Greatest cop shows

I think Rockford was a specific rebellion against Mannix, who had a secretary who looked like an Esquire model, drove a shiny Lincoln convertible and worked out of an office that looked like an art museum.

 

I also liked Nash Bridges. But it was the 90s and I was a teenager. I didn't know any better.

 

A couple shows near the end of the run of Rockford, they had Jimbo attending the national convention of P.I.'s.

This was pre-Magnum so Tom Selleck guest starred in his ultra-perfect Lance White role, but it would have been fun if they had had some of the super-suave 60s P.I.'s like Mannix make cameo guest shots as conference attendees.

Maybe have Mannix down on his luck, rumpled, unshaven, still driving a 1968 Lincoln Continental (in 1978-79).

Supposedly a similar storyline was in the works in the late 80s on Magnum, and Rockford was going to make a guest appearance, but James Garner was in the middle of his extended bitter lawsuit against Universal, which distributed both shows, so it never came off.

 

Hallmark is having an Rockford marathon today. It holds up very well today including the picture quality on the HD channel. You could actually tell the beer Rocky pulled from the fridge was a taped over Coors can. It also is a kick to see the old LA scenery.

 

The Police Squad pilot is on YouTube.

 

Such a great show, and so sadly short-lived.
And almost no one recalls that it was a failed TV show before it became a movie.

 

As for police shows, I've taken to watching 'Elementary' reruns.
I like it.

 

I just got started on those recently. Really like it.

 

The Zuckers love to repeat the quote an executive gave when they cancelled it - "Police Squad doesn't work as a TV show because you have to watch it."

 

I was very young when the series started, but still remember watching it. Caught a few episodes Saturday. Was great to see again.

 

I work in TV so I actually get what the exec meant and it's probably a valid point... but yeah, it's a absurd thing to tell someone.

 

heh, Yeah, they pointed out that the executive meant that people were usually doing other shit when they "watched" TV. By the way, for the Police Squad fans out there, the commentary tracks for the Naked Gun movies and Airplane are worth tracking down. They talk about a bunch of funny issues they had with the making of the movies, like how Pete Rose was their first pick instead of Kareem, and how TV stations kept asking them for permission to use the footage of OJ on the drug boat after he was charged with murder.