Your favourite 70's TV Detectives?
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amyghost — 10 years ago(August 17, 2015 05:58 AM)
Harry Orwell
Jim Rockford
The whole 12th Precinct squadroom (Okay, Barney Miller was a comedy, but I guess they countthey did solve some crimes, lol)
Columbo
Baretta
McCloud (I didn't greatly care for this one when it first aired, but I find the reruns a hoot)
And I'm with y'all about StarskyDavid Soul was just too full of himself. -
Maddyclassicfilms — 10 years ago(August 17, 2015 06:06 AM)
Great choices amy. I still need to watch
McCloud
and
Baretta
.
As for Starsky he was funny and seemed like someone you would want to hang out with. Plus he was hot!
Go to bed Frank or this is going to get ugly
. -
amyghost — 10 years ago(August 17, 2015 03:12 PM)
Baretta's interesting mainly for watching Robert Blake just sort of being Robert Blake. Most of the stories are pretty standard issue 70's tv drama, but he lends a kind of 'loose cannon' note that's fun to witness.
McCloud's at it's best when it's Dennis Weaver's laconic cowboy slowly killing the great J.D. Canon (his superior on the police force). Canon's slow burns that turn into mini-strokes as he deals with Weaver's almost slow-wittedly laid back style are hilarious.
And from what I've read I think IRL Paul Michael Glaser was a rather nicer and more down-to-earth sort than Soul, which seemed to show in his performance. He definitely was the better looking of the two in my opinion
. -
3rdrowleft — 10 years ago(August 19, 2015 12:44 PM)
There was a poll (don't remember who commissioned it) that questioned police as to the most authentic cop show. Barney Miller won, because it was the show that demonstrated the job was mostly paper work. No shoot-outs, no car chases.
But throughout it all, my motto was "Dignity! Always dignity!". -
amyghost — 10 years ago(August 23, 2015 06:35 AM)
I think it still gets voted by police as one of the most realistic shows to depict the actuality of police work. And I find it doesn't really date much, even taking into account the fashions and the obvious lack of high-tech gizmology. Many of the stories are just as pertinent today; the sort of topicalities they dealt with have, in many cases, not really changed so much over the years. And the humor is timeless.
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SlickRobie — 10 years ago(September 01, 2015 03:07 AM)
Columbo - big daddy of them all
Starsky (& Hutch) - Yes, I liked Starsky better too. I was just a small kid & remember seeing ALL of their episodes during the 1st run.
Banacek - but he was only around for 1 season (I think) -
darryl-tahirali — 9 years ago(August 03, 2016 08:04 PM)
Not mentioned already (I think) was
Longstreet
, which intrigued meJames Franciscus as a blind investigator although technically he wasn't a police or private detective. I was about nine years old and the distinction was lost on me at the time. Then I got really into
Baretta
although in retrospect it may have been the theme song that hooked me; on the other hand, when I began to see Tom Ewell in movies later on, I thought, hey, it's that guy from
Baretta
.
The Streets of San Francisco
was one I began watching again in syndication; I liked Mike Stone a bit better than Steve Keller. But
Barney Miller
is the one from the period that has really stuck with me. Dietrich is still my favorite. In fact, that dry, understated sense of humor is what I've been trying to emulate for decades. I thought he was hilarious.
"We hear very little, and we understand even less." refugee in "Casablanca"
