Crime Shows on small screen part 2

II-Lawyers, Private Eyes & Spies

Celebrated lawyers, cool spies and private eyes show another side of crime on screen.  Over the decades there have been many lawyers approaching the bench to make a point, but only a few are remembered as classics.

The first powerhouse lawyer was Perry Mason (1957-1966), based on the Erle Stanley Gardner series of  novels.  Gardner was disappointed the way by his character was portrayed in early films in the late 1930s and the radio series (1940s-50s), and thought the new media of TV would be right.  Gardner created a production company to produce Perry Mason, and cast Raymond Burr in the title role.  Just like Dragnet, audiences stayed home to watch as Mason uncovered the true villain(s) in court.  Out of 271 episodes, Mason lost only three cases, which were a shock to the viewers.

Other lawyers followed in the footsteps of Perry Mason over the years, from the father and son team of The Defenders (1961-1965), Judd for the Defense (1967-1969), Owen Marshall (1971-1974), Petrocelli (1974-1976), Matlock (1986-1995) to ensemble cast shows like L.A. Law (1986-1994) , The Practice (1997-2004) and Boston Legal (2004-2008).

Arrest and Trial (1963-1964) was one of the most interesting series which combined the police work & the legal follow up, one of the early 90 minutes series.  It showed for the first time how the two systems worked together.  Followed more recently by Law & Order (1990-2010).

The world of the P.I. was born in the classic novels of Chandler and Hammett, from film and radio to the small screen, come the coolest guys in town, often with cooler theme tunes.  Dick Powell played Richard Diamond on the radio; just like Jack Webb, Powell saw the new media of television engaging with an all new audience.  Powell’s company Four Star produced Richard Diamond (1957-1960), starring David Janssen.  Richard Diamond was made in Hollywood, with season one set in New York, then season two moved to L.A.  Famously, Diamond’s secretary Sam was only seen from the waist down, basically a voice and a pair of legs in a tight skirt and stilettos.  She was played by two actresses, Mary Tyler Moore and Roxane Brooks.  Janssen played Diamond as deadpan serious.  Janssen’s first role on TV was a PI, and also his last, playing the PI in Harry O (1974-1976).

Television kept many away from the big screen so in the 1950s the movie studios followed the money, and began productions for the small screen using their back lots.  Universal in 1950, MGM, 20^th Century Fox and Warner Bros in 1955, and Paramount joined in 1967.  During the late fifties, Warner Bros produced the coolest four PI series, all with catchy tunes, starting with 77 Sunset Strip (1958-1964).  Efrem Zimbalist, Jr. played Stu Bailey, and one of the first secondary characters to take off with the audience was car hop Kookie, who was always combing his hair in the fashion of teenagers of the time.  Others followed in the PI line up, Hawaiian Eye (1959-1963) with Robert Conrad, Bourbon Street Beat (1959-1960) with Richard Long, set in New Orleans, and finally Surfside Six (1960-1962) with Troy Donahue and Van Williams, set in Miami Beach. After a while the scripts, the characters and plots were much the same, just different locales.

Another PI with one of the most memorable themes ever was Peter Gunn (1958-1961) with Craig Stevens as Gunn, written and created by Blake Edwards, and music by the legendary Henry Mancini. Gunn charmed his way through the 30 minute format, solving his client’s problems.

The three other PI shows that made significant impacts were: Mannix (1967-1975), played by Mike Connors, The Rockford Files (1974-1980) with James Garner as Jim Rockford and Magnum P.I. (1980-1988) starring Tom Selleck, along with Dobermans Zeus & Apollo.

Jim Rockford rarely used his gun, avoided fistfights, used his wits and intelligence to work out the solution to the case, shades of Brett Maverick.  Each episode would open with someone leaving a message on his answering machine, mostly just to make the audience laugh: “Hey, I saw your ad in the classifieds.  Three African goats for sale.  I keep calling and all I get is a machine.  Is this a typo in the paper, or what?”

