The Golden Age of US Cop Shows

[Wyatt Earp]

The Golden Age of US Cop Shows

Garamczy Antal wrote:

Why at Last! wrote:

I agree that the The Wire isn't a cop show. And yet it's ruined cop shows for me. I can't watch them any more, with their neat little puzzles and neat little resolutions. Even Homicide, which went in for less of that, is kind of soap-y, by all accounts because of what the studio demanded.

I don't understand what you mean by soap-y, exactly. Happy endings, you mean?

No, soaps don't have happy endings. Not over here, anyway.

[jason voorhees]

The Golden Age of US Cop Shows

[Gerontophile]

The Golden Age of US Cop Shows

Quick trawl down Memory Lane:

One night in about 1983, me and the mates decided to do some acid, in my mates' uncle's house (they were away), and we knew that the new video for Frankie Goes To Hollywood was on, at 5 to midnight on Channel 4 (dates and time wrong, then I am sorry, I can only remember the outcome).

So we bump these beauties at 10pm... and we are watching TV and yammering. And there is an episode of Hill Street Blues about to start, and I remember something from reality: one of the guys in this, actually died in reality.

Fortunately, we were all 'tuned in', after the initial hilarity, and it turned out to be the episode where Sergeant Esterhauz (sic) wasnt there anymore.

I had seen about 10 episodes, the others about the same between them.

Every single one of us were in floods of tears.

I have seen that episode twice, since, and I fell apart both times.

'Independence Day' moment for me. (I dont know why I am crying, but I know there is a reason.)

Still havent seen a single episode of the Wire. Like the West Wing, I suspect, that when I do, I will re-watch it all, but right now, there are other things more important.

Like typing this bollocks, to you all. With love.

[linus]

The Golden Age of US Cop Shows

I've found all the TV series about cops, doctors and lawyers in the last couple of decades are dull and stupid, the stuff from HBO included.

[Commodore]

The Golden Age of US Cop Shows

Yaphet Kotto came out with one of my favourite pieces of dialogue in any Bond movie, when he and his minions take Bond hostage in Harlem;

‘Name are for tombstones… take this honky outside and waste him’.

I’ll concur with the theory that Starsky & Hutch was for teeny-boppers but the first series (with Lalo Schifrin theme that was eclipsed by Tom Scott) was pretty edgy stuff in retrospect. The chemistry between the main characters was excellent, which compensated for increasingly weak storylines; there was even one episode which was just a clips show as Hutch (or was it Starsky) lost his memory. But as a kid born in ’72 it appealed to me then as it does now to the extent that the Striped Tomato Box Set is also a thing of beauty that takes pride of place in my DVD cabinet.

[Walt Flanagans Dog]

I got rid of Sky Sports and Movies a couple of months ago, and despite having access to Netflix through my daughter's subscription, I'm taking the chance to watch my many unwatched DVDs, particularly boxsets.

I've got through the first season of Hill Street Blues, and have the second ready to go, but I won't start watching it til I source the third season. The problem with the second hand DVD market is that you can get bargains on items which sold well originally, but less so on poorer sellers. For TV series this often translates into the first couple of seasons being readily available and cheap, but the later series getting more expensive.

Anyway, I've switched to the first series of The Fugitive. I used to watch this in the late 80s, when 24 hour TV was new. ITV had an overnight strand called Night Time and would fill it with old stuff, and The Fugitive was one of them, and I'd stay up til God know what time to watch it.

It's slow, repetitive - in each episode he has a brush with the law that usually isn't his fault, and in most episodes there is a love interest - and the voiceover is overly earnest, but it's sort of comforting and I'm sticking with it. Whether I'll source and power through the remaining three series remains to be seen. I've got the first three seasons of LA Law to get through, y'know.

[Walt Flanagans Dog]

I'm just past halfway through the first series of The Fugitive, and the production budget seems to have been upped a bit after a cautious start. What's more notable is the array of pre-fame guest stars, so far Robert Duvall, Robert Webber, Leslie Nielsen and Telly Savalas have all featured.

[Satchmo Distel]

There was a whole wheel of shows on NBC, some now totally forgotten

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_NBC_Mystery_Movie

[Uncle Ethan]

I have stated on here in the past that it took me years and years to finally get to watch the last series of NYPD Blue because of the shenanigans of schedulers in the pre-satellite/streaming days. It is still my favourite cop series (I'm in The Wire is a different genre camp) behind Hill Street Blues, even though Franz and Co probably should have stopped after series five.

The Sweeney beat them all though and the early series of The Bill (the 30 minute ones) were excellent. I was excessively excited when I was near Charring Cross on a visit home to the UK and came across a scene being filmed with Ted Roach himself at the heart of the action.

[Satchmo Distel]

The Cops in the late 90s, BBC, John Henshaw amazingly good

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cops_(TV_series)

[Walt Flanagans Dog]

I'm nearing the end of the Fugitive first season box set, and the episode I'm currently watching features Gloria Grahame, who played Violet in It's a Wonderful Life.