Thursday, August 28, 2014

And now the conclusion of a month of cop shows that rock that aren't Cop Rock.


     Well folks it is another Thursday and here we are together again. It truly fills me with that feeling of warm fuzziness and other such stuff to know you are here with me today. So what does the Shadow know this day good friends and true believers? Well what I know today is that something is happening to the young people on this blue ball of ours. While searching for unique and fascinating facts for you fans out there I came across this gem of intelligence. Apparently a teenage boy was questioned by police officers after being admitted to the hospital with head injuries. He had been struck by a train. When asked how he got his injuries the boy simply replied he wanted to see how close he could get his head to a passing train before it got struck... WTF! I mean seriously what has the youth of today come to? Sure we have all done our fair share of crazy things in our lives, but I can't ever remember a time I wanted to squish my head like a grape by way of a oncoming train. Has common sense just gone out the window... seriously?! So any who now onto the next I say. This week on How I geek with the Greg and the Scooby gang we will have a discussion on general geektatudiness and such and so forth. It will be a hot time in the old town tonight I tell you. So you should be there or be square.  

     So into the meat of things as they say in butcher shops everywhere. The start of the last of my four cop show reviews will the ever incredible Simon and Simon. This show of awesomeness ran on CBS from November 24, 1981 to January 21, 1989. The first season had brother protagonists Rick (Gerald McRaney) and A.J. (Jameson Parker) working for a detective agency and solving crimes. The show did not do well in it's first season and almost got canceled. The shows creator Philip DeGuere convinced CBS to give it another chance and they agreed. The show was moved to come on after Magnum with a second season cross-over of the two shows to increase the ratings. The brothers also moved on to go into business for themselves leaving behind the agency they worked for. These combined elements came together well with the fans and the ratings skyrocketed. One of the great things about this show was just how polar opposite the brothers were. Rick the older brother was a former marine and Vietnam war vet. He is the type of guy who would bend the rules as a private investigator to solve the cases. He would be more viewed as a sorta country boy with simpler interests in mind. A.J. on the other hand is college educated, smart with his money, and a lot less loose with the rules of law. The cases the two brothers worked on usually had them arguing over their individual ways of tackling a case and coming to terms with each other. There was tons and action with just a twist of this feudal comedy thrown in. To me this really made the show and with it on right after Magnum I was glued to the set for at least those 2 hours. After 8 seasons though this show came to a halt. This was due to the declining ratings because the network had moved the show to Saturday. This is what most networks do to kill shows the fans don't want to die. I say it is completely dirty pool and shame on them. The final season was only a 13 episode run, with only 11 episodes actually airing. In 95 a reunion made for TV movie was put together with A.J. being divorced and a lawyer and Rick doing odd jobs. The brothers pair up once again when a boat Rick is transporting is hijacked. I liked this movie and I wished they had done more. This is another one of those shows that I would love to see return to television. Of course the network has to do a reboot with the original cast most likely not returning. I just hope that if a reboot does happen the network does it justice. So now that we have hit Simon and Simon what do I have next up my sleeve?

