Sun 20 May 2012
A TV Review by Michael Shonk: RENEGADE (Pilot), 1992.
Posted by Steve under Reviews , TV mysteries[39] Comments
RENEGADE. Pilot episode: 19 September 1992. Syndicated: Stu Segall Productions / Stephen J. Cannell Productions. Cast: Lorenzo Lamas, Branscombe Richmond, Kathleen Kinmont, Stephen J. Cannell. Theme by Mike Post. Created and Written by Stephen J. Cannell. Executive Producers: Nick Corea and Stu Segall. Director: Ralph Hemecker.
Sometime after Stephen J. Cannell’s masterpiece, The Rockford Files went off the air Cannell developed a fervent case of TV cheesiness. Renegade represents one of his best efforts in TV cheese, and offered classic dialog such as when Val says to Reno, “Sometimes you seem so sad, I wish I could cry for you.”
The story maintains this Kraft quality style. Reno is in love and has agreed to give up police work and marry the big-breasted Val. But he has one last case, a favor for an old friend (two clichés in one sentence, you know this will not end good), he goes undercover in Bay City (Cannell’s favorite fictional city) and finds cops on the take and involved in murder for hire.
Evil Police Lt. “Dutch” Dixon orders his henchman Sergeant to kill Reno. The Sergeant goes to the conveniently located prison and they release Hog to the Sergeant. So what that Hog is serving life for murder, the Sergeant (who is alone) says its necessary.
Hog wants to kill Reno, the man who had put him in jail and hurt his brother. Bad cop Sergeant sets Hog after Reno, but Val is shot instead, and Hog escapes. Remo rushes Val to the hospital. Dixon arrives and kills the Sergeant, his bff for ten years. He faces him and shoots him twice with Reno’s gun. But, according to the later TV news report, the body was found handcuffed (Reno’s) and killed “execution style” (which I understand to mean shot in the back of the head, not from across the room).
The frame is on. Reno doesn’t want to leave Val, who is now brain dead but kept alive on machines in a hospital. However, Reno needs to get away from the cops while making enough money so he can pay Val’s hospital bills (viewers who might remember that Val has a brother who owns a construction company are paying far too much attention).
Dixon hires Bobby, the world’s best smart-ass Native American bounty hunter, to find Reno. Computer expert and Bobby’s white blonde big-breasted sister Cheyenne tags along.
Reno chases Hog. Bobby and Cheyenne chases Reno. Reno catches Hog. Bobby catches Reno and Hog. Reno escapes Bobby, who refuses to stop telling bad Indian jokes. Hog’s biker friends attack Bobby and Cheyenne. Reno returns and saves Bobby. Meanwhile, Cheyenne is taken by the bikers, who are proper gentlemen and just tie her up. Reno and Bobby bond and rescue Cheyenne.
Thus the premise of Renegade is set up. Reno is on the run wanted for murder. He will catch wanted criminals and turn them over to Bobby to collect the rewards. Bobby, after his cut, sends the reward money to the hospital to make sure the docs keep Val alive. Meanwhile, Dixon lurks evilly in the background.
Lamas portrays Reno as a man with great pecs and hair. Richmond has the charm to make smug Bobby a likeable character. Stephen J. Cannell as Lt. “Dutch” Dixon is surprisingly good as the evil villain. For Renegade, Cannell was better in front of the camera than he was behind it.
Auteur Ralph Hemecker’s vision properly favors boobs (females and Lamas’s chest) and hokey macho camera shots. My favorite was when Reno and Bobby prepare to rescue Cheyenne. Bobby and Reno stand alone in the shot staring into each other’s eyes in a true macho bro moment. Bobby cocks his shotgun and says, “Let’s do it, friend.” And the two stride off camera.
The pilot episode’s opening theme tells us Val is shot before we see her shot in the story. Yes, the theme song is a spoiler of its own story, but if you are paying enough attention to notice, you are watching the wrong show.
Renegade was syndicated until its fifth and final season when it moved to USA network. With the growing success of cable in the 90s, the market for TV syndication of first run series increased. Renegade was the ideal entertainment for a lazy weekend afternoon.
