also boasted of having Charles Haid on board. He is the guy who portrayed Officer Andy Renko in HILL STREET BLUES; but he was not cast in front o the camera. He was one of the Producers on the Series; as was some guy named Steven Spielberg.

I was a cop for 10 years, and High Incident is the greatest cop show I have ever seen. It captured the true emotion, tension, fast pace and sheer panic of police work better than anything I have ever seen. I would drop everything to make sure I was home on High Incident night, and so did all of my fellow cop friends. It was as true to life as you will ever get. David Keith and Cole Hauser were as believable as the guys that I worked the streets with. It was truly a sad day in my life when I found out that it had been cancelled. I honestly thought that show would become a television fixture along the lines of LA LAW and NYPD Blue. Just goes to show that people don't know a good thing when they have one. If anyone knows how I can get episode copies, please post here or email me Thanks!

I have it from an inside source the reason the series was canceled was because Eisner and Katzenberg were having a pissing contest. Katzenberg at the time was suing Eisner (Disney) for money he felt he was owed while working at Disney. The series was being reported as picked up in all the tabloids. On the weekend that the season line-up was to be announced, in NYC, Eisner dropped 'High Incident' from the list at the very last minute, without any warning, so nobody could do anything about it.

I was told that Spielberg had said that if he'd known that this could possibly have happened he would have been in New York that weekend. A couple of years later when 'Schindler's List' was to premiere on network TV Spielberg pulled it from ABC and gave it to a different network.

Spielberg got some measure of revenge. Katzenberg got his money. Eisner got to throw his power around. The people who really paid were the cast, the crew and the fans who loved the show.

Can someone please put this show on DVD. Maybe Amazon can produce a DVD. Maybe Netflix will run it. It is amazing how some of the greatest shows get cancelled while some of the crap goes on forever.

In my opinion, High Incident was one of the best Cop Shows ever produced! With the exception of real life shows like COPS, High Incident gave some of the most realistic views of what Police Officers face on a day to day basis. From the most mundane calls to the most life threatening ones. It also explored their relationships between each other outside of their jobs. This show should never have been canceled or put up against the already "super popular" Friends. High Incident was not given a fair fighting chance for recognition. It would be nice to see a movie filmed which would have wrapped up that last episode instead of leaving everyone hanging like that! That was a cruel thing for ABC to do!

GREAT NEWS! Someone is selling DVDs of the entire series on sell.com ($55 plus shipping) and I bought the series. She obviously spent a lot of time on them, since the discs are really well done. My husband & I had forgotten lots of details of various episodes and it's like seeing old friends again. It's hard to believe that 10+ years have elapsed since the show ended....

We love(d) various other police shows such as Homicide and we're also devoted viewers of Law & Order and Law & Order: SVU, but *nothing* can compare to High Incident. We've remarked that not only was the acting superb (and very *natural*, which was rather amazing when considering that many of the actors were relative "unknowns" at that time), but also the *action*; it's like we're literally right there with the officers. There's not one fake moment in that series and every episode is terrific, with one exception; the foggy highway episode, which we thought really dragged. But all is forgiven when we consider the other episodes. :)

I watched this show on Sky in the UK and was instantly hooked! I'd previously enjoyed watching CHIPS, T J Hooker and COPS. High Incident was like a godsend, as it was like watching COPS but with awesome actors and story lines (something the average cop show always seems to be in desperate need of!). It was unlike any other cop show I'd ever seen, in that it captured not just the exciting car chases and gunfights, tense moments and drama, but also the average day-to-day calls that a police officer might receive.

There was humour as well as drama and I think the viewers posts here speak for themselves, this show should NOT have been CANCELLED so soon! As I saw in a post earlier, this is the kind of cop show that cops watch! And that really says a lot! If this ever is released in some form on DVD, I'm sure I'll be spending insane amounts of money to get hold of it!

This show was great! To date, it is the only police/real-life drama show I watched religiously. This show was beautiful in everyway. It was powerful, emotional, touching, and just great writing and filled with great actors. David Keith's role was awesome. I still remember the episode where he busts through a door of this house were a husband is beating his wife, and Kieth pounds the guy into the ground. One of my favorite scenes of all time in any movie or TV show. I hated that they left me hanging with one officer paralyzed, and another in a coma after the shootout. Hopefully, some day this show will be available on DVD or something.

I lost all faith in television since High Incident was dropped. I cant say enough good about it. From the first episode when Len's partner and best friend is

gunned down ( I almost broke down when I saw that ) all the way to the "final" bank robbery scene. The bright side, if any, is that it might be making it to DVD soon, and yes, part 2 of the bank robbery was shot.

By the way, Officer Marsh gets my vote for "Badass Cop of All-Time"!!!

This show was a show of realism, it captured something about the san fernando valley and at least what i perceived as realistic about the police there (having lived in that area). It showed the sharp contrast from life in the densely populated, gritty, harsh personality northeast (where i grew up), from the life in the suburban, wealthy, always sunny, windswept style, wide open, cheery yet serious, san fernando valley.