     What do I have next you all ask? Well I know one of you had to of asked. It does seem like a logical thing to ask it does. So up next is that Glen A. Larson classic Knight Rider. You know that show that is about a shadowy flight into the dangerous world of a man who does not exist. Knight Rider aired on NBC from September 26, 1982 to August 8, 1986. The protagonists of this show are Michael Knight (David Hasselhoff ) and K.I.T.T. (William Daniels) Micheal's artificially intelligent car. The series starts out with Micheal long a detective on a big case who is gunned down in the course of his investigation. He is saved by Wilton Knight (Richard Basehart of Voyage to the Bottom of the sea fame) creator of F.L.A.G. the foundation for law and government. Knight gives Long a new face and new identity as well as a job within his organization. The now Michael Knight continues his crusade for justice with his A.I. car partner K.I.T.T. aka Knight Industries Two Thousand. This team combination was awesome to watch week to week and it's first three seasons kicks butt. Larson, who created the show said he wanted to make the Lone Ranger in modern times. A sort of western sci-fi kinda show. His formula really set well with the public at large and is still a cult classic today. The trouble with this series started in the 4th season when everything changed. K.I.T.T. loses his special coating that protects him from all damage and some really bad script writing from there really killed this show. The new super pursuit mode was pretty cool, but really that was the only cool thing about that fourth season. In 91 a sequel movie to the series, Knight Rider 2000 was aired. This movie killed off Knights long time friend and FLAG boss Devon Miles (Edward Mulhare). Knight was no loner a member of FLAG and K.I.T.T. is in pieces. He is later reassembled in Knights 57 Chevy. At the end K.I.T.T. was put into the Pontiac Banshee concept car that was the final design for the Firebird before it was discontinued. The plot was weak and the movie was not as great as it could have been. In 97 another series based on the showed aired with 22 episodes called Team Knight Rider. This show was set in the not so distant future and had no Hasselhoff at all. The show was also a flop. Finally in 2008 NBC came out with a new show that was not a reboot, but rather a continuation of the previous show. K.I.T.T. was now a Ford Mustang since Pontiac refused to bring back the Firebird for the series. I think that was insane since they brought back the Camero for Transformers, but alas I digress, Val Kilmer was brought in for the voice of the new K.I.T.T. and Justin Bruening was brought in to play Knights estranged son. This show started out with a completely different formula in its first half. There was no FLAG and everything was CIA. It did not go over well with the fans and NBC tried fixing it in the second half of the season. The show was getting better now that it was back to its roots, but NBC decided it had, had enough and let it go. It is a real shame because this show could have gone somewhere. I hope another attempt is made to revive this show in the future. Alas only time will tell and we shall see. So let us travel on to the next.

     Now up for your reading pleasure we have the CBS show the Equalizer. This series of greatness aired from 85 to 89 and starred Edward Woodward as Robert McCall a former government operative trying to atone for his past sins by offering his services free of charge to those in need. You contact him through a paper advertisement that states, "Odds against you? Need help? Call the Equalizer. 212 555-4200." This show as a whole was pretty cool. I have not seen any episodes in years and I wish some network would pick it back up on syndication. McCain's former spy ties often came into play in this series. He is a estranged father to his son Scott (William Zabka of Karate Kid fame). At first his son is bitter towards his father and his life, but as the series progresses he warms up to his father and often becomes involved in his cases. Robert Lansing of 12 O'clock High and Kung Fu the Legend Continues fame made many appearances as McCall's former agency boss only known as Control. Towards the end of the series Woodward had a heart attack and had to reduce his work load. So Harley Gage (James Jordan) and Richard Dyson (Robert Mitchum) were brought in as friends and former agents that work with McCall to help solve his cases. This year Denzel Washington will be releasing a movie in which he plays the charismatic Robert McCall. I am hoping this movie will be worthwhile and not a steaming pile of flying monkey poo. I like Denzel and love most of his movies. As such I am willing to give it a try since I love this show so much. Once I have seen it I will post an update on my feelings about this. I guess this is all I really have for this one so on to the next. 

     The final show I want to discuss is a little known show aired from September 16, 1993 to May 13, 1994 the great Michael Dudikoff series... Cobra. Dudikoff plays Robert "Scandal"Jackson Jr. an AWOL Navy Seal who did so because he refused to blow up an enemy command center because it housed noncombatants. While hiding in Alaska some assassins find him and shoot him. Believing he is dead they leave him to his fate. But Jackson's fate was not to die but rather join a elite private investigation organization who fakes his death and gives him a new face and identity. Dudikoff, known for his American Ninja movies does an awesome job with this series. It only lasts a year, but I really think that it could have really taken off if it was given half the chance. I really don't have much more to say about this show other then watch it for yourself and you decide. 

     Well that is it this month for the crime dramas we all love so well. next month I think I will do a review of RPG's, but then again I may not. I will leave it as a surprise... boo! So what do you think of crime dramas? Are there any past favorites of yours I did not mention. Do you have a favorite decade of crime dramas? Did Han really shoot first? I say heck yeah. There is no way Han didn't shoot first. Greedo was just a punk. Any who that is all the time I have this week and I will see you all from the shadows,

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