The
1970s TV cop duo is cleaning the boob tube (or LCD, LED, or
plasma set) of crime at 7:00 p.m. Sundays on Family Net (check
your local listings for additional weekday showings), and it’s
quite the “trip” down memory lane.
The
funky second-season theme by Tom Scott is both catchy and cheeky and
complements the hilarious opening credits much better than Lalo
Schifrin’s grim, downbeat, first-season theme. And
hilarious the opening credits are, because, although the show is
called Starsky & Hutch, the guy who plays Starsky (Paul
Michael Glaser) and drives the flashy red and white-striped Ford Gran
Torino is the second actor listed. David Soul (Hutch) gets top
billing, and over a freeze frame of him yelling and flailing his arms
maniacally.
Antonio
Fargas, who plays nightclub-owning street informant Huggy Bear, gets
special standout billing (“and Antonio Fargas as Huggy Bear”).
But then, all of a sudden, the credits list Bernie Hamilton (the
irascible but lovable Captain Dobey). That’s it – just Bernie
Hamilton. It’s like the credits are saying, “…and Antonio
Fargas as Huggy Bear – oh, by the way, Bernie Hamilton.”
There’s
more to the show than just the hilarious opening credits and wacky
main theme, and certainly much more than the insipid, shallow, and
unworthy big-screen Starsky & Hutch parody starring Ben
Stiller and Owen Wilson. Stiller and Wilson may be funny (not
really), but they’re no David Soul and Paul Michael Glaser. Soul
and Glaser are solid actors with great screen chemistry, and Glaser
is a better and more accomplished film and television director.
Even
if you’re not into TV cop shows or don’t particularly care for
Starsky & Hutch, at least just check out the opening
credits and main theme of the current rotation of episodes on Family
Net. It’s one of the more entertaining highlights of classic 1970s
television.
--Raj
Manoharan
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