Cop shows that rocked that aren't Cop Rock

     Hello one and all and welcome to another exciting adventure of the Shadow knows. What does the Shadow know this day folks? I know that vacations rock and so does Gen Con. This will be my 19th year in attendance and there is just tons to see. For those that don't know, Gen Con is the largest North American gaming convention. Every game known to man can be found here and new games yet to be seen are prereleased there and then sent everywhere. If you have never attended Gen Con you should come sometime and check it out. There is so much to see and do there is no way that you can fit it all in in four days. The Gen Con contest is only on its first day and we have our first winner. Only 3 more days and 3 more prizes till the end. Are you excited? I know you are. Now onto Podbean.com and How I geek with the Scooby gang. This week I believe they are doing a tribute to Robin Williams (RIP). John and I will most likely not be there as we are of course both attending Gen Con. So drop by and check out Greg, Marv and Amy this week and John and I will be back next week.  

     So what is the topic of the day intrepid Shadow fans? Well as I pointed out last week the rest of the month will be dedicated to some of my favorite cops shows aired during my lifetime. First up for your reading pleasure is the great Starsky and Hutch. This show aired from April 30, 1975 to May 15, 1979 and started out as a 70 minute movie of the week on ABC. Created by William Blinn writer of Roots, Fame, and the TV movie Brian's Song and produced by Spelling-Goldberg productions. It seems like Aaron spelling was everywhere during my lifetime. The protagonists of this show were partners David Michael Starsky (Paul Michael Glaser) and Kenneth "Hutch" Hutchinson (David Soul). These buddy cops drove around in a 74-76 Ford Grand Torino, bright red with a white vector stripe down the sides (they used many cars during filming because the body style did not change in those years). Man this show was innovative and hard hitting for it's time. The show also had some pretty sweet script writing in its first two seasons. The duo had this great informant "Huggy Bear" played by Antonio Fargas. Huggy Bear owned a bar in which Starsky and Hutch would frequent for information and good times. Alas though, sometimes great actors get great big heads and can cause an awesome show to whiter and die. Paul Glaser was one such actor. For he is the reason that this great show whithered and died on the vine. By season 3 he had become disgruntled with the show saying it was to violent. He of course threatening to leave the show if he did not get his way. So after his diaper baby whiney fit he was given a raise, directing privileges, and creative license. The violence was toned down and in it's place was put more romance themed and buddy focused episodes. In season 4 Glaser again threatened to quit, but in the end changed his mind and finished out the season saying he would not do a season 5. Well he had nothing to worry about because of his bitching and the falling ratings as a result of his changes there was no 5th season even though one was planned. I mean what a whiny diaper baby. You are on one of the hottest shows on TV and you flake out like that. Who does he think he is Britney Spears for pity sake. That show could have lasted several more seasons if the formula had not been tampered with. Alas I say, sometimes Hollywood actors get all diva and turn gold into poo. I still watch this show every chance I get and it is now shown on the El Rey network. Now there is a network that I can't say enough good things about. It just rules. Robert Rodriguez really knows how to put together some good TV, but once again I digress. If you have not seen this killer series go out and find it. Watch for yourself and see if you don't like it. So then what is next?

     What is next you ask or was that me? I often get confused on these little inflections. So next up is Quincy M.E. another show that was ahead of its time. Quincy ran for 8 season running from October 3, 1976 to September 5, 1983 on NBC. This show was the brain child of Glen A Larson (another powerhouse from my era) and inspired by the novel, "Where Death Delights" by former FBI agent Marshall Houts. The character Quincy himself was also loosely based on coroner to the stars Thomas Noguchi. Quincy (played by Jack Klugman of Odd Couple fame) worked for the Los Angeles coroners office with his partner Sam Fujiyama (played by Robert Ito). Where all crime shows at the time were showing the solving of a crime with foot work and good old investigative prowess, this show was solving crimes with science. This was a formula that would not be seen again until the 2000s. That is right, this show from the 70's inspired the likes of shows like CSI, Crossing Jordan, and NCIS. I mean just how cool is that? A show 30 years old inspired the great crime shows of the here and now. It just goes to show how really great this series really was. To describe Quincy one would say he was a morally driven man who would fight tirelessly to solve his cases. In his past he was married once. She, his first wife died of cancer before the series began story wise. In the final seasons he marries again and sells his trademark house boat. I would guess as a way to show his growing up and settling down as it were. I have to say that Jack Klugman played this part so perfectly and I could not see anyone else in this role. The scripts and acting are what you would call first rate in this fine show and every episode is like mining gold. They have this on Netflix and I watch it with my kids every chance they let me. I mean what can I say. This show was really great (I know I keep saying that,  but it was) and I have fond memories of watching it with my grandparents. They loved crime dramas and we would watch them together all the time. I often think about how much they would enjoy the new crime dramas this show inspired today, but alas once again I digress. So let's see what I have for you all next. 