Vapid, mind numbing television with all the necessary elements, half naked beautiful women and men, mindless action (chases and fights), silly humor, and a pure evil villain versus a persecuted good-guy hero, all combined for a simple and satisfying way to spend sixty minutes on a slow weekend afternoon.
Available to view on DVD and various downloading sites.
May 20th, 2012 at 8:55 pm
After trying to embed YouTube videos into this blog many times, without success, suddenly this one appeared, purely by accident.
Right now I have no control over the size, but I’ll see if I can’t shrink one down so that it doesn’t take up too much space — crossing my fingers as I do so that the one that’s there now doesn’t take a mind to disappear on me.
As for RENEGADE the series itself, I’ve never seen a single minute of it. But I do have the complete series on DVD, all five years, as far as I know. I saw it offered once on Amazon for something really cheap — less than a dollar per DVD? — and I couldn’t resist.
I’ll have to see if I can find it.
May 21st, 2012 at 12:43 pm
From the couple of episodes I remember watching, it was even cheesier than J.F. Lawton’s V.I.P., which followed in syndication a few years later. V.I.P. and also-late-’90s “Action Pack” may have been about the last gasp of syndicated (rather than cable channel) B-level action. Lawton played up the wink-at-the-viewer-we-know-this-is-stupid-too quotient, but he made sure to end the first episode with Pam Anderson and her gal-pal agents in a hot tub.
May 21st, 2012 at 1:04 pm
Cheesy the series may have been, but RENEGADE was popular enough to last for five seasons. It doesn’t take very much reading between the lines in Michael’s review to guess why. (The same goes for V.I.P., I am also guessing, although I’ve never seen that one either.)
Things I didn’t know until I happened across them looking up images and videos to add to the review:
Lorenzo Lamas and Katheleen Kinmont, his female costar, were married, although by the time of the fifth season, when Kinmont was replaced, perhaps they were no longer.
Kathleen Kinmont is the daughter of actress Abby Dalton. Lorenzo Lamas is the son of actor Fernando Lamas and actress Arlene Dahl. Good genes!
May 21st, 2012 at 1:38 pm
2. Fred, Lawton also did one of my favorite bad movies of all time, CANNIBAL WOMEN IN THE AVOCADO JUNGLE OF DEATH. He did a PI spoof I was disappointed in called PIZZA MAN (1991).
Many think of the 70s when it comes to cheesy TV, but the 90s had its share. Besides Cannell and Lawton, the true king of TV cheese, the 90s Aaron Spelling, was Sam Raimi who did HERCULES, XENA, and the EVIL DEAD movies with Bruce Campbell.
One mistake most critics make is judging all entertainment by the same standard. Viewers and readers sometimes want something thought provoking and of quality; sometimes they want something simple and entertaining.
Cannell was trying serious with THE COMMISH but, like the 70s, the 90s audience was seeking escapism. He succeed with RENEGADE and failed with others such as BROKEN BADGES (that I reviewed here earlier).
May 21st, 2012 at 1:52 pm
#3. According to Brooks and Marsh’ “Complete Directory to Prime Time Network & Cable TV Shows, 1946-present,” Kinmont divorced Lamas in spring 94 but remained on the show. But then she made some “derogatory comments” about Lamas’ new girlfriend Shauna Sand who was starting to make occasional appearances on the series, and Kinmont was dropped.
May 21st, 2012 at 2:59 pm
I’ve never seen this. I asked my wife if she remembered seeing it. Her response was “Oh God! Not THAT?!!” Which says an awful lot, really.
May 21st, 2012 at 3:58 pm
BRADSTREET, your wife sound like a woman with good taste which eliminates her from this series’ target audience. Try to break it to her gently.
May 21st, 2012 at 11:51 pm
“Bobby, after his cut, sends the reward money to the hospital to make sure the docs keep Val alive.”
You have to give them credit for this, in that case:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0685139/combined
May 22nd, 2012 at 5:47 am
I still can’t get over his hair. Kinmont (never heard of her, to be honest) is also divorced from actor Jere Burns.
May 22nd, 2012 at 5:55 am
According to Wikipedia:
Lamas married his fourth wife, Playmate of the Month Shauna Sand, in 1996. Lamas and Sand have three daughters: Alexandra Lynne Lamas (born November 22, 1997), Victoria Lamas (born April 24, 1999), and Isabella Lorenza Lamas (born February 2, 2001). Lamas and Sand divorced in 2002.
