Starsky and Hutch

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Starsky and Hutch
Starsky and Hutch (later) Season One Opening Credits (note the "&" in place of the early "and").
Genre	Action
Creator(s)	William Blinn
Starring	David Soul Paul Michael Glaser Antonio Fargas Bernie Hamilton Richard Ward
Country of origin	United States
No. of episodes	90
Production
Running time	60 Minutes
Broadcast
Original channel	ABC
Original run	April 30, 1975 – May 15, 1979
Links
IMDb profile
TV.com summary

For the film, see Starsky & Hutch (film). For the song by LL Cool J, see Phenomenon. For the Video Game released based on the series, see Starsky & Hutch (video game).

Starsky and Hutch is a 1970s American television series that consisted of 89 episodes of 60 minutes and a single-90 minute pilot, created by William Blinn and broadcast between April 30, 1975 and May 15, 1979 on the ABC network; distributed by Columbia Pictures Television in North America and, originally, Metromedia Producers Corporation in other parts of the world. The pilot was directed by Jack Starrett (under the name Claude Ennis Starrett Jr.).

1 Overview
2 List of episodes
3 International
4 Firearms
5 Cars
6 Trivia
7 DVD Releases
8 External links

[edit] Overview

One of the third generation Ford Torinos used in the motion picture Starsky and Hutch

The protagonists were two Southern California policemen, the dark-haired David Starsky (Paul Michael Glaser) playing a streetwise detective with intense, childlike curiosity and the blond Kenneth 'Hutch' Hutchinson (David Soul) who was more reserved and intellectual. They were known for tearing around the streets of "Bay City" in Starsky's red two-door Ford Torino, which had a large white vector stripe, which was nicknamed the "Striped Tomato" by both Hutch and fans of the series(Refer to 'Trivia' for the actual origin of the nickname). Hutch also had a car, a beaten-up 1973 Ford Galaxie 500, which occasionally appeared when the duo needed separate vehicles, or for undercover work. Their main underworld contact was the street-wise, jive-talking "Huggy Bear" (Antonio Fargas), who often dressed extravagantly, and was sometimes hinted, but never confirmed (nor denied) to be a pimp. The duo's boss was the gruff, no-nonsense Captain Harold Dobey, played by Bernie Hamilton in the series (gravel-voiced actor Richard Ward in the pilot).

Fans loved the gritty, often violent, plotlines, comic banter, and, particularly, the close, devoted, and enduring friendship between Starsky and Hutch. In stark contrast to police characters on TV up until this time, Starsky and Hutch were open with physical gestures of affection, often declaring that they trusted only each other against the world (leading to some claiming that there were homosexual overtones between the pair; in fact, some in Hollywood referred to the characters as "prime-time homos").

In 1977, a rising concern about violence on TV forced the screenplay writers to cut down on violent action scenes and to employ more romantic and socially themed episodes, and play up the "buddy buddy" aspect of the show's leads even more; also the lead actors, in particular Paul Michael Glaser, became jaded with the general theme of the series. These factors, among others, contributed to the fading popularity of the series.

Paul Michael Glaser several times wanted to get out of his contract and leave the series. At the start of the third season, it seemed that he would not return for filming. To fill the gap he would have left, the character of Officer Linda Baylor was created, and a number of alternative scripts featuring the character instead of Starsky were written (whether the show's name would have remained the same is unknown). Ultimately, Glaser was convinced to continue, and Baylor, played by Roz Kelly, only appeared (alongside Starsky and Hutch) in one episode, the early third season story "Fatal Charm". Glaser voiced his desires to leave again during the fourth season. This time, Starsky's younger brother Nick (John Herzfeld) was introduced in the fourth season episode "Starsky's Brother", mixed up with some bad company. It was intended that if Glaser was to quit, that the reformed Nick would join the Force and fill Glaser's place (this time at least being able to keep the show's title as Starsky & Hutch). Again, this idea never came to anything. Although a fifth season was at one stage planned, it was ultimately Glaser's desire to quit the series, as well as by this time falling ratings, which brought an end to the series. Ironically, as with many leading actors in hit shows over the years (see Leonard Nimoy in Star Trek, Adam West in Batman, Tom Baker in Doctor Who, etc.), Glaser initially had little regard for his most famous role, and wanted to be distanced from it, but in more recent years has come to embrace it.

[edit] List of episodes

[edit] Pilot (1975)

Starsky and Hutch (90 mins.)

