James Sikking, star of ‘Hill Street Blues’ and ‘Doogie Howser, MD,’ dead at 90
nypost.comtold the Star Tribune in 2014. “We were reaching people with a certain education and (who) made a certain kind of money. They called it the ‘Esquire audience.’”The show ultimately ran until 1987, although for a brief moment it wasn’t clear Sikking would make it that far.
A December 1983 episode ended with his character contemplating dying by suicide. The cliffhanger drew comparisons to the “Who shot J.R.?” mystery from “Dallas” not long before — although it was quickly resolved when TV supplements accidentally ran a teaser summary that made it clear Hunter had been saved.“I remember when Howard tried to kill himself.
My brother called and asked, ‘You still got a job?’ I said, ‘Yeah,’ and he said, ‘Oh good,’ and then hung up,” Sikking told The Fresno Bee.Sikking would earn an Emmy nomination for outstanding supporting actor in a drama in 1984.
The look and format of “Hill Street Blues” were something new to Sikking — and many in the audience, from the grimy look of the set to the multiple storylines that often kept actors working in the background, even when they didn’t have lines in the scene.“It was a lot of hard work, but everybody loved it and that shows.
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