Classic Cop Shows..or are they?

ROSEMARY HARRIS: I had every intention of making this post about classic cop shows on television, those no-nonsense ancestors of Law and Order and CSI when people wore hats and didn't look slightly frivolous like Maria Bello in the Prime Suspect.

With few exceptions - mostly sports - everything I watch on tv is old. Reruns, if they are still called that (Help me, Hank...?) One day I may get a TIVO but I'm not there yet. I take my chances. It's inevitable PBS will rebroadcast the Bill Nighy film.

So I was THRILLED when in a recent charity goody bag, in addition to the new biography of Steve Jobs, a tiny book on fashion by Christian Dior, and a wall calendar with pictures of France, there was a DVD called Crime and Punishment, premieres of, among others Dexter, the original Hawaii Five-O and one of my faves - The Streets of San Francisco.

It was on television Thursday nights. I know this because I can count on one hand the number of tv shows I've cared enough about to check the tv listings for (The Walking Dead, The Sopranos, Streets of San Francisco, Family and Dark Shadows in case anyone cares.)

I couldn't wait to pop in the DVD. Michael Douglas was beautiful - that hair, those ties. A Quinn Martin Production! (No idea who Quinn Martin was.) Even Karl Malden, who'd been so brilliant in Streetcar Named Desire and On the Waterfront (I still don't get Baby Doll, though..) And the guest stars on this episode were Edmond O'Brien and Eileen Heckert, two fine actors from the 50's.

You know where this is going. It was awful. A lot of running, shouting and shooting (at people they just wanted to question!) ridiculous dialog including this classic from a hospital scene when a doctor says, not once but twice "he's got a hole in him."

I was crushed. It was almost as bad as the time I told a friend he had to read Narcissus and Goldmund and then I re-read it with, let's just say a less worshipful reaction than I'd had to it in my teens.

Anyway, Michael Douglas still looked great. (I wonder how Jonathan Frid has held up - probably doesn't look as good as Johnny Depp who is playing barnabas in the new movie.)

RHYS: I'm always amazed at how corny and bad the dialog of some old shows was and how brilliant other shows were. The Streets of San Francisco I'd probably watch again because the husband of one of my best friends was an ex-cop who was used as an extra and then became a regular on the show with a few lines every now and then. My favorite of the old shows--Get Smart, I think.

DEBORAH CROMBIE: If we're going for old cop shows, I think I have to cast my vote for Miami Vice. (Not the horrible remake!) Shallow of me, I know, but I love Michael Mann. And oh, those colors! Those suits (on the guys)! The stubble (on the guys)! The big hair (on the girls)! The shoulder pads (on the girls)! When have men ever looked so good, women so bad, and Miami so glam? And you can forget CSI Miami. Absolutely no comparison.

HALLIE EPHRON: Car 54 Where Are You? 77 Sunset Strip? Starsky and Hutch? They were all dreadful, but I was in the teeny bopper generation the hunky guys were aimed at. So nice when Honey West came along.

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: I have to admit--I had no idea who Honey West was. But! How about Hart to Hart? And The Prisoner! (Does that count? Or is that too new?) OH! I SPY. Terrific. And--what was it? Kolchak, the Night Stalker. And The Untouchables. Wasn't there a..like a series of detective shows, different from each other? Oh, my poor brain. Too much TV, I guess.

ROSEMARY: Oh, The Prisoner, I loved it..but wouldn't even watch the remake on Sc-Fi Channel. Not a Jim Cavaziel fan.Honey West, yikes. how cute was she? All time fave has to be Hill Street Blues.

I wonder what Pizza-man and what was her name..Joyce..are doing now?