During the mid-sixties, the James Bond films were at their height and television jumped on the band wagon: The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (1964-1968), I Spy (1965-1968), The Wild Wild West (1965-1969), Mission Impossible (1966-1973) and Get Smart (1965-1970).

Robert Vaughn as Napoleon Solo and David McCallum as Illya Kuryakin were the “Men from U.N.C.L.E.”, an international organisation fighting the secret evil menace of THRUSH, a world-wide group plotting world domination.  UNCLE had overseas locations (MGM backlot), gun fights, scientific devices and an international mix of agents and enemies.

The origin of THRUSH is interesting, according to one of the UNCLE books, “…dates back to the year 1895, when the first council met in London.  The first council was made up of the survivors of the unnamed organization which had been built entirely from nothing by one of the most brilliant men the world has ever known.  The Professor was a genius in two slightly related fields-mathematics and crime.”(4)

Just as popular as The Man from UNCLE, I Spy dealt with spies in the real world.  Kelly Robinson, played by Robert Culp, and Alexander Scott by Bill Cosby, travel under the disguise of a tennis pro and his trainer.  I Spy was ground breaking and is still outstanding for the fact that it was filmed on location in Hong Kong, Japan, Spain, Italy, and Philadelphia.  The other half was filmed in the studio.  The two leads did most of their own stunts.  Many southern USA TV stations would not take the show because a black actor had equal star billing, for the first time in TV.  Robert Culp states in the commentary on the DVD set that he and Cosby agreed early on: ”Our statement with regard to race should be a non-statement, that’s what’s going to knock people out, if they stick with the show long enough.”(5)

The Wild Wild West had a different setting, post civil war U.S.A.  The series blended Western with Crime with Science Fiction.  Two Secret Service agents, answering directly to President Grant, travel the country in their private train.  Jim West, played by Robert Conrad is the action man, and Artemus Gordon played by Ross Martin, the inventor of their gadgets and master of disguise.  They fought against enemy agents, madmen & women wanting to destroy or take over the USA.  The most famous villain in the series was Dr. Miguelito Loveless, played by the brilliant Michael Dunn, who wants the government to return “his family’s half of California”.  Loveless invents many things, including television, penicillin and the car.

The Wild Wild West featured more stunts by Conrad than any other series he had made, and also many injures!  An attempt for a similar series was made in the mid-seventies, Barbary Coast (1975-1976), starring William Shatner.  Shatner was expected to play both roles of West and Gordon.

Mission Impossible had an ensemble cast of first rate actors, fiendish scenarios and roller coaster action.  Get Smart was an intelligent and funny spoof on the spy genre, and on many shows at the time, co-created and written by Mel Brooks.

What makes these shows work is the chemistry between the actors, some of the ultimate buddy shows, watching Vaughn and McCallum, Culp and Cosby, Conrad and Martin, they infuse the shows with their solid friendships on and off the screen.  These men were close friends having a great time and acting with rare wit and talent.

Notes

(1)      The Critics’ Choice: The Best of Crime & Detective TV (1988)- Collins, Max Allan & Javna John, p.62.

(2)      TV Detectives (1981)- Meyers, Richard, p.68

(3)      Television (1988)- Winship, Michael, p.111

(4)      The Man From U.N.C.L.E.  No.6: The Dagger Affair (1965)-McDaniel, David, p.79

(5)      I Spy DVD  Season One (2000) ep.16 The Tiger written by Robert Culp

(6)      Rogerebert.suntimes.com. February 17, 1995.

References

Collins, Max Allan & Javna, John., The Critics’ Choice: The Best of Crime & Detective TV, New York: Harmony Books, 1988.

Cushman, Marc and LaRosa, Linda J., I Spy: a history and episode guide to the groundbreaking television series, North Carolina: McFarland, 2007.

Gianakos, Larry James, Television Drama Series Programming: a comprehensive chronicle, (1959-1975), NJ: Screcrow, 1978.