     What I have next for you is another great crime drama also shown on Netflix, This is another great series I can't get enough of. This is to another show I watched with my grandparents. That show is of course the James Garner classic the Rockford Files. Airing on NBC from September 14, 1974 to January 10, 1980. The pilot episode was aired as a 90 minute made for TV movie that was such a hit it got its own series. Roy Huggins of Maverick fame wanted to make a modern day Maverick TV series with a P.I. twist. Huggins approached Stephen J Cannell (again another powerhouse of my era) to help him co produce this show. From this co mingling of minds we got Jim Rockford P.I. an ex con who was wrongfully convicted and pardoned by the governor of California. Rockford's character is a lot like Bret Maverick's in that he does not look for trouble and prefers to use his words rather than bullits to get out of it. He has a gun but never uses it alwasy saying he doesn't have a permit. Rockford is always down on his luck and has a hard time making ends meet. He is very careful about the cases he takes insisting on only taking cold cases. He does this so that he can avoid any police entanglements. At the end of the day Jim Rockford is morally driven and does what he can when he can to do what is right. Though he often regrets it in the end. I have to say I love the mans gold Firebird as well. What can I say I am a sucker for a Firebird and have owned two in my lifetime. Another cool aspect was the answering machine opening to the show. Each week the series would open with a bank, bill collector, or some former client trying to get out of paying the man. It became the shows kind catch phrase as it were and this painted the writers in a corner. Could you imagine trying to write jokes continuously for eight seasons. They became so desperate that they took advice from anybody who would give it, from the janitor to the guy delivering their food on set. This show was just so greatly done and James Garner was just as perfect in this role as he was in the title role of Maverick. It is also of note that the J-turn is named after James Garner for the turn he used to escape pursuing vehicles on the show. This show did inspire later detective dramas like Magnum P.I. and in fact there was a planned Magnum episode in which Rockford would have appeared. Alas though it was not meant to be. This was due to the fact that Garner was in the middle of a lawsuit with Universal Pictures (owners of both Magnum and Rockford properties) and stated he would never step foot on another Universal lot as long as he lived. Fortunately things with Universal were settled because we got 8 made for TV Rockford movies in the 90's. Somehow I missed these and I am now in the process of trying to find them.Tom Selleck did appear a couple times on the show as a P.I. named Lance White. White was the kind of P.I. that was rich, famous, and bit of a ladies man. All the things Rockford was not. The Lance White character is actually mentioned a few times in the Magnum P.I. series, which is just another way that the two shows connect. The show finally ended in 1980 mid season due to health issues on Garners part and money issues on NBCs part. It is also of note that NBC has been trying to revive this show for the last 4 or 5 years. So who knows we may have a Rockford reboot in our future. I just hope that the reason for this delay is due to the fact that they want quality and not flying monkey crap. RIP James Garner.

     Speaking of shows of better quality we have for your final reading pleasure the great lollipop sucking man himself Kojak. Kojak ran on CBS from October 24, 1973 to March 18, 1978 with a two TV special run during the 1980s. This series was the baby child of Abby Mann (no relation to Michael Mann of Miami Vice fame). Mann was disillusioned by the treatment of different ethnic groups during the 60's and 70's and so created a pilot movie loosely based on the case that brought about Miranda rights, "The Marcus-Nelson Murders." Kojak himself is a composite character of the different people who work on that original case, "the Wylie-Hoffert murder case." Kojak (played by Telly Savalas) is known for his trademark tootsie pop. A little known fact about this is in the first half of the first season of the show he smoked and not used lollies. Due to the surgeon generals warnings on smoking and Savalas wanting to reduce his own habit he switched to tootsie pops mid season in the episode, "Dark Sunday." In the episode he goes to light a smoke while questioning a suspect, thinks better of it and plops the sucker in his mouth. Let's just say after that history was born. Of this fact Savalas once said he was unable to quit smoking and he ended up getting a couple of cavities from the lollies. Kojak the man was a no nonsense hard hitting detective who moved through the ranks as the show progressed finally making Chief Inspector of the major crimes division in the TV movies. Though he was rough and tough he truly cared about the cases he worked on and went to great lengths to make sure the cases were closed at the end of the day. One of Kojak's inspectors, Sgt. Heathcliff "Fatso" Stavros was played by Savalas' own brother Geroge Savalas. Heck if I had my own show I'd give my family a break too. USA Network attempted to revive this show back in 2005 with Ving Rhames in the title role, but it did not pan out. In truth I can see why. I love Ving Rhames as an actor, but I just don't see him as Kojak. He was awesome in the Mission Impossible movies, but Kojak he is not. In truth I don't really picture anyone else in that title role either. I guess some roles you just have to wait till the right person comes along to fill it and we just don't have that person as of yet in Hollywood. Any who the long and the short of it is I loved this show growing up. Unfortunately they are not showing it anywhere and Netflix took it off quite some time ago. I would be introducing my kids to this show of awesomeness if I could, but I cn't for now so I wont.

     Well Shadow fans that is all the time I have this week for the show. So tell me what you think. Did you watch any of these shows in prime time or syndication? What were your favorite 70's TV cop shows. Do you think we will ever see any of the ones I mention given the  reboot treatment and breathed back to life? If they do come back can the networks do them justice? Does Dudley really do right? Can't he ever get it wrong? I mean come on now nobody is perfect and he seems rather implausible to me. I don't care if he is  a mountie or no by gumbo. Though he is just a cartoon character and they can do anything. Well that is all I got for now. So I will see you next time from the Shadows... who loves ya baby?