Which TV series was the first to win the Outstanding Drama Series Emmy four years in a row?

Hill Street Blues was the first television series to win the Outstanding Drama Series Emmy four years in a row.

The NBC police drama won the award for four consecutive seasons, from 1981 through 1984. Its run began with the first season of the series and continued through the ceremony recognizing the 1983–84 television season. The achievement established Hill Street Blues as one of the dominant dramatic programs of the early 1980s.

Created by Steven Bochco and Michael Kozoll, the series followed officers and staff at an urban police station. Its ensemble cast, overlapping storylines, handheld-style visual language, and willingness to mix grim cases with workplace humor influenced later serialized dramas, including NYPD Blue, The Wire, and other police procedurals.

The wording can cause confusion because several later shows also built impressive Emmy streaks. Mad Men won four consecutive awards from 2008 to 2011, but it was not the first. Hill Street Blues’s four-win sequence ran from 1981 to 1984, and the show ultimately collected 26 Emmy Awards from 98 nominations during its seven-season run.