"I want to do stuff that challenges folks and entertains folks, and I'm willing to take the risk that some people will not like what I do." That's an attitude that some say has changed the face of television, and it belongs to producer Steven Bochco, speaking to Robert Lindsey in the New York Times Magazine. As a maverick creator of acclaimed and sometimes controversial series such as Hill Street Blues and L.A. Law, he routinely defies network censors with racy dialogue and sexual content and tests viewers' concentration with layered action, sound, and plotting. Critics have commended his series for tackling difficult issues like incest, legal ethics, and police violence without oversimplifying or offering easy answers. Detractors argued that many of the so-called novelties in Bochco's shows had already appeared in programs such as M*A*S*H, Lou Grant, and Barney Miller, but that didn't...