Starsky and Hutch

And thank goodness for that. Starsky and Hutch could've been like every other cop show out there, all about fists and bad guys, tough street talk and that car, but it wasn't. What makes Starsky and Hutch unique among cop shows, even today, was the relationship between the two partners. I know that isn't and wasn't everyone's cup of tea, and there are a lot of people who malign the show for the alleged homosexual overtones, but it was the friendship that has drawn me back over all these years. What Starsky and Hutch had was a relationship that spanned all situations...from the crises (The Fix, Shootout, A Coffin for Starsky, et al.) to the everyday humor and good-natured bantering that showed how their closeness and enjoyment of one another. Call me sentimental, but the clothes, the car, the talk, all are somewhat laughable today...but a friendship like that is rare, as well as special, and never goes out of style.

Watching archived episodes of Starsky and Hutch on hulutv has been a real treat lately, especially since I was a regular viewer when the original series started in 1975.

I noticed that producer/director/writer Michael Mann, ala Miami Vice, wrote the first 4 episodes on Season 1.

The episodes had good plots, a variety of fine character actors that played some of the bad guys, foxy girls, funky music background, an original opening theme written by Lalo Schifrin and many other elements that contributed it the show's success.

Fans of the show will always remember Starsky's leather jacket that must have been worn by an ace WW11 fighter pilot and passed down from generation until he probably found it cheap at the local thrift store and Hutch's plaid shirts, khaki pants, the shoulder holsters that held those 6 shooter cannon revolvers, the 2 cars and of course their sometimes pimp but harmless snitch Huggy Bear.

I miss shows in today's TV cable world that's sporting almost 500 channels like the old days of dramatic, sometimes comedic cop shows like S&H. I really had no desire to see the recent movie.

Watching episodes through the online link is really bringing back some memories of decades past.

Before "Miami Vice". Before "Cagney and Lacey". Before "Lethal Weapon". Before "Tenspeed and Brownshoe". Before "48 Hours". And before "Hardcastle and McCormick" there was the one cop show the defined it's own character and launched the cop show genre as we know it today. That television show was "Starsky & Hutch". The series became one of the biggest hits at ABC producing 92 episodes during its four seasons on the air running from September 10,1975 until May 15, 1979. Created by William Blinn and Produced by the team of Aaron Spelling and Leonard Goldberg(along with Joesph T. Naar and Adrian Samish) under their production company Spelling-Goldberg Productions for the ABC Television Network. Spelling-Goldberg productions were behind an array of great shows that they produced ranging from "The Rookies", and "SWAT" to name a few.

Interesting points about this show. "Starsky & Hutch" premiered as a pilot 90-minute movie that aired as the "ABC Movie of the Week" on April 30, 1975. It was a smash hit and so successful that the network gave the greenlight for this as a weekly series on September 10, 1975. So successful that it was nominated the Golden Globe in 1976 for Best Television Series and won the People's Choice Award in 1976 as Overall Favorite Television Program(tied with another ABC show "Welcome Back Kotter that same year). The series starred David Soul(coming off another TV-series "Here Come The Brides",and "Owen Marshall:Counselor At Law")and Paul Michael-Glaser(a former daytime serial actor who crossed over in theatrical films starring in the Oscar nominated "Fiddler on the Roof",and his guest star appearances on television series like "Kojak", "Cannon","The Streets of San Francisco","The Rockford Files",and "Toma")as undercover detectives who work for the Los Angeles Police Department under the supervision watch of Captain Dobey(Bernie Hamilton). The informant was the street-wise/educated sidekick Huggy Bear(Antonio Fargas) who know what crimes were committed before Starsky and Hutch and even Captain Dobey solve them. There cases ranged from police corruption to murders, rapists, cults, bank robbers, and whatever else was creeping in the streets of modern day Los Angeles in the mid-1970's. This was a series that was action-packed bringing in big time guest stars with superb acting,superb direction and excellent production values.

The show had a excellent premise in its first couple of seasons(Micheal Mann wrote and directed the first four episodes for Season 1)with some big time directors ranging from George McCowan, Earl Bellamy, Don Weis, to Sutton Roley, Jack Starrett, Fernando Lamas, Barry Shear, Leo Penn, Dick Moder, Michael Schultz, and Ivan Dixon. Even Paul Michael-Glaser and David Soul were behind the camera for various episodes. Big time writers from William Blinn, Michael Fisher, Rick Edelstein, Ron Friedman, to Edward J. Lakso, Robert I. Holt, James Schmerer, Amanda J. Green, to Jackson Gillis, Mann Rubin, Jeff Kanter, Dan Ullman, and Sidney Ellis. Not to mention Paul Michael-Glaser who also wrote an episode for the series.