After just five months of dating, Lamas got married for the fifth time to Shawna Craig—who is younger than his eldest daughter—in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, on April 30, 2011. His 25 year old daughter Shayne Lamas attended her father’s wedding.[3][4] He has told reporters that he will go publicly as Lorenzo Lamas-Craig.
May 22nd, 2012 at 9:28 am
Steve, the fact that Kathleen Kinmont is the daughter of actress Abby Dalton makes sense, as Lamas and Dalton co-starred on Falcon Crest.
Michael, it is funny to hear you describe Xena as cheesy, as I am currently in the process of researching/writing a chapter for a book on Buffy, and I cannot overstate how important that show (Xena) is considered by feminist critics. You would think we were talking about Citizen Kane here. This is one of the problems I have with gender criticism: the failure to see the forest from the trees.
Anyway, the larger point here — for me at least — is how do we reconcile the two sides of Stephen J. Cannell, who gave us Wiseguy and Rockford Files but also some of the greatest junk in the history of television programming?
May 22nd, 2012 at 9:47 am
#8. Cindylover1969, you answered one of my questions. I remember watching this series when it was originally syndicated, but it was not a weekly must see. I watch it when I had nothing better to do. But after watching the pilot again, I had been trying to remember when Val finally died.
This series liked to pile on cliches and motivations. Reno can’t just be running from the law because he’s wanted for murder, no he has to have a dying lover to take care of as well. The one thing this series was not was subtle.
I don’t remember the episode but I found it appropriate for this series to have Dixon set a trap claiming she is alive rather than use her funeral (more possible silly pointless twists with the alive trap).
May 22nd, 2012 at 9:50 am
#9/10 Jeff, can you imaging how insane Lamas must have been to star in a series with his first ex-wife and his next wife co-starring. Cast parties had to be fun.
May 22nd, 2012 at 10:19 am
#11. David, cheesy is not necessarily a bad thing. There needs to be silly stuff when we are not in the mood for Masterpiece Theatre. There is good and bad in cheesy entertainment. The feminists need to embrace the cheese.
XENA, as you know, is also important to the lesbian community. Mindless entertainment can try things mainstream programs fear. A good TV program is capable of offering the viewer more than just a story.
One of the problems Cannell had in the 90s was the networks were not interested in his serious work, but wanted more of his A-TEAM style hits.
In “Stephen J. Cannell Television Productions: A History of All Series & Pilots” by Jon Abbott, Cannell is quoted saying, “I had always wanted to create a contemporary western. I liked the idea of a show with some moral dilemma and simple storytelling. Reno Raines is a guy on the run who will stop in between to fix something and then silently move on.”
May 22nd, 2012 at 5:37 pm
Michael, I never saw CANNIBAL WOMEN and never came across PIZZA MAN, so I’ll add those to my store of Lawton trivia. I thought Lawton’s script for UNDER SIEGE was pretty good, and I remember that Howard Stern used to mention him frequently when Lawton was writing the script for Howard’s proposed Fartman movie. I always wondered whether Lawton’s superhero spoof with Damon Wayans, BLANKMAN, recycled anything from the apparently unrealized Fartman project, and whether the 2006 babe-fest DOA: DEAD OR ALIVE recycled any un-used V.I.P. material. In terms of Cannell and cheese, I’m not sure RENEGADE was much worse than A-TEAM or RIPTIDE, just as I’m not sure that Peter Jackson’s LORD OF THE RINGS movies were much better than XENA.
May 22nd, 2012 at 7:32 pm
Fred, you forgot to mention another Lawton film, PRETTY WOMAN. Though his dark drug drama script got slightly changed when they saw Julie Roberts as the $5000 hooker with a drug problem.
Back in comment 11, David commented on the two widely different Cannells, and your mention of Cannell cheese, there does seem two extremes to his shows.
The 70s had ROCKFORD FILES versus BLACK SHEEP SQUADRON and BARETTA (compare it to a more realistic TOMA).
