1970s Cult TV Series

[TheRoadWarrior]

I've been watching Kojak, still gritty and realistic, doesn't seem to have dated much at all, quality. One of the aspects to it I've noticed this time, is that Kojak is not invincible, and the villains aren't always wholly villainous, there are shadings and it rings true for it. Great acting all around. Who loves you baby.

So far, at the end of Season 1 and soon beginning the Season 2 dvds.



Have also got through an entire Season of Streets of San Francisco, which reminds you at the beginning that "THIS IS A QUINN MARTIN PRODUCTION...." and is divided up with superimposed Act divisions on screen, five acts, or 4 and an epilogue.


Also watched a few episodes of SECRET ARMY, this is a Brit series, from the same period, but it's full of brilliant writing and tension, overshadowed by ALLO ALLO, the parody -based TV series that has been remembered for its punchlines in the UK. And was repeated for year on year.

[TheRoadWarrior]

Just to add- Secret Army was a joint UK/Belgium production. This was about getting downed UK airmen back to Britain after they'd been shot down by the Germans during WWII.

However, the plots involing a circle of Gestapo and Luftwaffe officers who often conflict and a little cafe which operates as the hub of filtering the airmen back to blighty. What comes over is just how ruthless, dangerous, and unlike an heroic war film life would have been, with people being shot, even by the Belgium escape network, if they are even potential plants.
But it's great writing IMHO, a masterclass. The dvds aren't cheap though, I've bought Season 1 and may eventually sell it to get the whole bunch, having ensured it holds up.
It does.
We don't get writing as good as this too often on TV. The Golden Age was definitely GOLDEN.

[thehamish]

Sapphire & Steel. Metalphysical detectives? Existential bureacrats? Who cares? The strangest programme ever shown on ITV imho, it concernes the "adventures" of two "agents" who without fanfare plunge us into a wild universe where faceless phantoms, ghostly submarines and psychic duels are all in a days work for David McCallum & Joanna Lumley (yes, Ducky Mallard & Patsy fae Ab Fab cough cough). Not for everyone....mates though it was dull and boring (grrrrrrrrrrrrr) merely because their minds have been irreversibly damaged by the MTV style editing that has seeped in everywhere nowadays...i tell ye, twere all fields round 'ere etc haha....AAAnyway, a genuine one off, and it's not that costly

http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_...hire+%26+steel

[TheRoadWarrior]

I remember it Hamish, Sapphire and Steel: there was an episode, really creepy and atmospheric, where the Black Death formed the backdrop, there was something very threatening, seem to recall something about a parallel dimension and kids singing the black death nursery rhyme, "ring around the rosey" and this was repeated throughout the episode. I don't think we got to see what was so terrifying, which was why it seemed so effective. Tension building.

The atmosphere was great, I've since looked at it and considered buying the dvds.

[thehamish]

I remember it Hamish, Sapphire and Steel: there was an episode, really creepy and atmospheric, where the Black Death formed the backdrop, there was something very threatening, seem to recall something about a parallel dimension and kids singing the black death nursery rhyme, "ring around the rosey" and this was repeated throughout the episode. I don't think we got to see what was so terrifying, which was why it seemed so effective. Tension building.

The atmosphere was great, I've since looked at it and considered buying the dvds.

Indeed. to look at it now, with it's unhurried pace and literate dialogue, how far we've regressed......yes, there are still decent programmes out there, but nothing is as strange or disturbing on purely an instinctual level to my mind....and gladly the remake which I heard about a dogs age ago seems to have fallen by the wayside. Phew!!

[TheRoadWarrior]

You wonder what it is that has taken things down so much, as you say... there are good things around, but there seems to be sincerity missing for me, you can see what they've sat around the table and discussed at times, this will work, let'sdo this or that...

At times I've thought, well, most industries, or art has its peaks, and maybe we're short on ideas, as most things have been done, but I don't think that's it, I've no idea what it is, but it's something I think about from time to time. The other aspect is, I guess, that the older programmes will have aged, with time, there's just no way to prevent "dating" but this should put the new stuff in a stronger position to compete, but it just shows, it's not just about camera anges, set-design and the various filters and whatnot, it's something about acting, idea, vibe or sharpness. And again, I'll be damned if I get what it is, I've tried to take the generational bias line, and accuse myself of not moving with the flow, but I'm not like that, so being open minded, if it's good it's good and it works and if it doens't you tend to see though it fairly quickly.

That said, I think folks can drop their standards, such is the craving for entertainment!

[TheRoadWarrior]

Oh, and I remember having a brief spat with with some guy on a forum about The Planet of the Apes, old version, or ORIGINAL, vs the new, and he was mocking the original, and I thought, what is it that you are seeing, the sfX, the look alone, you're not getting at the subtlety, or intelligence, just the new or perhaps - newly minted aspects of the latest film, ever considered how the new film will look in 20 years time, will anybody care?