Heitland, Jon, The Man from U.N.C.L.E. Book: the behind the scenes story of a television classic, New York: St.Martin’s Press, 1987.

Kesler, Susan E, The Wild Wild Wild West: the series, California: Arnett Press, 1988

Lewis Joe E.& Stempel Penny, Cult TV: The Detectives, London: Pavilion, 1999

Meyers, Richard, TV Detectives, San Diego:  A.S.Barnes, 1981.

The Television Crimebusters Omnibus, Ed: Peter Haining, London: Bounty, 1994.

Winship, Michael, Television, New York: Random House, 1988.

Crime on the Small Screen: USA- I Police Procedurals.

Crime on the Small Screen

Part 1: The U.S.A.

By Damian Magee

Introduction

Since the beginning of Television, crime shows have been the staple diet.  For over 60 years every country has had their own primetime crime show.  In the U.S.A.: Dragnet (1951-58), in the UK: Dixon of Dock Green (1955-76), in Australia: Homicide (1964-1975).  This series looks at the different formats of crime shows: short, full-length and animated.  I have divided crime shows into seven different sub-genres: Police Procedurals, Lawyers, P.I., Amateur Sleuths, Spies, Mysteries and the Literature Detective.

Due to space and the numbers of programs made over the years, not every show will be covered in this series of articles. We begin our journey with those shows “Made in the U.S.A.”

During those early days of Television, back in 1949, the three American networks sourced their crime shows from films and radio.  These shows lasted a few months to a year, such as Martin Kane PI and Dick Tracy.  No one show appealed to the new audience in their own homes until 1951.

I-Police Procedurals

Jack Webb

The Godfather of Police Procedurals was Dragnet (1951-1958), by Jack Webb, based on his own radio show that ran from 1949-1957.  In a 30 minute format the series captured audience, who stayed home wanting to find out the outcome.  First of all the series was based on true cases.  At the beginning and the end of the tale; “Ladies and gentlemen: the story you are about to hear is true. Only the names have been changed to protect the innocent.”  Dragnet was made in a docudrama style, with the central police officer Sgt. Joe Friday.  Webb said of the character “…a quiet, conservative, dedicated policeman who, as in real life, was just one little cog in a great enforcement machine.’’(1)  The series dealt with a range of issues from drugs, robbery, murder, and kidnapping. The series was so popular it was the first TV series to made into a film in 1954 by Warner Bros.  At the end of series, Friday is promoted to lieutenant.

Webb continued to create new shows in this genre such as Dragnet’67 (1967-1970), Adam-12 (1968-1975), The DA (1971-72), O'Hara, U.S. Treasury (1971-72) and Hec Ramsey (1972-74). When Jack Webb died he was buried with full police honors with a replica of Friday’s LAPD badge, number 714.

Another best known Police Procedural was The Naked City (1958-1963), based on the 1948 film of the same name, dealing with two New York Police detectives, Lieutenant Muldoon and Officer Halloran.  Its catch line “There are 8 million stories in the Naked City, this is (or has been) just one of them”. The series was filmed on location in New York which gave it authenticity. After the first season 30 minute format, the series changed to an hour show with new detectives to tell “one of 8 million stories”.

One of the big crime series of the late 50s was The Untouchables (1959-1963), based on the memoir by Eliot Ness with Oscar Fraley.  The Untouchables is an excellent study of the prohibition era. (With other series of the time such as The Lawless Years (1959-1961), The Roaring 20s (1960-1962) and the current series like Boardwalk Empire (2010-2014)).  The series is the fictional account of the unit headed by Eliot Ness, and Ness is played by the stone-face Robert Stack.  The pilot, a two part episode, was the story of the many attempts and final successful arrest of Al Capone.  The series caused a huge fuss, with the censors due to the violence, and the Italian-American community who felt it promoted negative stereotypes of them as mobsters.