The 90s had THE COMMISH versus RENEGADE, SILK STALKINGS, COBRA, THE HAT SQUAD, PALACE GUARD and BROKEN DREAMS.
The 80s had WISEGUY versus TENSPEED AND BROWNSHOE, HARDCASTLE AND MCCORMICK, GREATEST AMERICAN HERO, RIPTIDE, A TEAM, STINGRAY, UNSUB, BOOKER, LAST PRECINCT and 21 JUMP STREET.
A typical Cannell script favored humor with action, realism and plot never got in the way of a good sight gag. His scripts featured characters not mysteries or deep thought provoking drama (WISEGUY might be the exception). This lightened the drama and too often crossed the line into logic defying moments that either made you laugh or wince at the stupidity.
THE ROCKFORD FILES worked because Jim Garner could take that humor and stay on the side of believable drama.
And of course, as in XENA, cheese is in the eye of the beholder.
May 23rd, 2012 at 12:15 pm
With regard to the (way more than) “two sides” of Stephen J. Cannell:
Since when has versatility been a fault?
That Cannell and his team of writer-producers could come up with so many different kinds of shows seems (at least to me) to be a point in their favor.
I can see a situation where Cannell could use the popularity of an A-Team as a bargaining chip to get something more “serious” on. If memory serves, Levinson & Link often used Columbo in just this fashion.
But more to the point, Being able to do a lot of different things was probably just more enjoyable for Cannell personally. There was one point where his production company had more shows on the air than many major studios. Cannell’s name, by itself, could get your offbeat show at least looked at by networks or syndicators.
“It’s good to be the King!”
So if this particular series didn’t meet your specs – there’s always another one in the works that might.
This has been my attitude as a lifelong TV watcher, and it has served me in excellent stead so far.
May 23rd, 2012 at 1:46 pm
From Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_J._Cannell
Selected Filmography
Ironside (1970)
The D.A. (1971)
Adam-12 (1971–1973)
Chase (1973) (Creator)
Columbo (1973)
Toma (1973)
The Rockford Files (1974–1980) (Co-Creator, with Roy Huggins)
Switch (1975)
Baretta (1975) (Creator)
City of Angels (1976) (Co-Creator, with Roy Huggins)
Richie Brockelman: The Missing 24 Hours (with Steven Bochco) (1976)
Baa Baa Black Sheep (a.k.a. Black Sheep Squadron) (1976–1978) (Creator)
Richie Brockelman, Private Eye (1978) (Co-Creator with Steven Bochco)
The Duke (1979)
Stone (1980) (Co-Creator, with Richard Levinson and William Link)
Tenspeed and Brown Shoe (1980) (Creator)
The Greatest American Hero (1981–1983) (Creator)
The Quest (1982)
The Rousters (1983) (Creator)
The A-Team (1983–1987) (Co-Creator, with Frank Lupo)
Hunter (1984–1991)
Riptide (1984–1986) (Co-Creator, with Frank Lupo)
The New Mike Hammer (1984)
Hardcastle and McCormick (1983–1986) (Co-Creator, with Patrick Hasburgh)
The Last Precinct (1986) (Co-Creator, with Frank Lupo)
Stingray (1986–1987) (Creator)
J.J. Starbuck (1987) (Creator)
Wiseguy (1987–1990) (Co-Creator, with Frank Lupo)
21 Jump Street (1987–1991) (Co-Creator, with Patrick Hasburgh)
Sonny Spoon (1988) (Creator)
Unsub (1989)
Booker (1990) (Co-Creator, with Eric Blackeney)
Broken Badges (1990) (Co-Creator, with Randall Wallace)
The Great Pretender (1991)
Street Justice (1991–1993)
Silk Stalkings (1991–1999) (Creator)
The 100 Lives of Black Jack Savage (1991)
The Commish (1991–1996) (Co-Creator, with Stephen Cronish)
Palace Guard (1991) (Creator)
Renegade (1992–1997) (Creator)
The Hat Squad (1992–1993) (Co-Creator, with Bill Nuss)
Missing Persons (1993–1994)
Cobra (1993–1994) (Co-Creator, with Craig W. Van Sickle and Steven Long Mitchell)
Traps (1994)
Hawkeye (1994–1995)
Marker (1995)
Profit (1996)
Cannell then turned to writing crime fiction, beginning in 2001. Eighteen novels, including eleven in his Shane Scully series. Enough of a career to write a book about, I’d say!
