Favorite 1970s Cop Or Private Detective?

[Cole Thornton]

In a decade that was chock full of great cop and detective programs, which was your favorite? There are many to choose from and since people usually pick one or the other, I decided to combine the two genres. Because if I just post cops, someone will invariably say that they liked Mannix, or Rockford. So that's why I'm combining the "Apples & Oranges" of those fun 1970s cop and private detective shows. Please add any trivia or interesting memories you have of these shows, so that this thread might not sink into oblivion so quickly! :

I should also mention that I chose the most famous and popular shows. If there's someone you like, by all means let us know!

[Stumpy]

Originally posted by Cole Thornton@Jul 28 2005, 02:42 PM
In a decade that was chock full of great cop and detective programs, which was your favorite?* There are many to choose from and since people usually pick one or the other, I decided to combine the two genres.* Because if I just post cops, someone will invariably say that they liked Mannix, or Rockford.* So that's why I'm combining the "Apples & Oranges" of those fun 1970s cop and private detective shows.* Please add any trivia or interesting memories you have of these shows, so that this thread might not sink into oblivion so quickly! :

I should also mention that I chose the most famous and popular shows.* If there's someone you like, by all means let us know!

[snapback]19611[/snapback]

I'm hard pressed to choose between Kojak, Hawaii Five-O and Rockford Files. I liked them all. I guess of the three, Kojak was probably my favorite though. "Who loves ya, baby?". What always surprised me is that almost invariably, Tell Savalas played some kind of a rat (who can forget him in the "Dirty Dozen") but then he comes along and turns in a great portrayal of a NYC cop, for gosh sake.

Police Story was one of my favorite cop shows from that period, though there wasn't a recurring acting role like the others and even the show had no regular schedule.

[Jay J. Foraker]

There were many I liked in this poll, but I picked Cannon because William Conrad was a favorite of mine, especially for his deep, stentorian voice. He was the original Matt Dillon on radio, but because he didn't have a leading man's looks, he was passed over when "Gunsmoke" was being prepared for TV. Conrad was responsible for numerous voice-overs in movies, commercials, etc.
Cheers - Jay

[Hondo Duke Lane]

Who Loves Ya, Baby? Kojak all the way. Liked the others listed but Kojak is the man!

Cheers B)

[Stumpy]

I've been buyin' DVDs of several of those old cop shows. I have the first two seasons of "Columbo", the first season of "Kojak" and the first season of "Miami Vice". So far, only the first seasons of "Kojak" and "Miami Vice" have been released.

[Baby Sister]

Wow, I guess I didn't relize there were so many cop shows on at the time. It was hard to narrow it down to just one to vote for...but I chose Rockford. There is just something about the character I liked. Was Magnum P.I. in the 70's? I think so but not sure...that is my other favorite. I have the first two seasons of it on dvd.


Baby Sis

[ethanedwards]

Hi,
I went for KOJAK,
apart from THE ROCKFORD FILES,
and COLOMBO
STARKEY AND HUTCH, HAWAII FIVE O,
were OK,but Telly Savalas had the edge,
and I think he made a convincing detective.
KOJAK was very popular here in England.

[Emmanuel]

Hi all.

I went for The Rockford Files,
Jimmy Garner is a great actor.
He makes acting look easy.
I loved watching Maverick as a kid,
as well as the movies,
Support your local Sheriff and
Support your local Gunfighter.

I know he made other movies like
The Great Escape.

When I think of him now it's
as Jim Rockford.

Emmanuel.

[Popol Vuh]

Columbo for me. Still enjoy this show.

I could have chosen "other" since my favorite cop/detective show was a German series called "Derrick". Even though this was in German with subtitles and a lot more people in Norway speak English than German this series ran for years here. This is an exception since most of the movies and series shown here are either American or British. In Germany I believe it ran for 24 years.

[Stumpy]

Originally posted by Emmanuel@Jul 29 2005, 06:27 AM
Hi all.

I went for The Rockford Files,
Jimmy Garner is a great actor.
He makes acting look easy.
I loved watching* Maverick as a kid,
as well as the movies,
Support your local Sheriff and
Support your local Gunfighter.

I know he made other movies like
The Great Escape.

When I think of him now it's
as Jim Rockford.

Emmanuel.

[snapback]19653[/snapback]

Hey, Emmanuel, you know who one of my favorite characters was on "Rockford Files"? The sneaky, conniving Angel. I thought he lent a lot of zest to the show.
Same on "Miami Vice". Izzy was one of my favorite characters on that show. : :

[chester7777]

Hm-m-m-m-m . . . we haven't voted yet.

Colombo, Rockford and McGarrett were our favorites, and it's hard to choose just one. We enjoyed some of the others, but just didn't watch them as much.

Baby Sis, Magnum started in 1980 - he was a BIG favorite of ours! If he had been included in the list, the choice would have been that much more difficult.

And if you go back a few years, another favorite was Dragnet, with Sgt. Joe Friday. The Mrs. got a 2-DVD set of Dragnet a few months ago, with . . . must have been . . . 20 to 30 episodes. A couple of the stories were surprisingly heavy for the time period, and there were a few that were rather light-hearted in spite of the obvious crime connection to the story.

Chester

[smokey]

hi all

ive had to go for rockford the reason being this is the only one i ever got to watch and then it was reruns much later on liked what i saw and still remember it now.

hooroo smokey

[The Ringo Kid]

It was a tough decision between Columbo, Jim Rockford and Kojak. All three lead actors are favorites of mine but I had to settle with Columbo. Don't ya just love his line before he swoops down and proves the suspect guilty? "Oh and just one more thing......"

[Phantomstranger]

Let's see... how about

Rockford
Mannix
Starsky and Hutch
Charlies Angels
Baretta
and even though he wasn't a private eye/cop, he was a reporter
Kolchak:The Night Stalker

[chester7777]

Well, we finally voted, and picked Colombo, although Rockford was a close second :D . As Stumpy noted, the charactor Angel certainly really added to the show, as did Rockford's dad, played by Noah Beery Jr.

Until last year, I had owned a Peugeot 403 convertible for 30 years. It was the same color blue as the one in the Colombo series, and certainly recieved many a comment :)

Chester