(CNN) -- "L.A. Law" had buzz right from the moment it premiered in 1986. 

Co-created by Steven Bochco, hot off his success with "Hill Street Blues," the series was set at the high-priced Los Angeles law firm of McKenzie, Brackman, Chaney and Kuzak. 

The cast was glossy and diverse, including Jimmy Smits, Blair Underwood, Jill Eikenberry, Michael Tucker, Susan Dey, Richard Dysart, Alan Rachins and Corbin Bernsen. 

Most of all, it pushed the boundaries of the legal show the way "Hill Street" did with cop shows. 

"L.A. Law's" principals argued cases involving rape, capital punishment, big business, child molestation, AIDS and medical malpractice at a time when such subjects were seldom mentioned on prime-time television, and certainly not in such detail. This was no "Perry Mason," or even "The Defenders." 

Bochco being Bochco, the hard stuff was paired with moments of silly humor and steamy sex (or silly sex and steamy humor), making for a high-wire balance of drama and comedy. 

One first-season episode got people talking about a fictional sex act called the "Venus Butterfly"; later, the show actually killed off a character by dropping her down an elevator shaft. 

The big hair and big-shouldered suits of the '80s may be gone, but the show remains influential. David E. Kelley, a real-life lawyer who later created "Picket Fences," "The Practice" and "Ally McBeal," got his television start as a writer on "L.A. Law." 

The show's first season is finally out on DVD, with the second expected to follow in a few months. CNN spoke to Smits, now a star of "Sons of Anarchy" who played idealistic Hispanic attorney Victor Sifuentes, and Alan Rachins, who played bottom-line-oriented partner Douglas Brackman Jr. and later starred on "Dharma and Greg," about the show and its impact. 
who is one of the creators?
Co-created by Steven Bochco