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.