Added later: Jon Abbott’s book that Michael mentions in the preceding comment doesn’t seem to be the one. Lee Goldberg gives it two stars out of five in his Amazon review:
http://www.amazon.com/Stephen-J-Cannell-Television-Productions/dp/0786441739
May 23rd, 2012 at 1:38 pm
Mike, I agree with you that a wide range is good, but I don’t see a wide range in Cannell’s writing. With the exception of WISEGUY, Cannell’s work all had a similar style that was the foundation. I described his style in #16.
But if directors with a basic style such as Hitchcock can be praised as auteurs, then so should Cannell, Huggins, Spelling, Quinn Martin, etc.
Those who argue THE ROCKFORD FILES success is due to Cannell or Huggins miss the real key to Rockford and Maverick, James Garner. As a fan of writers who think actors are overrated, it hurts me to admit Garner’s role in the iconic stature of THE ROCKFORD FILES can not be underrated. Look at the similar Mavericks on the series, yet can you name one episode you remember from MAVERICK that does not have James Garner in it?
I have not seen enough of WISEGUY to fully analyze it in re. to Cannell.
While I rarely agree with Jon Abbott opinions in his book “Stephen J. Cannell Television Production: A History of All Series and Pilots” does a good job giving background to Cannell’s series.
Cannell was quoted in the book as not happy with season one of RENEGADE, so he added more humor and a new producer. I never would have thought RENEGADE’s problem was that it was too serious.
May 23rd, 2012 at 2:56 pm
Steve, I agree with Lee Goldberg. His last sentence expresses my feeling totally.
“All that said, there is a lot of useful information in the book amidst the mind-numbing commentary and, since the definitive book on Cannell has yet to be written, this is not a bad place-holder until somebody writes it.”
I don’t own the book but use to google library to reads parts. It is from McFarland publishers that produces some of the most valuable books on the most neglected subjects, but occasionally are flawed by fan-authors POV or a lack of publisher fact-checking. This is one to read in a library.
Cannell began his career with Jack Webb, then hooked up with Huggins during the period Universal kept a group of writers on contract to write. THE ROCKFORD FILES was the first time Cannell was in charge, largely due to Gardner’s support and his dislike of Huggins.
May 23rd, 2012 at 3:20 pm
I just went back and watched the Garner interview again and I misquoted him when I said he “disliked” Huggins.
The interview is a series done for Museum of Broadcast Communications. The Emmy site has them and allows you to watch by subject as well as person. The following link is to the interviews from various people discussing THE ROCKFORD FILES. It is worth watching.
http://www.emmytvlegends.org/interviews/shows/rockford-files-the
David Chase, who wrote for ROCKFORD, has some interesting things to say about Cannell and ROCKFORD FILES. He also believes the series success was largely due to Cannell.
May 23rd, 2012 at 3:52 pm
James Garner did attend a tribute to Roy Huggins that the Paley Center hosted in LA years ago, if that sheds any light, but it seems like Huggins and Garner were forever battling someone over money, and it wouldn’t surprise me if at some point they were arguing between themselves as well.
Regarding Mike Doran’s question — “Since when has versatility been a fault” — I’m afraid it entirely misses the point. It isn’t Cannell’s versatility that’s at issue; rather, it’s the gaping chasm in quality.
May 23rd, 2012 at 4:38 pm
David, from the interview, I gathered Garner was trying to protect a happy set and wanted to avoid conflict among the producers. Garner wanted Cannell as the producer/writer, he had Meta Rosenberg (his agent and close friend) as the executive producer, there was no room for Huggins.
The twist to Cannell we have not talked about is his leaving TV for a successful career as bestselling author. I have not read any of his books and wonder how much his novels were like his scripts.
May 23rd, 2012 at 4:47 pm
Mike Doran, you need to watch BROKEN BADGES (I hope it is still on YouTube) or LAST PRECINCT or THE HAT SQUAD to see how awful Cannell’s work had become.
May 23rd, 2012 at 5:29 pm
That word Quality…
What exactly is being referred to here?
