Great TV Series that you wish hadn't gone wrong and died...

[Augusta]

I spotted somewhere that yet ANOTHER Blu-Ray release of this series came out (last year?) during the pandemic, and it brought back some memories.

Jan Michael Vincent is one of those rare performers who I suspect mostly ISN'T performing when he's on screen.  So much of his "persona" is the real deal Vincent, not Vincent "acting", so it was hard for a 2-dimensional brain like Hollywood to find perfect roles for him.  Beachboy, surfer, beautiful man for outer-gender fantasy magazines, worldy and foul-tempered, bitter and dangerous, fun-loving but dangerous... all of these were part of Jan's real-nature fandom, so many were also roles he found he could fit well into as well.  
Airwolf came late into his career (granted, way too late for him), and compared with the rest of the shows the 80's could produce, I put Airwolf up on the same level of boldness as Miami Vice.  No, NOT as superb in its genre as Miami Vice was in its genre, but just like Vice, Airwolf had no competitors in its genre.  If handled well, it could have RULED its own style of action storyline and atmosphere.  
Even though it was a direct take-away from Roy Scheider's excellent Blue Thunder film, it successfully carried itself on a separate path from Blue Thunder, and from that lousy Thunder tv spin-off on NBC.  Scheider's film addressed the ethical issue of the US having an "insertion-assassination weapon" at its disposal,  by having Scheider intervene and destroy it.  (The Blue Thunder tv show just turned the copter into a flying Kit-car tripping around city adventures...)  In Airwolf the weapon is taken out of the US's hands in a different way.  
Roy Scheider made his character damn likable and honorable to cheer for (underdog whistleblower versus big bad government trying to kill him).  Airwolf's lead character was a near-impossibly callous son of a sloth.  Selfish, blind-spotted, sexually rude and un-apologetic to women, and completely removed from that making-new-friends crap that we mainstream human beings value so much in life.  No joke, Stringfellow Hawke is better left on his own, living in his seclusion--he's not just doing that for an act, and they don't write the character to "warm up and be nicer" as the episodes progress---the intention is to keep him an "unlikable" lead, and make his friend Dominic the person who can pull him into the humanitarian zone from time to time, and get Strignfellow to do right by Dominic's conscience (Dominic's, because Stringfellow doesn't get slowed down by any conscience of his own).  
For this role, a role not found ANYWHERE else in 1980's series, Jan Michael Vincent fits perfectly.  His voice at this time in life has lost all the beach/surfer sexy sandyness, and now just sounds like released-from-upstate penetentary sandyness.  Jan's face has always looked like it was held too hard against a rubber tire and got stretched a bit---but now that he's been drinking in his private life so long (a problem that eventually cashes him out) the stretching marks are looking more like torn marks now.  He's perfect Stringfellow Hawke.

Airwolf doesn't hang around in Blue Thunder civilian territory---it chooses the Cold War territory that's still at the tail end of the 80's, where US and USSR still wish they could find any little tiebreaker to give them an advantage and not stay stuck in the Mutually-Assured-Destruction of nukes.  A stealth vehicle that can cross your backyard, change your sensitive country's military situation, and leave with zero evidence to identify it, is the unfair advantage a government wants.  IF the writers/producer can keep the episodes dancing in that "yes, but is that ethically fair" environment, NO other tv show in the 80's (or even the 90's) would come close to comparing with it.  
This Hungarian music composer Sylvester Levay, comes up with this eerie, silicon-chip, heartless-computers tainted music theme (a concept you won't hear used in popular action movies until at least 10 years later when movies like Terminator-2 Judgment Day finally arrive).  Levay's music isn't simply engineered---it's surgical, unsympathetic, is completely unromantic or heroic about flying or fancy piloting, and is all about the efficiency of a machine---even while the machine is blowing up enemy units left and right.  It perfectly portrays the weapon the show is about.  It's callous, and the audiences end up loving that theme music.

