The short-lived series "Delvecchio" was a very good cop show,with a solid cast and fine performances to boot and it was right up there with some of the great cop and private eye shows that emerge from the mid-1970's. "Delvecchio" was so brilliant in every detail that it was on the edge of being renewed for its second season,and one wonders what would had happened if Judd Hirsch's career would have been like if this show haven't come along. Who would have known if his first big hit had been a drama rather than a sitcom. Who knows what would had happened if this show made Judd Hirsch a huge star. The series "Delvecchio" premiered in the fall of 1976,two years before the show that made Judd Hirsch a bonafide star in one of the biggest comedy sitcoms ever to grace the late 1970's-"Taxi".
Getting back to "Delvecchio" however,the series only produced 20 episodes and it ran on CBS-TV from September 9,1976 until the final episode of the series on July 17,1977. The series was created and produced by the great Steven Bochco,several years before "Hill Street Blues" and several years before "NYPD Blue". Also on board was the creative team of Joesph Polizzi and Sam Rolfe,who served as executive producer for this short-lived detective cop series. Rolfe,however along with Polizzi were the masterminds of one of the great espionage shows of the 1960's "The Man From UNCLE" in which Sam Rolfe was one of the architects for that series. Rolfe was also the creator of the classic 1950's psychological western drama "Have Gun,Will Travel".
About the show,"Delvecchio" was the story of a tough,independent big city police detective fighting crime in the mean streets of Los Angeles,California. Sgt.Dominick Delvecchio(Judd Hirsch),and his partner Sgt. Paul Shonski(Charles Haid)were assigned cases ranging from narcotics investigations to murders and auto thefts not to mention corruption within the department they worked for. His boss,and the man who assigns most of the cases they worked on,was Lt. Macavan(Michael Conrad). Also seen in some of the episodes was Delvecchio's father Tomaso(Mario Gallo),and Old World type from Italy(Delvecchio was Italian),who ran a small barbershop and was constantly perplexed about why his stubborn,determined son wanted to become a cop. Instead,Delvecchio was studying to be a lawyer anyway,but still had the instincts of a cop.
It was still a good cop show,but it lacked the stylistic innovation of the later show since Delvecchio had interesting characters-and some of the actors that were on this show moved from one show to the next,most importantly Charles Haid and Michael Conrad did as they went to star in one of the most intelligent and controversial cop shows of the 1980's- "Hill Street Blues". However,Delvecchio was the precursor to Hill Street Blues and other cop shows to follow that same format. Most importantly,the theme score from Billy Goldenberg was one of the best musical compositions ever to grace the awe of 1970's TV.
