Steven Bochco

Career overview

Steven Bochco was born on December 16, 1943, in New York City, New York, and passed away on April 1, 2018, at the age of 74. He attended Carnegie Tech, which is now known as Carnegie-Mellon University, as a playwriting major. During his time there, his classmates included Barbara Bosson, who later became his second wife, along with Michael Tucker, Bruce Weitz, and Charles Haid. Following his education, Bochco and Michael Tucker drove cross-country to Hollywood to take full-time jobs at Universal, where Bochco remained for twelve years.

In 1978, Bochco moved to MTM Enterprises. After several attempts, the company gave him carte blanche to create a show similar to the film Fort Apache the Bronx, which resulted in Hill Street Blues. MTM ultimately fired Bochco in 1985, in part due to his inability to keep Hill Street Blues on budget.

Following his time at MTM, Bochco went on to create L.A. Law and Doogie Howser, M.D. for NBC. In 1987, he secured a fifteen million dollar deal with ABC to create ten series pilots over a span of ten years. Throughout his career, Bochco accumulated fifty-five known credits primarily focused on writing.