The way the directors/editors chose to film the machine doing its work, involves these really quick-cut edits of a air-to-surface round impacting a tank over here, or a Shilka over there, and not even sticking around to embellish the explosion or see much of the debris flying---it's just, round-out---Destroyed--move to the next.  Round-out----Destroyed--flip to the next.  Hey, dude, there were people in that fighter plane, and you just popped his life away so fast it didn't mean a human thing to you!  Jeez-uss!   The filming and editing of Airwolf in combat is (beautifully) cold and callous.  An unfeeling opposite to anything you may have seen in Firefox or Blue Thunder fights.  I sense the filmmakers KNOW this and work it deliberately, to the point where one of the only times you see the camera showing a whole explosion is when Jan's character makes this one kill that's personal to him, and after the target is killed, Jan goes on pumping repeated rounds into the place where the man's body is all fragmented by now.  And a hot-blooded kill like that only happens in the pilot episode, and never again.

CALLOUS is the word that Jan's character needed to show, to make this show unique.  Callous is the word every other episode needed to retain, and both succeeded in the first season.  There was a really sly tension between characters, a feeling that authorities couldn't "assign" this weapon and it's crew to go out and do things for you---you had to bargain to use the weapon.  And there were a few times in Season-1 where the crew would turn its back for one second and discover the government was trying to retake full ownership of the weapon through deceit.  NOT the comical action-packed "big-brother watching" deceit we see in a A-Team episode or Night Rider episode.  More of a Cold War spy-style set up with photos that aren't really true, or meeting places that are ambushes, and military-intel that is secretly a year old.
Airwolf had the wide-open opportunity to be more believable than any tech-action show of its kind in the 80's or 90's.  Let's face it, the ability to perch down into someone's private courtyard and riddle every house window, man/woman/child, sentry or king, was never impossible----any Apache style helicopter today can do that.  But everyone will know a US Apache did it.  The "airwolf" permits you to exit with no evidence to identify you did it,... and THAT invites the temptation to use the weapon for political wrong, or civilian assassination,... and that's a platform a government would be desperate to have full possession of.  The lives of civilians, sporadically in Season 1 and 2, become nearly as callously flicked off as the machine can callously flick off targets during its combat scenes.  This series is RIPE with good opportunities for some short-but-satisfying Cold War discussions. 

But it fell apart and failed.  Will Hollywook ever grow a brain???! (Yes, HollyWOOK, not wood)  Season-2 dipped into civilian land (the issue of how inappropriate this weapon would become if civilians are involved was great for a one-shot Blue Thunder film, but NOT as workable a theme for an ongoing tv series).  By Season-3, the damn machine was coming to the aid of unwed mother, breaking up bar fights,...
...And even without the poor decisions to change storyline theme,  like I said, for Jan Michael Vincent's alcoholism, this show just came along way too damn late.   Without Jan, you don't have a callous leading character, the machine (which is practically filmed as an agile extension of the callous pilot's destructive skill) ceases to be nearly as ruthless in combat, Earnest Borgnine's role as the counter-conscience for the pilot, all loses a reason to exist. HENCE, Season-4 gets rid of all those characters,... and became an attempt to make a lame horse suffer in pain.  

I would hate to own this series on disc---but I'd love to own this series on disc, LOL.  Such a promising show, copied from someone else's stealth helo movie but succeeding in building its own POV on the concept.  It just needed luck, and didn't get it.  Bittersweet thoughts of Jan and Airwolf both.  

[Mr. Calderon]

Airwolf was a great tv show.

[Mr. Calderon]

Okaaaaaay...ferrariman gonna kill me...but fastlane was good too.

[Ferrariman]

13 hours ago, Mr. Calderon said:

Okaaaaaay...ferrariman gonna kill me...but fastlane was good too.

[Mr. Calderon]

5 hours ago, Ferrariman said:

I was wrong. Im still Alive.

 

Hmmm i died on Season 1...

[Tom]

vor 10 Minuten schrieb Mr. Calderon:

I was wrong. Im still Alive.

You know why?

@Ferrariman is an educated think-positive kinda fella and he knows pretty well that "Dade County Fastlane" was one of the working titles of Miami Vice, thus he simply thought you meant MV anyway.

[Mr. Calderon]

6 hours ago, Tom said:

You know why?

