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| Crime never takes a vacation, but TV cops shows
do, and the summer re-run season has taken the current rotation off their
beats until fall. Why not take the opportunity to browse through the
closed case files of the best cop shows of yesteryear? "Hill Street
Blues," one of the greatest and most influential police dramas of all
time, has yet to call the roll on DVD, but there are plenty of other
officers ready to walk you through their cases. Here are 10 essential
shows with their case files currently available on DVD. |
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'DRAGNET' (1951-1959, revived
1967-1970)
The Beat:
Los Angeles
The Officer: Sgt. Joe Friday
The MO:
"The story you are about to see is true. Only the names have been
changed to protect the innocent."
The Case File: All it
takes is four musical stings to bring Jack Webb's iconic cop
show to memory: "Dum-de-dum-dum." Webb established the police
procedural with his documentary-styled drama and created the first
cop-show icon in Sgt. Joe Friday. Stiff, humorless and utterly
square, he cut through the clutter and emotional distractions to get
"Just the facts, ma'am" and narrated as if reading from a police
report in a deadpan, staccato monotone. After eight years of walking
a beat through the 1950s, he teamed with Harry Morgan in 1967: a
pair of black-and-white moralists in the hip, new, living-color
world of Los Angeles. | |
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'NAKED CITY'
(1958-1963)
The Beat: New York City
The
Officer: Detective Adam Flint
The MO: "There are 8
million stories in the Naked City. This has been one of
them."
The Case File: The series was inspired by the
classic 1948 film noir procedural "The Naked City," which took the
cameras out of the studio and into the streets of the Big Apple, and
influenced by the rich vein of 1950s television plays. "Naked City"
is less like a traditional cop show than a "Playhouse 90" wrapped
around a criminal investigation. Paul Burke's idealistic young
Detective Adam Flint is ostensibly the face of the series, but the
excellent parade of guest stars tended to steal the show right from
under his stiff, serious gaze. | |
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'KOJAK' (1973-1978)
The
Beat: New York City
The Officer: Lt. Theo
Kojak
The MO: "Who loves ya, baby?"
The Case
File: Telly Savalas found his
defining role as the devoted, uncompromising Lt. Theo Kojak, the
cool-headed Greek-American New York homicide detective. In the
explosion of dated '70s cop TV on DVD, this show has aged remarkably
well. Sure, the Los Angeles locations don't really look like New
York, but the show has a gritty edge and a tough-minded attitude.
And behind the bald pate and ever-present lollipops, Savalas
radiates caring and fearless loyalty as
Kojak. | |
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'MIAMI VICE'
(1984-1989)
The Beat: Miami
The
Officers: Detectives Sonny Crockett and Ricardo Tubbs
The
MO: Designer vice cops in paradise
The Case File:
Sullen Miami veteran Detective Sonny Crockett (Don Johnson) and renegade
New York cop Detective Ricardo Tubbs (Philip Michael Thomas)
weave through the Florida underworld like streetwise runway models
with attitude. Shot in shades of pastel and neon and set to the beat
of Jan Hammer's synthesized rock score and a jukebox of contemporary
music, the style of this totally '80s cop drama instantly dates the
series. At the time, however, it was a cultural phenomenon: Don
Johnson's trademark stubble and white linen jacket set off a fashion
wave, and the visual and musical style changed the face of
TV. | |
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'LAW & ORDER'
(1990-present)
The Beat: New York City
The
Officers: Detective Lenny Briscoe had the longest rotation in
the ever-changing line-up: 12 seasons.
The MO: The cops
investigate and arrest, the DAs prosecute.
The Case File:
After 15 seasons, the erstwhile crime and punishment warhorse has
completely turned over its cast and spawned three spin-offs,
yet its ingenious dramatic structure remains a constant: the first
half hour is an investigative procedural, the second half is legal
show, all prosecution and trial. Its single-minded focus, which
leaves no room for private lives, recalls "Dragnet," but with far
livelier and more interesting characters, notably Jerry Orbach's caustic,
old-school veteran Detective Lenny Briscoe and Chris Noth's brash,
hot-headed Detective Mike Logan. It even has its own iconic sting:
the percussiony "bong bong" that punctuates each "chapter" and
brands every "Law & Order" show. | |
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