These last criticisms soon disappeared as the series also introduced an Italian-American into the unit. However the criticism over the violence continued, as the series never flinched on the nastiness: eg. “a frightened young wife finds her husband hanged in an alleyway-the noose tied to a fire escape-and then she herself gets mowed down in a hail of lead.”(2)

During the course of the series other well-known gangsters appear such as Ma Baker & Dutch Schultz.  Poetic license as they never encountered the real Ness.

During the sixties many crimes shows came and went without leaving a mark; such as The 87th Precinct (1961-1962), Hawk (1966) and N.Y.P.D. (1967-1969).  Others gave us iconic themes along with popular shows, such as Hawaii Five-0 (1968-1980), The Mod Squad (1968-1973) and Ironside (1967-1975). Hawaii Five-0 presented itself as the state police in Hawaii, fighting international crime, the underworld and international spies.  The lead was played by Steve McGarrett (Jack Lord).  When the villains were captured McGarrett would say his catchphrase, “Book ‘em, Danno.”.  One of the most interesting villains became McGarrett’s nemesis: Chinese agent Wo Fat.  Time and time again he escaped, until the last episode, when McGarrett finally gets his man.

The most hip show during the late sixties was The Mod Squad, a team of undercover cops of the “now generation”, one white, one black, one blond.  The series sees the officers undercover in schools, in the hip crowd fighting drugs, murder and underground protest groups.  The same themes were used in a later series about another group of young police officers: 21 Jump Street (1987-1991). Over time The Mod Squad has not aged well, however there are some classic episodes, such as ‘Mother of Sorrow’ with Richard Dreyfuss as a troubled young man who murders to impress his mother, too busy to show care or love for her son.

As the sixties drew to a close the style of Police Procedurals changed.  In the 1970s the style was loosely based on the style of Joseph Wambaugh’s books.  A realistic depiction of police work and violence; The Rookies (1972-1976), Police Story (1973-1978) and Kojak (1973-1978).  Also duo or buddy cop shows; such as The Streets of San Francisco (1972-1977) and Starsky and Hutch (1975-1979).

The Streets of San Francisco was based on a novel called, ‘Poor Poor Ophelia’ by Carolyn Weston (1972).  The series starred Karl Malden (Stone) and Michael Douglas (Keller), two homicide detectives solving crimes in San Francisco.  Filmed on location in San Francisco, the city became an integral part of the show.  Quinn Martin, of “QM Productions” was another seminal producer of TV crime, from The Fugitive (1963-1967), The F.B.I. (1965-1974) and Dan August (1970-1971), one of his few failures and two private eye shows, Cannon (1971-1976) and Barnaby Jones (1973-1980).

As the sixties drew to a close the style of Police Procedurals changed.  In the 1970s the style was loosely based on the style of Joseph Wambaugh’s books.  A realistic depiction of police work and violence; The Rookies (1972-1976), Police Story (1973-1978) and Kojak (1973-1978).  Also duo or buddy cop shows; such as The Streets of San Francisco (1972-1977) and Starsky and Hutch (1975-1979).

The Streets of San Francisco was based on a novel called, ‘Poor Poor Ophelia’ by Carolyn Weston (1972).  The series starred Karl Malden (Stone) and Michael Douglas (Keller), two homicide detectives solving crimes in San Francisco.  Filmed on location in San Francisco, the city became an integral part of the show.  Quinn Martin, of “QM Productions” was another seminal producer of TV crime, from The Fugitive (1963-1967), The F.B.I. (1965-1974) and Dan August (1970-1971), one of his few failures and two private eye shows, Cannon (1971-1976) and Barnaby Jones (1973-1980).

Starsky and Hutch starred David Soul as Hutch and Paul Michael Glaser as Starsky as two plain clothes policeman who wore casual and stylish clothes, investigating drugs, murder and kidnappings with help from their informant, Huggy Bear. In the last episode, ‘Sweet Revenge’, Starsky is shot and lies dying in hospital, while his partner hunts the killer.  In the original script, Hutch is holding his dead partner as the credits roll, but the producers changed their minds and Starsky survives.

