10/25/2024
It's a trip watching these gimmick detective shows from the 70s. It was a whole genre; private eyes - or occasionally a deep undercover detective - who had some twist that was supposed to make them come across as quirky or interesting. Longstreet was blind, Ironside was in a wheelchair, none of Charlie's Angels owned a bra, Ellery Queen was a mystery writer, Cannon was morbidly obese, Rockford was an ex con, Baretta was a stone cold gutter thug with a heart of gold who had a partner named Fred who was a cockatoo, Barnaby Jones was 8 years older than baseball, and so on.
All of those were hour long shows; none of those would be 10 minute long shows if you handed the guy a smart phone. They wouldn't need to keep stopping to use a pay phone, wouldn't need to go to the police department to get a bad guy's rap sheet, wouldn't need to go to the county assessor's office to get a map, wouldn't need to come up with a way to hide a 70 pound video camera, wouldn't need to hire a helicopter to get a bird's eye view of a bad guy's secret lair, etc etc.
But the best part of watching those shows is watching well known actors back when they were still unknown actors. Lots of 'em pop up as guest stars, or in bit parts. I watched an episode of Barnaby Jones last week because the on screen guide said Larry Hagman was in it; turned out an even younger Tommy Lee Jones was too. And you'll find that kind of thing in all of those shows. There's a smokin' hot brunette Loni Anderson, looking like she's not all that far removed from being her high school's prom queen, there's a very young Nick Nolte, there's Ed Harris sporting a Dorothy Hamill pixie cut hairdo (or hairdon't), there's a 27 year old tough guy Jonathan Banks already looking like a middle aged tough guy Jonathan Banks, there's a 25 year old Gerald McRaney who doesn't know he's a tough guy yet, there's teenage hippie Harrison Ford.
Established stars back when they were just starting out. It's worth having to wade through an hour of 70s clothes, home decor, and big ol' land barge Fords, Buicks, and Pontiacs just to see 'em.
