What happened to the good old cop shows of the 60's, 70's and 80's?
A little while ago now I saw an episode of Life on Mars, which coincidentally (as I hadn't intended to watch it) was the first episode of the second series. I fell in love with it and watched it loyally every week until the end of the series. I recently bought the boxset so I could see the first series too and loved it even more. I tried watching Ashes to Ashes but I found there was far too much emotion for it to be a proper cop show. Even Life on Mars still had a fair bit of emotion attatched, but not so strongly, so it can be forgiven. After a while of flicking through the TV guide to see if there were any other modern ones (to no avail) I decided to look up some of the old cop shows my parents often go on about, to see if they were as good as the Life on Mars.
Oh my.
There are so many good shows! With proper toughies and plotlines that draw you in hook, line and sinker. Some of the plots are so creative and exciting, with unusual characters and enticingly stereotypical villains and 'goodies'. You can always tell which shows are American as the people are always immaculately dressed. I have a deep interest in cars and watching old car chases is great for car spotting. Some of the stories are like watching an episode of Thunderbirds, they're so wonderfully far fetched. Some, on the other hand, could be quite dark.
So I thought i'd share this discovery to see if other people love them as much as me. Give them a chance, I promise you its worth it. Lately i've been watching a lot of 'Ironside', which is about a disabled Inspector who got shot and became paralysed from the waist down. They made LOADS of episodes and I haven't seen a bad one yet. Then there's 'Kojak', 'Minder', 'The Sweeney', 'The Professionals', 'Cannon', 'Macleod', 'Starsky and Hutch', 'Cagney and Lacey', 'Randall and Hopkirk deceased', 'Miami Vice' and 'Serpico', amongst many many others. Give them a try!
If you've already watched any of these, or have tried watching any of them since i've posted this, let me know what you think of them. I'd love for them to become popular again, imagine how great it would be if the constant stream of crap on TV (e.g "Big Brother" and "Paris Hilton's My New BFF" or something equally mind numbing) was replaced by stuff actually worth watching!
My favorite old cop show is Columbo. I guess it's more of a detective show rather than a cop show though. The unusual thing about it is that you're always shown who the killer is, and how he committed the murder at the start of the episode. If you think that ruins it, think again. What makes the show interesting is watching Columbo and the murderer play cat and mouse with each other, as he gets closer to the truth and eventually confronts (or lays a trap for) the culprit. There were also shitloads of guest stars. William Shatner and Johnny Cash have both played murderers on this shit.
[img]http://images.eonline.com/eol_images/Entire_Site/20081216/293.ad.PeterFalk.Columbo.121608.jpg[/img]
This fucker doesn't look very sharp and he acts all simple-minded and harmless to fool the suspects. But inside that head of his lies a crime solving computer on steroids. He also has a bitchin' car.
I liked Hawaii Five-O.
Op if you're referring to the american life on mars then i am dissapointed.
Miami Vice
Yeah I should've probably rephrased it to be cop AND detective shows. I know what you mean about Columbo, its great watching them try and work out who the murderer is when you already know.
And I never saw the american Life on Mars, but after seeing the original one I doubt that the american interpretation could ever be as good. Bit like when they tried to recreate The Office. The humor is lost.
[QUOTE=Cheeza666;24105304]Yeah I should've probably rephrased it to be cop AND detective shows. I know what you mean about Columbo, its great watching them try and work out who the murderer is when you already know.
And I never saw the american Life on Mars, but after seeing the original one I doubt that the american interpretation could ever be as good. Bit like when they tried to recreate The Office. The humor is lost.[/QUOTE]
the US Life on Mars was atrocious. Should never have tried to remake such a fantastic UK show.
The US Office however is so much better than the UK Office it's ridiculous.
[img]http://img75.imageshack.us/img75/5161/5ocastcy4.jpg[/img]
Fuck yeah. I hope the remake isn't a disgrace... but it will be anyway.
[QUOTE=Ztriker7;24092395]My favorite old cop show is Columbo. I guess it's more of a detective show rather than a cop show though. The unusual thing about it is that you're always shown who the killer is, and how he committed the murder at the start of the episode. If you think that ruins it, think again. What makes the show interesting is watching Columbo and the murderer play cat and mouse with each other, as he gets closer to the truth and eventually confronts (or lays a trap for) the culprit. There were also shitloads of guest stars. William Shatner and Johnny Cash have both played murderers on this shit.
[img]http://images.eonline.com/eol_images/Entire_Site/20081216/293.ad.PeterFalk.Columbo.121608.jpg[/img]
This fucker doesn't look very sharp and he acts all simple-minded and harmless to fool the suspects. But inside that head of his lies a crime solving computer on steroids. He also has a bitchin' car.[/QUOTE]
Columbo kicks ass.
[QUOTE=whazat!!!;24107523][img]http://img75.imageshack.us/img75/5161/5ocastcy4.jpg[/img]
Fuck yeah. I hope the remake isn't a disgrace... but it will be anyway.[/QUOTE]
Remakes rarely manage to equal an original, let alone better it.
[QUOTE=Ztriker7;24092395]My favorite old cop show is Columbo. I guess it's more of a detective show rather than a cop show though. The unusual thing about it is that you're always shown who the killer is, and how he committed the murder at the start of the episode. If you think that ruins it, think again. What makes the show interesting is watching Columbo and the murderer play cat and mouse with each other, as he gets closer to the truth and eventually confronts (or lays a trap for) the culprit. There were also shitloads of guest stars. William Shatner and Johnny Cash have both played murderers on this shit.
This fucker doesn't look very sharp and he acts all simple-minded and harmless to fool the suspects. But inside that head of his lies a crime solving computer on steroids. He also has a bitchin' car.[/QUOTE]
Columbo is awesome, I remember watching it a lot as a kid.
Ha, apparently Jack Lord was my mum's first crush. I see what she means.. he made Hawaii Five-O perfect ;D
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