– How expensive the production was?
– What Big Name Stars were talked into doing it?
– What unusual subject matter was involved?
– Whether anyone had ever done such a show before?
– How popular – or how comparatively unpopular – it was with the much-derided mass audience?
– … or any of a hundred or so other questions I can’t think of at the moment?
I seem to recall kicking off a mini-stormlet with my letting drop that I didn’t care for Moonlighting, a critical darling that I simply didn’t like.
Another thing:
At no time do I recall saying that Stephen Cannell could do no wrong.
I saw more than a few of those other shows mentioned as samples of his “worst”; I didn’t care for some of them, although in the right mood I kinda liked The Last Precinct, which was intended as a full-out spoof.
And since I neglected to say so before, let me make clear that I didn’t at all care for The A-Team.
That “gaping chasm in quality” that David Bushman speaks of is nothing more or less than his own opinion – just as my comment about versatility is nothing more or less than mine.
So we understand each other.
And as Otto Preminger said in my all-time favorite Christmas movie, Stalag 17:
“Now we are all frenss again.”
May 23rd, 2012 at 7:14 pm
I picture Cannell as the kind of writer who had story ideas coming out of his head every moment of the day, starting when he got up in the morning until he went to bed at night, and maybe even while he was asleep. Luckily for him he was in a position to put more of them into production than most anyone involved in TV that I can think of.
These ideas often had a similar pattern to them, as Michael has pointed out, but there was still a large variation in the characters and the settings. Even though he had his share of serious flops, he was also responsible for a couple of huge successes, and I think he had a finger to the pulse of what the average TV viewer wanted to see than almost anybody.
What I believe this discussion has proven, more than anything else, is how much a book better than the Abbott one ought to be written about him.
I wish I that I could add something about the books he wrote. I may have one or two, but I’ve never read any of them. Whether they show the same breadth of imagination as the TV series he created and produced, I don’t know, but what I’m convinced of now is that I really should find out.
May 23rd, 2012 at 7:16 pm
Mike, I wouldn’t pick on you if you didn’t keep bringing up valid arguments to debate.
Check out my review of BROKEN BADGES.
https://mysteryfile.com/blog/?p=14435
Notice the similar premise as LAST PRECINCT (which was Cannell’s second attempt at wacky cops). A spoof is no excuse for sloppy writing, heavy handed plot points, a cliche burden crap.
I like RENEGADE but it is junk. An average writer does not have a woman mention her rich brother to our hero in one scene, if he and everyone else is not going to mention the brother after she is shot. An average producer does not have the theme song spoil a twist not yet revealed.
By this time in Cannell’s career he was churning scripts out without apparently caring if a plot point or character action made any sense. The dumber the scripts got the faster the pace hoping no one would notice. Beefcake and cheesecake was as important to his plots as they were to BAYWATCH.
This is the same writer who wrote the greatest TV PI spoof in the history of television, ROCKFORD FILES’ episode, “Lance White and Nearly Perfect.”
What the heck happened?
My favorite Christmas movie is WAR OF THE ROSES.
May 23rd, 2012 at 8:46 pm
Returning to Lorenzo Lamas and RENEGADE, perhaps only briefly, I was reading through all of the comments so far, and Jeff Meyerson’s caught my eye this time (#9).
He said he can’t get over Lamas’s hair, and in all honesty, neither can I. I’m currently watching MURDER IN MESOPOTAMIA, the Agatha Christie TV movie with David Suchet as Hercule Poirot, and the difference between the two main characters’ appearances and onscreen personas is as great as that between midnight and noon.
May 24th, 2012 at 10:36 am
Maybe, instead of Versatility,I should have addressed Stephen Cannell’s Prolificity.
Or is it Prolificness?
Or just the state of being prolific?
Well, anyway, Cannell just wrote a helluva lot of stuff.
Some writers are like that, you know.
The ideas keep coming, and you just gotta put ’em on paper lest they evaporate.
And if, as in Cannell’s case, you achieve such a level of success that your name becomes a brand, you get in the express line to publication – or in the case of TV, the fast track to production.
During the time frame we’re talking about here, Stephen J. Cannell Productions was one of the most recognizable brands in TV – so much so that he needed to update his vanity card annually.