@Ferrariman is an educated think-positive kinda fella and he knows pretty well that "Dade County Fastlane" was one of the working titles of Miami Vice, thus he simply thought you meant MV anyway.

Cmon...fastlane is Miami vice for the 2000's

 

DROP THE SHOTGUN NOW, LOU! DROP THE...OUCH! :P 

[James]

A more recent show by the USA Network called Graceland, my Burn Notice replacement after Burn Notice ended, filmed in the Ft Lauderdale and Miami area however was based in LA - it was about federal agents living together and going undercover. I thought it was a pretty damn good show with great writing and some surprising twists, but never racked up the ratings and got cancelled after only 3 seasons. Probably chose the wrong name for the show, people would probably think it's about Elvis and not cops and overlook it. To make things worse, they cancelled it pretty much a cliff hanger. It was so unique and had a great direction style which I was really into. It was almost what I'd imagine Miami Vice to be in the modern era, maybe some Point Break vibes too and Miami Vice Leap of Faith. 

I wish it had at least 2 more seasons, it definitely had more in it. 

[Tony D.]

I wish Nash Bridges had a revival. 

[Ferrariman]

12 hours ago, Tony D. said:

I wish Nash Bridges had a revival. 

Better if it wasn't cancelled way back when!

[Augusta]

1 hour ago, Ferrariman said:

Better if it wasn't cancelled way back when!

Yeah, but I never watched more than 40 minutes of Nash Bridges, yet I know it was a darned quirky good series.  So, what IS the official reason why a show like that got canceled?  
I never accept the ho-jo that critics and Hollywood marketers like to push sometimes, that "the show had run its course".

There's no inevitable  'course run' in a tv series---as a substitute for perhaps losing creative people or not being able to find further writing to honor the quality the show started with.  
Is that what happened with Nash?  They couldn't find new writings as satisfying as the ones that first made the show popular?

[Ferrariman]

1 hour ago, Augusta said:

Yeah, but I never watched more than 40 minutes of Nash Bridges, yet I know it was a darned quirky good series.  So, what IS the official reason why a show like that got canceled?  
I never accept the ho-jo that critics and Hollywood marketers like to push sometimes, that "the show had run its course".

There's no inevitable  'course run' in a tv series---as a substitute for perhaps losing creative people or not being able to find further writing to honor the quality the show started with.  
Is that what happened with Nash?  They couldn't find new writings as satisfying as the ones that first made the show popular?

Nash’s ratings were just fine but some genius at CBS cancelled it because they were looking to attract a “younger audience”    Total BS if you ask me! 

[Robbie C.]

CBS has never really been known for its smarts in this area.

[Mr. Calderon]

Theres nb on yt

[wolfie1996]

Did nobody ever watch "Wiseguy"? The first series was brilliant! However slowly became  less consistently good and by series 4 "Vinnie" (Ken Wahl) had left. I think that series only had 9 episodes which proved people weren't interested without him. No fancy cars, guns, MTV  music, clothes, but certainly to start with some excellent writing and acting. I loved it. (And still watch the dvds.)

[airtommy]

The best TV show I've seen since Miami Vice is Michael Mann's Robbery Homicide Division.

CBS execs hated the show from the beginning.  They gave it a bad time slot and no promotion.  When it was airing most Vice fans didn't even know it existed.  CBS was looking for an excuse to cancel it.  When the star Tom Sizemore got arrested, CBS seized the "opportunity" and ended the show halfway through the first season.

Sadly, its run was too short to make it to DVD.

 

 

 

Edited July 22, 2022 by airtommy

[MrsEvanFreed]

On 7/22/2022 at 2:01 PM, wolfie1996 said:

Did nobody ever watch "Wiseguy"? The first series was brilliant! However slowly became  less consistently good and by series 4 "Vinnie" (Ken Wahl) had left. I think that series only had 9 episodes which proved people weren't interested without him. No fancy cars, guns, MTV  music, clothes, but certainly to start with some excellent writing and acting. I loved it. (And still watch the dvds.)

Mill Creek botched the dvd release of that show.

[MrsEvanFreed]

NBC's Boomtown

 

Outstanding cop drama, that used the Rashomon style of storytelling the first season.

