Sunday, October 03, 2010

Stephen J. Cannell dies at 69

la times--Stephen J. Cannell, the prolific television writer and producer who co-created "The Rockford Files" and "The A-Team" Cannell also created or co-created more than 40 TV shows, including "Baa Baa Black Sheep," "Baretta," "The Greatest American Hero" and "21 Jump Street.and later became a bestselling novelist, has died. He was 69.

while the name to me is not all that familiar, his shows are.

What is really going to be missed is ORIGINAL programming versus re-cycling of old shows as an excuse to make a totally different show to attract any audience.

as an example the remake of the 1965 Get Smart TV show totally bombed because the only thing that they used that was even close to the shows original concept was the name of the characters, a few thrown in well known catch lines and a cameo appearance Bernie Kopell who played Kaos Agent Siegfried.

Even Kopells name sake in the new movie (2008)played by Terence Stamp was not even close to the original as Kopells character spoke with a fake German accent.

The list goes on of "copied" shows and movies, but it takes real talent to make an original.

2 comments:

Bobkatt said...

Robin, did you catch the great article on Stephen Cannell in the Tuesday Register Guard? I didn't know he was a U of O grad. Who didn't love Rockford Files?

Robin said...

BK no, I wished that I could have.

unfortunately I feel that the age of originality in TV and movie programming has died with him.