Not to mention the guest stars ranging from Suzanne Somers, Alex Rocco, Frank Converse, Stephen McNally, Janet Margolin, Lynda Carter, Will Geer, Joan Blondell, Roger E. Mosley, Ron Moody, George Dzundza, Carl Betz, Albert Paulsen, Karen Valentine, Val Avery, John Ritter, Morgan Woodward, Malachi Throne, Kim Cattrall, Gary Lockwood, Samantha Eggar, Don Gordon, Philip Michael-Thomas, Yvonne Craig, Calvin Lockhart, Scatman Crothers, Bill Duke, Edward James-Olmos, Al White and many more.

Several good episodes do stand out from this series that included the series premiered pilot episode "Savage Sunday"(Season 1, Episode 1). The best episodes included "The Set-Up",Parts 1 and 2(Season 2, Episodes 16 and 17); "The Fix"(Season 1, Episode 5); "The Plague",Parts 1 & 2(Season 3, Episodes 8 and 9); "The Hostages"(Season 1, Episode 15); "Death Rides"(Season 1, Episode 3); "Starsky and Hutch are Guilty"(Season 2, Episode 25); "A Coffin For Starsky"(Season 1, Episode 21); "Targets With A Badge",Parts 1 & 2(Season 4, Episodes 18 and 19); "The Trap"(Season 3, Episode 15); "The Shootout"(Season 1, Episode 14); "The Bloodbath" (Season 2, Episode 14); "Hutchinson For Murder One"(Season 3, Episode 18); "Satan's Witches"(Season 3, Episode 16); "The Committee"(Season 2, Episode 21); "The Trap"(Season 3, Episode 15); "Death In A Different Place"(Season 3, Episode 5); "The Hostages"(Season 1, Episode 15);and the final episode of the series "Sweet Revenge"(Season 4, Episode 22). The worst episodes of "Starsky and Hutch"...."Murder At Sea",Parts 1 & 2(Season 2, Episodes 3 and 4); "Huggy Bear and the Turkey"(Season 2, Episode 20); "Ballad For A Blue Lady"(Season 4,Episode 14); "The Golden Angel(Season 4, Episode 15);and "The Bounty Hunter"(Season 1,Episode 22).

ABC kept moving the show around in different time slots to find its audience which was very successful during its entire four year-run with Season 1 on Wednesday nights for the 1975-1976 season. The next season it moved to Saturday nights for the next two seasons. The final season saw the show moved again to Tuesday nights until its cancellation in 1979. The show that eventually replaced "Starsky & Hutch" after four seasons was another Aaron Spelling produced series...the short-lived science fiction/drama "The Lazarus Syndrome" that lasted one season.

As with most cop/buddy shows of the 70s, the plots were pretty generic, and this was no exception. What made the show for most people was the characters. The chemistry between Starsky, and Hutch was people liked, not to mention the flaming red Ford Torino! Where I lived, Starsky, and Hutch became another word for best friends, if you were a guy, (or Laverne, and Shirley for women.) So the writers worked the friendship angle into the plot, as opposed to being just another shootem'up cop show, and unlike the people involved with 'The Dukes of Hazzard', they knew the people were the real stars of the show, not the car.

This was another tv show that had an influence on our culture. Ford sold thousands of copies of the Starsky, and Hutch Torinos (Forgetting the fact the Torino was Starsky's. Hutch drove a beat up 73 Ford custom!), and they redefined cool. If you have a Starsky, and Hutch Torino, HANG ON TO IT! Not only is it worth some major bucks, but it is an icon of our culture.

As a second-generation fan I discovered this TV Gem from repeats in the mid-nineties. I've just finished watched the final series and you can't help but think that a fifth season would have rounded it off rather nicely, 'Sweet Revenge' intentionally leaves the door wide open for the fifth series but with it's cancellation we'll never know what becomes of our favourite duo; does Starsky return to work? do they quit, get their happy ending in the shape of happy love affairs that's not doomed for once - what?!

The dynamic of Paul Michael Glaser and David Soul as the loyal, live-wired cops has hardly ever been equalled: Glaser brings passion and humour - not to mention the sexy strut and a smile to die for - into Dave Starsky. While David Soul brings humility and quiet strength into Ken Hutchinson, together they really are quite something. Then you have the coolest sidekick on '70's TV Huggy Bear played by Antonio Fargas though acquiring odd clothes he usually hogged the best lines! The second and third season is really when Starsky & Hutch is at it's finest: whether it goofing around in Las Vegas or on an exotic island, the stories are gripping in one minute then sensitive and serious in the next. My particular favourites are 'Murder on Playboy Island', Starsky's Lady, 'A Body worth Guarding', 'Murder at Sea' and 'Gillian'

First Season is slow but has some memorable episodes, the fourth is very gritty, realist and uneven at times. Showcasing the actors' restlessness. But episodes like Targets without a badge and of course Sweet Revenge proved that the show still had some sparkle left, pity really......