Just like the 1970s, the eighties styles of police shows changed, as did the style of television writing in the US.  Hill Street Blues (1981-1987) was created by Steven Bochco, who wrote and created other shows in this genre: Ironside (1967-1975), Columbo (1971-78), McMillian & Wife (1971-1977)-writer, Delvecchio (1976-1977), L.A. Law (1986-1994) and NYPD Blue (1993-2005).

Hill Street Blues is set in an unnamed US city chronicling a day in the life of members of a police precinct, looking at the morning shift going into the night.  What made this series different was that it was an ensemble cast, had use of handheld cameras to give a documentary feel to the series, multiple story arcs that lasted numbers of episodes.  The series tackled issues of the day, police corruption, racism, alcoholism, the decay of urban city living, dealing with different types of gangs and the effects of one main character’s death or surviving being shot like Hill & Ranko in the pilot episode, and how the two partners relate to each other in later episodes.  This series also had a classic catchphrase: after assigning the day’s duties Sgt Esterhaus said to the assembled cops, “Let’s be careful out there.”

Steven Bochco said about the show “So when it became clear that NBC really did want a police melodrama, we set about trying to create a show that was going to break all the rules.”(3)  For Bochco there was no interference by the network.

Valuing style, and music, over substance, the 1980s brought us Miami Vice (1984-1989), starring Don Johnson as Crockett and Philip Michael Thomas as Tubbs, two undercover cops in, of course, Miami.  Don Johnson became forever paired with white suits and 80’s sunglasses.  This does not stand the test of time.

In the 1990s, the legacy of Hill Street Blues continued with ensemble casts and style of storytelling in such shows as NYPD Blue (1993-2005), and the highly regarded Homicide: Life on the Streets (1993-1999).  The latter series was adapted from a non-fiction book ‘Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets’ (1991) by Baltimore Sun reporter David Simon, based on his experience following a Baltimore Police Department homicide unit.  The Wire (2002-2008), from cable channel HBO, has become the latest in this style.

The series that spurred a generation of students to study forensic science is CSI (2000- ), the same way that Quincy, M.E. (1976-1983), starring Jack Klugman, generated interest in forensic pathology.. CSI takes place in Las Vegas, focused on the work of a team of expert criminologists, working for the Las Vegas Police.  Somehow in every episode it is they who solve the crime.  The series has been so popular with its audience that three spin-off series have been made: CSI Mimi (2002-2012), CSI New York (2004-2013) and CSI Cyber (2014-).  However, the series have been heavily criticized by police in the US due to the focus on the forensic team.  I found the show very formulaic.   Other shows based on forensic science are NCIS (2003-), Body of Proof (2011-2013) and Bones (2005-).

Notes

(1)      The Critics’ Choice: The Best of Crime & Detective TV (1988)- Collins, Max Allan & Javna John, p.62.

(2)      TV Detectives (1981)- Meyers, Richard, p.68

(3)      Television (1988)- Winship, Michael, p.111

(4)      The Man From U.N.C.L.E.  No.6: The Dagger Affair (1965)-McDaniel, David, p.79

(5)      I Spy DVD  Season One (2000) ep.16 The Tiger written by Robert Culp

(6)      Rogerebert.suntimes.com. February 17, 1995.

References

Collins, Max Allan & Javna, John., The Critics’ Choice: The Best of Crime & Detective TV, New York: Harmony Books, 1988.

Cushman, Marc and LaRosa, Linda J., I Spy: a history and episode guide to the groundbreaking television series, North Carolina: McFarland, 2007.

Gianakos, Larry James, Television Drama Series Programming: a comprehensive chronicle, (1959-1975), NJ: Screcrow, 1978.

Heitland, Jon, The Man from U.N.C.L.E. Book: the behind the scenes story of a television classic, New York: St.Martin’s Press, 1987.

