The problem with Airwolf was…
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Archived from the IMDb Discussion Forums — Airwolf
inneroscator2 — 14 years ago(April 12, 2011 01:16 PM)
the episodes dealt too much with crap a large segment of the audience thought was too belabored, time after time, ep after ep, Vietnam, MIAs, international drug cartels, etc, etc, etc. Then at the end airwolf wizzes in and blows everything up. And Bellisario and company had no real feel for the drama that could be milked from the premise of a super helicopter and the same poorly executed dramatics were quite indicative of the other 1980s Bellisario/Larson garbage like Magnum, P.I. The typical teleplay is that toward the end of ANY episode of airwolf you would have the criminals airborne shooting lamely, stupidly and hopelessly at a super helicopter that they had no chance of besting and then Hawke would get them in his expert sights and vaporize them before they can even know it. The baddies were gone before they themselves could even realize it! There is absolute zero drama in that. Dramatically the audience WANTS the criminals to know they're going to be airwolf fodder. Bellisario and company always denied that to the viewers. Compare Airwolf's deficient dramatics to the climactic dogfight between Frank Murphy and Col. Cochran in Blue Thunder. You have an astounded Cochran exclaiming "That's Impossible!" before Murphy closes the deal and chops Cochran and his chopper to bits! That is satisfying drama. Where is anything even remotely like that ever seen in Airwolf? Airwolf was cancelled because the makers did not seem to have a clue about how to take airwolf to mach 1 drama-wise.
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quirt1 — 14 years ago(April 25, 2011 05:53 PM)
The first season of Airwolf actually was "mach 1 drama-wise." Compared to season 1, the other three seasons were basically junk.
And far from being "garbage," Magnum, P.I. is one of a small handful of dramas voted by an overwhelming majority to have never " Jumped The Shark."