This is one of my favorite shows of all time and it always upsets me not only that the series ended, but that towards the end of the series it appeared the show veered from its manner and did stunts and the usual hollywood tricks to get ratings and save a show that seems headed to the chopping block.

One thing that bothered me about the series was that the character of marsh took the fall for the sexual harassment complaint (which i believe may have been part of the reason the show failed), when it seemed almost certain that he was the victim of an officer who knew she was about to get a justified bad review, seduced him and knew just when to kick him out of the house so that the regular police patrol would find him there - it may have made a nice episode for him to figure out that she set him up.

It seems a pity that such talented actors, especially David Keith in his element, Matt Craven and the rest, and writing and cinematography did not pan out into a long running fruitful series.

This will always be one of my favorite shows. I only wished I could have seen more than two seasons worth of this masterpiece. The only reason this show did not survive is the fact that there are millions of idiots who watched the awful show "Friends." I am glad to see that the majority of the cast have went on to bigger things and best of luck to them. How could ABC leave us with such a huge cliffhanger? Is Officer Mike Rhoades going to awake from his coma? Would Officer Len Guyer being paralized after a gun shot a misdiagnosis? Please, Spielberg, make a movie with the very same characters of this series.

My husband and I waited eagerly each week to watch "High Incident." We figured if Steven Spielberg was associated with it, then it had to be good. We were right. This was absolutely the best cop show we had seen up to that time. I can't believe the network canceled it without giving it a chance. We were bitterly disappointed. This show was way better than Hill Street Blues and NYPD Blue and look how long they lasted. The characters were all believable and the story lines were well written. Many of the actors in this show were relatively unknown when it started and they have gone on to bigger and better things. If there were any way to get this show back on the air, we would be thrilled. I hope they will release all the episodes on DVD so we can watch them again. The network executives don't know jack when it comes to what's great and what is just mediocre and boring. They keep all those horrible shows on for years but cancel an excellent show like "High Incident." What a shame.

"High Incident" is one of the best police dramas i have seen and believe me I have seen a lot. The emphasis of this show was not the action, but the drama. This doesn't mean there isn't enough action. There is a lot of action to be enjoyed. But when you see the cops at work, you get involved with the characters and sometimes you will hate them, just as real life. The acting is excellent. I cannot understand that a show this great can be cancelled after two seasons, while a c****y show like "Walker, Texas Ranger" can go on and on and on. "High Incident" must come back.

High Incident was definitely my favorite show of all times. It is quite bizarre that neither ABC nor Dreamworks SKG never commented on any of our efforts to support the return of the series. Many television networks were contacted, but unfortunately none chose to reply. The reality and accuracy displayed in the show was absolutely outstanding. I still think of the show today, five years after its original debut, and wonder if it would ever have a second chance. I have since began watching Third Watch, an excellent show that many High Incident fans have come to love. Every time I see Lisa Vidal (Officer Jessica Helgado-HI/Doctor Morales, M.D.-TW) I think back and remember High Incident and just wish I could hear one more time the very words that came out of the police officers such as "Sam-15, show us responding to the location"... or "Sam-15 Sam-15 shots fired, officer down" and find out whatever happened to Mike.

I could not believe that this one ended the way it did. This show was one of the only redeeming things about television while it was on. The actors meshed well and it blended nicely the humor and seriousness it was portraying. I was in disbelief when I heard it wouldn't be back after the second season. This is a show that should NOT have been taken off TV because it was good, and when shows like the Nanny can be on for like 8 seasons or whatever this one deserved more than it got. One of the best TV shows ever.

"High Incident" left viewers with practically the worst unresolved cliffhanger in the history of television! Ratings and network politics are way beyond me. I mean, was upset that it didn't get picked up for another season, but seriously, to leave us like that with no resolution was downright cruel. Someone needs to film a closure episode or something, please!

The best and most realistic show to EVER cross the television show threshold. It really puts in perspective the attitudes and IQs of the general American public when a show this fantastic gets canned while a piece of garbage called "NYPD Blue" can continue. "High Incident" perceived life as it truly is - with all it's absurdities and mind-boggling events - and maybe that's why it was canceled. America probably couldn't handle the fact that some producers DARED to air a show that was believable. When the show "Survivor" shot ratings through the roof I came to the inevitable conclusion that we don't live in a Democracy, we live in a HYPOCRISY! PUT "HIGH INCIDENT" BACK ON THE AIR --- SOMEBODY!

I agree!!! I want Steven Speilburg to do more TV!!!High Incident was my FAVORITE cop show! Especially in the first (half) season - before the department had a name, when it could have been anywhere, and we almost never saw the inside of the polices station or the officers' private lives. We just got interesting glimpses of their lives based on their conversations with their partners. And that first season there were chords that ran through the series - they would arrest the same hooker in three episodes and such, which is how it really works! (The show really lost something in the second season when the episodes became "themed", but it was still GREAT!) And they need to FINISH it! The last episode was a real cliffhanger!

as with a lot of great shows in this age of television...high incident was unfairly shut down while still holding promise. few police dramas even grab my interest but this show. this one not only grabbed it, it picked it up and shook it like an au pair would a crying baby. well acted and well filmed, if nothing else the crew of this show should know they were doing it all right.