Then NBC made the creators  dropped it the 2nd season, made dumb casting changes and it became routine and generic.  

In hindsight, I think they should've shopped it to a cable network. 

 

 

[Mr. Calderon]

On 7/22/2022 at 3:56 PM, airtommy said:

The best TV show I've seen since Miami Vice is Michael Mann's Robbery Homicide Division.

CBS execs hated the show from the beginning.  They gave it a bad time slot and no promotion.  When it was airing most Vice fans didn't even know it existed.  CBS was looking for an excuse to cancel it.  When the star Tom Sizemore got arrested, CBS seized the "opportunity" and ended the show halfway through the first season.

Sadly, its run was too short to make it to DVD.

 

 

 

CBS execs and me too.

[Augusta]

I watched Hawkeye for the entire 1st season, (...no, not the MARVEL Hawkeye---the earlier guy with a bow and arrow). I consider it the sweetest most gentle action series Stephen Cannell ever delivered to the tv tube.  

It came to tv right after the Last of the Mohicans movie, so obviously Hollywood and Cannell were hoping to cash in on the success of that story format.  All the usual "indian-fighter" Brits-vs-Frenchman soldier musketball intrigue is in there, but with Ms. Carter adding that soft, Texas, jewel-eyed   brunette innocence and morality to the series. (I'd give all my prize beaver pelts to see Ms. Lynda Carter gussied-up so well in frills and corsets again).  

Add to that beauty the fact that this was filmed up in the Vancouver area, a piece of Mother Earth's natural delight.  
It only lasted ONE season, before being canceled, but it was ALL-season.  I mean they filmed throughout the entire tv season, so that was the real deal autumn and the real deal winter you saw on the show.  
To add to that beauty, I read someone explain it came out just in the BEGINNING of CGI effects introduction to the filming industry, so this is one of the last tv series to be completely without any CGI.  CGI-clean!
To add to that camera work, it also by chance happened to be one of the best SOUNDING stereo sound effects tracks I remember hearing since MV started the serious stereo trend 10 years earlier.

The characters, (whether coon-capped, Brits or Indian) had a LOT of untapped potential, were wide open for some truly meaty friendship or romance development, and I wish they had pumped the first season more for those opportunities (especially with Rodney Grant's natural flavor and speaking of his lines--nice choice for the role).  
But I read some scattered reports that the budget costs for British Columbia were PAINful, and that Lynda was taking a toll from the cold and the long spans of time away from her family while they film way up there, and how all those things contributed to Cannell throwing together a (yuck)  "story wrap-up" episode, and letting the show drop away. 

[Kladdagh]

 Lynda Carter  ... Hum ... Sorry 

[Dadrian]

3 hours ago, Kladdagh said:

 Lynda Carter  ... Hum ... Sorry 

I would definitely need jumper cables!  

[Robbie C.]

2 hours ago, Dadrian said:

I would definitely need jumper cables!  

With her, no jumper cables required.

[Ferrariman]

12 hours ago, Augusta said:

 (I'd give all my prize beaver pelts to see Ms. Lynda Carter gussied-up so well in frills and corsets again).  

Check out “Bobby Jo and the Outlaw”  if you’d like to see the lovely Ms. Carter minus the frills and corset! 

[wolfie1996]

On 7/28/2022 at 9:38 PM, MrsEvanFreed said:

Mill Creek botched the dvd release of that show.

Do you mean the full 4 series they sold? I got that as well as both parts of series 1. Which I might add was far better presented than the Mill Creek stuff but hey, you have to take what you can get... NO Nights In White Satin in Nobody Gets Out Of Here Alive in either which was exceptionally disappointing as it was a very moving scene, perfectly enhanced by the music used. Luckily someone put the appropriate  scene on Youtube and managed to add back the original music and very moving it is too.I've said on here before now that Sonny's main relationships were with his colleagues and I think it's also true of Vinnie Terranova. The closeness  that developed between him and his "adversary" Sonny Steelgrave was beautifully described as that arc went on. And as a reviewer said, there was no black and white but a thousand shades of grey. I find these relationships more convincing and more enduring than the male/female ones. They're like warriors. It forms a bond.