Cop TV Shows and Me

Last night PBS ran a dandy documentary on the vintage TV cop dramas, a.k.a. trip down memory lane for some of us. Dragnet and The Untouchables were the first ones I ever saw in their reruns. I liked Jack Webb's Adam-12 more than his Dragnet. Somehow I never got around to tuning in Mannix, I Spy (big Cosby fan), Mod Squad, or Mission Impossible. The Man from UNCLE was pretty cool, as I recall it. Kate Jackson, later an Angel, was entertaining in the short-lived cop show The Rookies (not covered by PBS). To tie this blog post back to writing, I liked the sultry Angie Dickinson in Policewoman which was based on the novel by the late Dorothy Uhnak. I had the fun opportunity to interview the lively Ms. Uhnak who didn't much appreciate the tacky TV adaptation of her book. I guess the lady cops Cagney and Lacey ran a few years later. Same thing with Baretta starring Robert Blake and The Blue Ghost, a staple viewing for me. The intense Jack Lord in Hawaii Five-0 was made exotic by its tropical location. I liked the classy Rockford File (still do). The shout outs were cool.