First watched : Uncertain
I've really no idea where or when I first caught an episode of this one.
The image of the City of Brotherly Love had already been effectively blown away by Dirty Harry; it was now the dark and dangerous place where Scorpio could erase you without warning. This series furthered its reputation as a hotbed of crime
Instead of Eastwood though you had the older more conventional Mike Stone played by big-nosed character actor Karl Malden, veteran of many a Brando movie teaching the ropes to his impetuous partner Steve Keller played by the young Michael Douglas.
The series began in 1972 and was popular but was effectively scuppered by the success of One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest which Douglas produced. He promptly quit the show to begin his film career. He was replaced by Richard Hatch as a different character but the audience dropped away and the show was cancelled in 1977.
After that Malden gradually dropped out of view although he resurrected the role in a TV movie in 1992 when he was eighty. He died in 2009 aged 97. We know what happened to Douglas.
To say that the series ran for five years and featured a top ( if fairly unlikable ) Hollywood star it's little celebrated these days with no sign of a film adaptation in the works.
No comments:
Post a Comment