Of course, one of the downsides of success is that after a while, people don’t feel that they can say no to you.
That’s probably what happened to Cannell – and it may have led to his ultimate decision to dial down his TV operation, and eventually leave it behind.
Cannell may have gotten to the point where felt he was simply rehashing his earlier successes on the tube; with no more of that world to conquer, writing and publishing novels would be a new one – and it would seem a successful one, since it continued up to his death.
But I believe the bottom line is this:
Stephen Cannell’s success – in all media – was eminently deserved.
I can’t think of anyone that he ever worked with who speaks ill of him; indeed, many writers frankly credit him for jump-starting their own careers.
So if every single thing he wrote wasn’t a grand slam –
– so what?
Who in this business – or in any business – ever batted 1.000?
Enjoy the home runs, and we can argue over the infield flies at our leisure.
May 24th, 2012 at 12:11 pm
In the Garner interview he was asked what impressed him the most about Cannell the writer. He was prolific was Garner’s reply. He told of a story where Cannell and David Chase wrote a workable script in just a few days.
So you could be right, Mike.
He is certainly beloved even today in Hollywood. There are a few producers such as Cannell and Michael Gleason famous for training and starting many’s careers. Even with his problems with Huggins over ROCKFORD, he kept that stuff where it belonged, between the two men and out of the media. The former showrunner of COMMUNITY should have taken lessons from Cannell.
Stephen J. Cannell was one of the best, most creative writers in television history which makes the quality of his writing from the 70s and 80s compared to the 90s all so much more baffling.
In a way it reminds me of Rod Serling. There is a famous story about Serling during his later years when no one would hire him. Reportedly, he looked at all the writing awards he had won and wondered what happened.
May 24th, 2012 at 4:29 pm
That story about Rod Serling comes from a TV Guide interview he gave, circa Night Gallery.
He was interviewed at his home in upstate New York, in a office well stocked with awards and citations, lamenting the lack of creative control he had on Gallery, while admitting he had ceded it away himself by mistake.
Serling’s own words, as best I remember them:
“I used to wonder why people kept scrapbooks. Now I know – just to prove to themselves that it all really happened.”
You see, what Serling was really talking about was not that he couldn’t get work; he just couldn’t get anything out of the SF-fantasy bag he’d found himself locked into (can I mix a metaphor or what?).
May 25th, 2012 at 8:25 am
Just to fan the flames here a bit (and I hope this is taken in the right spirit), Stephen Cannell and Rod Serling don’t even belong in the same sentence.
May 25th, 2012 at 10:08 am
David, you are right. Cannell was better. That is what you meant?
Serling had one major success that changed TV drama forever, THE TWILIGHT ZONE.
Cannell had more than one major success. THE ROCKFORD FILES basically ended the serious hardboiled TV PI. THE A-TEAM was a major influence on TV during the 80s (similar to Spelling’s CHARLIE’S ANGELS in the 70s). Cannell was able to overcome the end of his TV career and become a bestselling mystery writer.
When you discuss the great writers of television both Serling and Cannell belong in the small group.
May 25th, 2012 at 3:17 pm
Michael, this would be a great subject for dueling posts … Cannell vs. Serling. I was being deliberately provocative, but my honest point is that I very strongly believe that Cannell is being vastly overrated here, and I say that even though I am a ardent admirer of both Wiseguy and Rockford Files (and not much else). And yes, Mike Doran, that is just my opinion. In fact almost everything I say here is just my opinion.
Michael, in your comment immediately above you are omitting Serling’s exceptional live TV dramas, which are too numerous to list here but certainly any list should include Patterns, Requiem for a Heavyweight, The Comedian, In the Presence of Mine Enemies, and so on.
These were not just profound, insightful, well-received (both critically and commercially) dramas about the contemporary human condition, but also helped establish TV as an important medium capable of producer high-quality drama.
I also happen to think that Serling’s The Loner is not only one of the great undervalued TV westerns of all time, but also one of the most underappreciated TV shows of all time. It is at least an interesting, provocative show that was unlike anything that preceded it.
