(edited for copyright purposes-proud patriot moderator Democratic Underground)
http://xnerg.blogspot.com/rip stephen cannell
jim rockford's dad, as well as the dad of most of the private detectives of the 1980's and much of the 90's, has passed. stephen j. cannell died at age 69.
latimes:
cannell died thursday evening of complications associated with melanoma at his home in pasadena, his family said.
in a career that began in the late 1960s when he sold his first tv script and took off as he soon became the hottest young writer on the universal lot, cannnll created or co-created more than 40 tv shows, including "baa baa black sheep," "baretta," "the greatest american hero" and "21 jump street."
cannell, who formed his own independent production company in 1979, wrote more than 450 tv episodes and produced or executive-produced more than 1,500 episodes.
"he was one of the masters of good, old-fashioned generic television," said robert thompson, a professor of television and popular culture at syracuse university and author of the 1990 book "adventures on prime time: the television programs of stephen j. cannell."
"he did detective shows, he did adventure- dramas, he did fantasies," thompson said. "he wasn't one of these guys who did, like, 'the sopranos.' he was a meat-and-potatoes producer, writer and creator of television shows. and he did meat and potatoes really, really well."
cannell also created and produced 'the a-team,' 'hardcastle & mccormick,' and 'riptide.'
we mention 'riptide' because that show saw the return of the character of angel (played by character actor stuart margolis), originally seen as on 'the rockford files' as jim's ne'er-do-well buddy.
former nbc executive warren littlefield said the cannell touch gave nbc a huge boost in the '80s.
(snip)
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