[edit] First Season (1975–76)

Savage Sunday
Texas Longhorn
Death Ride
Snowstorm
The Fix
Death Notice
Pariah (a.k.a.What do you do when justice fails)
Knockover (Unaired Episode)
Kill Huggy Bear
The Bait
Lady Blue
Captain Dobey, You're Dead!
Terror on the Docks
The Deadly Impostor
Shootout
The Hostages
Losing Streak
Silence
The Omaha Tiger
Jojo
Running
A Coffin for Starsky
The Bounty Hunter
Dead Man Walking (Unaired Episode)

[edit] Second Season (1976–77)

The Las Vegas Strangler - Part 1
The Las Vegas Strangler - Part 2
Murder at Sea - Part 1
Murder at Sea - Part 2
Gillian
Bust Amboy (a.k.a. Nightlight)
The Vampire
The Specialist
MOJO (Unaired Episode)
Tap Dancing Her Way Right Back Into Your Hearts
Vendetta (a.k.a. The Monster)
Nightmare
Iron Mike (a.k.a. Captain Mike Ferguson)
Little Girl Lost
Bloodbath
The Psychic
The Set-Up - Part 1
The Set-Up - Part 2
Survival
Starsky's Lady (a.k.a. Revenge)
Sixty Miles To Hell (Unaired Episode)
Huggy Bear and the Turkey
The Committee
The Velvet Jungle
Long Walk Down a Short Dirt Road
Murder on Stage 17
Starsky and Hutch Are Guilty

[edit] Third Season (1977–78)

Starsky & Hutch on Playboy Island (a.k.a. Murder on Voodoo Island) - Part 1
Starsky & Hutch on Playboy Island (a.k.a. Murder on Voodoo Island) - Part 2
Fatal Charm
Die Before They Wake (Unaired Episode)
I Love You, Rosey Malone
Murder Ward
Death in a Different Place
The Crying Child
The Heroes
The Plague - Part 1
The Plague - Part 2
The Collector
Manchild on the Streets
The Action
The Heavyweight
A Body Worth Guarding
The Trap
Satan's Witches
Class in Crime
Hutchinson: Murder One (a.k.a. Hutchinson for Murder One)
Foxy Lady
Partners
Quadromania
Deckwatch

[edit] Fourth Season (1978–79)

Discomania
The Game
Blindfold
The Halls Of Terror(Unaired Episode)
Photo Finish
Moonshine
Strange Justice
The Avenger
Dandruff
Black and Blue
The Groupie
Cover Girl (a.k.a. No Deposit, No Return)
Starsky's Brother (a.k.a. Starsky's Little Brother)
The Golden Angel
Ballad for a Blue Lady
Birds of a Feather
Ninety Pounds of Trouble
Huggy Can't Go Home (a.k.a. Huggy Can't Go Back)
Targets Without a Badge - Part 1 (a.k.a. The Snitch)
Targets Without a Badge - Part 2
Targets Without a Badge - Part 3
Starsky vs. Hutch
Sweet Revenge

[edit] International

In France, the show was shown on TF1.
In the United Kingdom, the series was a huge hit when shown in the 1970s on BBC1, with occasional re-runs through to the early 1990s. It was re-run by Five in 2003. It is now regularly shown on the UK television station Bravo. (See 'Trivia' entry regarding the first season episode "The Fix").
The success of Starsky and Hutch caused British TV producer Brian Clemens to respond with a more hard edged, gritty show called The Professionals which aired on UK TV between 1977 and 1983.
Although the two shows debuted within a few months of each other, so one was unlikely to have been directly influenced by the other, there are also some notable parallels with gritty 1970s UK Police series The Sweeney (1975-78), which was the predecessor to The Professionals.

[edit] Firearms

Detective Starsky in the pilot carried around a Colt 1911 in .45 ACP. Detective Hutchinson in the pilot carried around a Colt Python in .357 Magnum. During all four seasons Detective Starsky carried around a Smith & Wesson 59 in 9mm Luger and Detective Hutchinson still carried the Colt Python in .357 Magnum

Note: it is also possible that Detective Starsky's weapon was Browning Hi Power in 9mm Luger.

[edit] Cars

Stunt cars, camera cars, tow cars, dolly cars, and cars used for "beauty" shots varied in model year from 1974 to 1976, since the bodystyle of the Gran Torino was unchanged. Obviously, no 1976 models were used in the pilot or the first season. The cars, on lease from Ford, were custom painted by Spelling-Goldberg Productions (on top of the factory red paint color)with the distinctive single white stripe (running from the front fender, across the doors, up and over the roof, and then symmetrically back down the other side), but in the 3rd and 4th season the producers leased one of the 1000 Limited Edition "Starsky & Hutch" PS 122 units painted to match the show's car, produced by Ford Motor Company in 1976, as a backup vehicle for the cars they were leasing at the time. The '75 models that were used during the first season had cloth bench seats and 'Bright Red' paint(code 2B). In '76, they were replaced by 3 new Torinos that had vinyl benches and were specially painted the previous year's 'Bright Red' because Ford used a different shade of red for the new models; the cars can be identified by their silver 'sight shields'(bumper filler panels)which Ford used on specially painted cars.