Everyone has to judge success on their own terms, and I don’t begrudge anyone their definition. I personally would not qualify The A-Team as a success on any level other than commercially, which is of minimal importance in terms of my own judgment. Michael, I would be curious to hear your opinion about how it exerted a major influence on TV in the 80s and if, in the end, that influence was a good thing or a bad thing (in your opinion, of course).
You could argue, for example, as you do above that Spelling’s Charlie’s Angels was an important influence in the 70s, but does anyone really think television was any better for it? Spelling was hugely successful and hugely influential, but did he produce quality work?
May 25th, 2012 at 7:50 pm
David, if you insist on arguing with courtesy and intelligence, you will never be a major TV expert on TV.
I suspect the problem here is based in the old genre vs literature debate.
For our beloved TV mystery genres the greats by decade are Jack Webb (50s), Desilu/Quinn Martin (60s), Aaron Spelling (70s), Stephen J. Cannell/ MTM (80s), Dick Wolf (90s), and I have no idea for the 00s.
Of Serling’s work, TWILIGHT ZONE impresses me the most. But, in reality, he was just in the right place at the right time to give television one of its most used plot device, the O. Henry twist. My favorite work of Serling’s is the episode “Time Enough At Last” with my favorite end of any TV show, but an ending full of plot holes and illogic.
I have not seen THE LONER, but have seen his live TV dramas. Great stage plays. But this was an era when great stage plays were not uncommon, most lost, many equal or superior to the work Serling did. However, that form, with the exception of the multi-camera sitcom, is gone, now replaced by the TV-Film drama.
What Cannell brought to the TV mystery genre was comedy to replace the seriousness of QM and the camp of Spelling. Did any of them make TV better? Each was a step in the process. Advances in the art tend to come from the commercial failures reacting to and pushing the status quo (TWIN PEAKS, BABYLON 5, etc.).
While THE ROCKFORD FILES mocked the hardboiled PI, THE A-TEAM did the same to the action series. Certainly, the style of “good guys on the run from the law, blowing things up between visual gags” was and remains a mainstay in television and film (watch a Michael Bay movie – or as Second City used to say “he blew that up real good.”). RENEGADE owes much to the A-TEAM formula.
Today, watching television I see more of Stephen J. Cannell and O. Henry than I do of Rod Serling.
May 27th, 2012 at 3:44 am
“…how do we reconcile the two sides of Stephen J. Cannell, who gave us Wiseguy and Rockford Files but also some of the greatest junk in the history of television programming?”
Maybe he liked to throw his net wide. As dull as “Top Of The Hill” (with William Katt as a Congressman) and “The Hat Squad” were, even his biggest enemies have to admit he never really stayed in one genre, even as a producer (with “Hawkeye” and “Profit,” for instance).
May 27th, 2012 at 10:15 am
Cindylover1969, you bring up a good point with the thought of Cannell throwing his net wide.
Perhaps the problem Cannell had in the end was he became a producer of many TV series rather than a writer of one. This would explain the sloppy rushed scripts that were too common in his later shows.
February 22nd, 2014 at 3:55 pm
I am way late responding to this, but having seen every episode of Renegade, my family and I loved the series. Yes, it was cheese, but the show was exciting and fun. Lorenzo Lamas was great in the role of Reno Raines/Vince Black and Branscombe Richmond was a scene stealer as Bobby Sixkiller. The episodes that Stephen J.Cannell appeared in as Dutch Dixon were almost always entertaining and he played a surprisingly effective bad guy. The “cheese” factor is one of the things I miss about televison these days. It is all either CST or “Reality” Shows. Is there no place for fun and watching something that is tongue in cheek like Renegade? Life is too short not to be able to sit back and watch something that is just pure fun and “Renegade” clearly was that.
For the record, Kathleen Kimont was married to Lorenzo Lamas for a few years and was heavily involved in the first season storylines. But after getting a divorce from Lamas, she became a recurring character. By the middle of the fourth season, she was completely gone after apparently making some comments on Howard Stern’s radio show. I have seen her in a few other things and she isn’t a bad actress.
February 23rd, 2014 at 3:32 pm
Clark, I agree that while TV may never have been better than it is now, it is missing the fun and entertaining aspects of yesterday’s shows. But perhaps it will come back with the success of current shows such as SLEEPY HOLLOW.