Kesler, Susan E, The Wild Wild Wild West: the series, California: Arnett Press, 1988

Lewis Joe E.& Stempel Penny, Cult TV: The Detectives, London: Pavilion, 1999

Meyers, Richard, TV Detectives, San Diego:  A.S.Barnes, 1981.

The Television Crimebusters Omnibus, Ed: Peter Haining, London: Bounty, 1994.

Winship, Michael, Television, New York: Random House, 1988.

50 years of Doctor Who in Australia Overview

This year marks 50 years of Doctor Who in Australia. On January 12th the first episode screened on the ABC Perth at 7:30, three days later the first episode was screened in Sydney, where I was living at the time, my parents allow me to stay up to watch the first episode and continued allow me to watch these early episodes even when marked by the Australian censors AO, my parents could not see any reasons why these episodes were classified as such. Also in that year I read my first article on the program in "Australian Woman Weekly", I came upon the article as I was looking for the comic strip Mandrake. The article was
looking at the making of the Web Planet, seeing the pictures kept my interest in the show, wanting to see the butterfly people, I had to wait for awhile before the story of screened. I enjoy watching William Hartnell as the Doctor, but I could say I was true fan of the show, until Patrick Troughton became the Doctor,

I enjoyed the different approach that Troughton took the Doctor, also I found enjoyed stories more and his companions than Hartnell. I'm lucky to remember what many of  missing Troughton episodes were like, due to repeats in Australia during the school holidays and then living in New Zealand in the early seventies.

When I return to Australia, on screen was Jon Pertwee as the Doctor, the man of action, I found myself engross by the stories and the cast, this continue when Tom Baker arrive as the Doctor, at school everyone knew me as a fan of the show.
The Target books started to come out, so I started to buy those, during the sixties I had collected TV annuals, Doctor Who was one of  the titles, that I still collect today.

As new actors played the Doctor I kept on watching,some fans stopped watching the series if they don't like actor or the stories, It was sad when the series had ended, I thought it was starting to get back on track.

During the early 80's I joined the West Lodge a Doctor Who club in Western Australia, the club was  my first introduction to fandom. Also I found some my closest friend there, and my wonderful wife.

We all waited for Who to return, in 1996, a TV  film was made, sadly in missed the mark. Then 2005 the new Who was screened and has taken the world by storm.

So to pay tribute to show I had been watching and listening all the Doctor Who stories that have been screen in Australia, minus two stories that did not pass the censors, "Mission to Unknown", prequel to the epic "The Dalek Masterplan".

next my blog will take look at the first season of Doctor Who.

Batman-Blu-Ray Review

At last the Batman TV series has arrive on DVD and Blu-Ray. You can get the series as complete or broken up into seasons. I brought the Blu-Ray limited box set, that I thought no sets were arrive in Australia, yet the set had arrive. My set is from the UK.

So make this set interesting to get; apart from the remastered of the series in full colours. For me it was the model of 1966 Batmobile, 1966 reduction cartoon trading cards (which are unopen, because I know what they look like as I have them when I first brought them back in 1966), Adam West Scrapbook and the nice package of the box, also on the side there is a button, when press it plays the theme.

Now for the Disc themselves, this being the first pressing there are few minor points, on the first episode there is no opening narration (this was taken from a syndication  episode), in season two some of the bumper previews of next week villains are missing. I believe in the second pressing these have been fixed. For me I'm not really worry at all.

The 120 episodes looks really nice, it was fun to watch them again, some of the Favourites episodes were a joy to watch, like Green Hornet crossover, Bruce Lee would cream Adam West and Burt Ward single handled.  What surprise in the second episode with the Riddler, there is a death. The Batgirl episodes are fun to watch, the theme song is bit silly. All the guest villains all do their job really well, from Frank Gorshin,  Burgess Meredith,Cesar Romero, Julie Newman and Vincent Price.

As for the extras, there is a whole disc worth, looking at the series, the car, and what worth collecting. Sadly, I wish could have been some commentaries on some episodes. Overall  I think the series is great buy.