[edit] Trivia

The show's theme song was recorded by the James Taylor Quartet.
Reruns for the show could be found on Memorable Entertainment Television in the United States.
References to Starsky and Hutch characters have been made in films. In the 1993 comedy So I Married an Axe Murderer, Charlie Mackenzie tells Tony Giardino, "You look like Huggy Bear from Starsky and Hutch." [1]
Every season of the series had a different theme tune. The most famous and iconic was that for the second season, which returned in a revamped form for the fourth season.
The "Starsky" character was named after a high school friend of creator William Blinn; "Huggy Bear" was named after a radio disc jockey.
Blinn was going to have Starsky drive a yellow Chevrolet Camaro since he once had a green Camaro that he was fond of. However, when production started, Ford Motor Company was the lease supplier for cars that year. The producers chose a red 1975 Gran Torino 2-door, applied a white vector stripe, and installed 5-slot "mag" wheels.
Engines in the TV Torinos varied, depending on the series season. The pilot episode cars were equipped with 351 CID "Windsor" V8s; when cars were ordered for the first season, they came with 400 CID engines. From the second to final seasons, with a couple of exceptions(a backup car and stunt car), the three 1976 Torinos used were powered by 460 CID V8s. All were equipped with automatic transmissions, and were stock except for numerically higher axle ratios for the main cars; this was done by the producers to gain better acceleration for stunt scenes. All engine sounds were dubbed in on the show soundtrack. Two of the 1976 Torinos are owned by a man in Ohio, with the third car reportedly in the South; the whereabouts of the 1975 cars are unknown.
Ford never manufactured a Gran Torino painted in this fashion for the 1974 or 1975 model year. However, due to the success of the television series, Ford did release a limited edition (only 1000 units) "Starsky & Hutch" replica Gran Torino in 1976 (the final model year for the Torino line). Manufactured at the Chicago plant, one of these code "PS 122" units was used in the 3rd and 4th seasons of the show. This car was originally equipped with a 400 CID V8; however, one of the stuntmen damaged the engine beyond repair, and Spelling-Goldberg replaced it with a 429 CID V8. This car still resides in California.
One of the factory replicas was used in the first episode of "The Dukes of Hazzard" as the car of Cooter Davenport. The show premiered on January 26, 1979 while Starsky and Hutch was still airing in prime time.
The "Striped Tomato" term actually came from Paul Michael Glaser's sarcastic nickname for the Torino. When Glaser was first shown the car by producer Aaron Spelling, he said, "That thing looks like a striped tomato!" He thought the car was garish and purposely mistreated it during stunt driving scenes. The writers decided to use it in a first-season episode.
An episode from the second (1976-77) season, "Long Walk Down a Short Dirt Road", was based on a real-life stalking incident involving Dolly Parton, and Parton herself was originally to have appeared in the episode, but the episode ultimately featured Lynn Anderson.
The character of Huggy Bear was so popular with viewers, that in the second season, the producers toyed with the idea of giving him his own spin-off show. The second season episode "Huggy Bear and the Turkey" served as a test pilot for this series, in which Huggy and his friend, former Sheriff "Turkey" Turquet (Dale Robinette), become private investigators. The idea never made it to an actual series.
Huggy Bear's last name was only ever given in one episode of the series, the aforementioned "Huggy Bear and the Turkey", in which he is several times referred to as Huggy Bear Brown.
In the United Kingdom, the first season episode "The Fix", in which mobsters get Hutch hooked on heroin in order to extract information from him, was deemed too graphic by the BBC (despite the series being shown after the 9pm watershed), and was effectively "banned" from all of the corporation’s runs of the series. It was never broadcast on British terrestrial television until many years later, as part of Channel 4's one-off Starsky & Hutch Night, on Saturday 31st May 1999. Interestingly, in 2003, when Five ran the series, they included the episode, on Thursday 10th January 2003, in its usual time-slot of 10 a.m., although the actual scene of Hutch being graphically injected with heroin was edited almost completely out.
A number of other controversial episodes were often skipped (or in very least, heavily edited) in various runs by the BBC, although "The Fix" was the only episode never to show up in any of the show's outings on the corporation.
The shows title on the Pilot and the first few episodes was "Starsky and Hutch", afterwhich it became "Starsky & Hutch" for the rest of the show's run.
David Soul's cousin, actress Justine O'Neil, guest starred on Starsky & Hutch as ILB Rani Sobek
The series was credited with being one of the first prime-time shows, particularly a drama, to give black characters such prominent and positive roles. Captain Dobey, in power as the duo's boss, is an example of this. And although Huggy was occasionally hinted to be a pimp or other petty criminal, he became very popular with the public, and he too was generally seen in a very positive light.

[edit] DVD Releases

Sony Pictures Home Entertainment has released all 4 Seasons on DVD in Region 1 for the very first time.

DVD Name	Ep #	Release Date
The Complete 1st Season	23	March 2, 2004
The Complete 2nd Season	25	July 20, 2004
The Complete 3rd Season	23	March 15, 2005
The Complete 4th Season	22	October 17, 2006