jeff@dciem.UUCP (Jeff Richardson) (02/22/84)
I liked the episode in which Phil's ashes were scattered, but one thing
I was very disappointed with was the way Phil's death was handled a
few weeks ago. It wouldn't have been so bad if it was just another
character being written out of the script, but Michael Conrad actually
died in real life. He will be remembered by most people as Sgt.
Esterhaus, so people will associate Esterhaus' death with Conrad's.
As far as I know, Conrad died respectably and his character's death
should have been portrayed the same way. I thought it was in very
poor taste and totally unnecessary to have Esterhaus die while having
sex. The only reason I can think of for it is to add a little humour,
but I didn't think it was funny to make fun of the death of a man who
I thought was loved and respected by everyone involved with the show.
That espisode was the last thing most of us have to remember Michael
Conrad by, and as such it should have been done as a tasteful tribute.
Perhaps Barbara Babcock, who played Grace, had one more episode left
on her contract, but they could have taken care of that by having her
show up for the scattering of his ashes. I never liked Grace anyway.
The amount of comedy and drama she added to the show was very small
compared with the amount of time she wasted on it. I was glad when
she stopped appearing on the show, and I wish she had never returned.
Jeff Richardson
DCIEM, Toronto
PS: The city is fictional, based on a combination of several real
American cities. I believe "The Hill" comes from the Hill district
of Pittsburgh (not Philadelphia. Carnegie-Mellon University is also
in Pittsburgh, not Philadelphia as somebody claimed.) but the city
is much bigger than Pittsburgh, probably about the size of Philadelphia.
(That's where the Philadelphia parallels come in.) The street names
are probably taken from several different cities or just made up,
and the cars and uniforms are probably based on still another city.
The location is probably northeast or midwest because there are no
accents and people from California and other western states are
depicted as being from somewhere other than the part of the U.S.
where the Hill is. I have noticed white licence plates.