Starsky and Hutch Remembered
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| Title: | Starsky and Hutch Remembered |
| Creator: | Amanda Green (Amanda J. Green) |
| Date(s): | 1980 |
| Medium: | |
| Fandom: | Starsky & Hutch |
| Topic: | |
| External Links: | |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
Starsky and Hutch Remembered is a 1980 essay by Amanda (Mandy) Green.
Green was the producer's (Joseph Naar) secretary, production assistant, and wrote two episodes for the show: "Gillian" and "Birds of a Feather.
The essay was printed in Casa Cabrillo, and was solicited by that zine's editor, Theresa Wright.
Some Topics Discussed
- the essay starts with some obligatory "insider" winks as well as a bit of promotion
- Green chides fans about their fannishness
- Green assures fans that she is a fan herself, but cannot be a fan of this show because it was a job to her
- Green states that she has read Starsky & Hutch fanzines, and makes the observation that these zines are about the characters, not the actors
- Green describes how she got the job on the show, and in her naiveté, did not recognize the actors when they came into her office
- Green tells fans about how her office was destroyed when David Soul and Paul Michael Starsky walked in looking unkempt and like "drop-outs," then used the space to work out a basketball scene from the episode "Savage Sunday" -- this involves styrofoam cups.
- some comments about "artistic differences"
- how "the 'look' of the show changed drastically. This was largely due to the sudden clamp down on television violence, instigated mostly by the PTA."
- comments on violence on television
- comments about the social commentary of some episodes that Green felt offset other episodes
- the show as a "love story"
- many details about the shooting of the final episode, how drunk everyone was, all the thank yous, many people crying
Sample Pages
From the Essay
So, you want an article from a "higher echelon" on STARSKY AND Hutch for "Casa Cabrillo"? Well, unfortunately, since Joe Naar doesn't write, Paul Michael's wading around some river up to his neck in fishing gear, and David's out playing a rapist in his new TV movie, RAGE, I'm afraid you're stuck with one of the lower peons... me!
I'm very impressed and somewhat flabbergasted by the fan network that seems to have sprung up across the county. (Come on, guys... I know it was a good show, but let's not get carried away. I mean I can understand it with STAR TREK, but HUSKY and STARCH!?) The one thing that strikes me about the various zines I've read is that they all concentrate on the characters of the show and not the actors who played them. I can almost believe that Dave Starsky and Ken Hutchinson are real people, alive and well, still running around out there chasing the bad guys, loving the ladies, and clinging to their "Me and Thee" philosophy. Don't get me wrong, I love what has happened, it's just that looking from the inside out it's a little hard to accept. You see, I'm a fan too... from THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E. and I SPY days to STAR TREK, Science Fiction and Harlan Ellison, none of which are compatible if you know anything about STAR TREK, Science Fiction and especially Harlan Ellison! The point is, I cannot be a STARSKY AND HUTCH fan. For me the show was a job and an experience which taught me a great deal about my trade and chosen industry and through which I've made some wonderful friends... but damn it, you guys seem to know something I don't, and I feel a little cheated! It's almost as if I'm the one on the outside looking in. I wonder who got the best deal?
That same year, THE QUEST was cancelled. I suppose that left us with the dubious honor of being the leading cause of corruption of America's youth. Surely shows such as THE CRYING CHILD, THE FIX, RUNNING, etc, which pointed up the agonies of child abuse, drug abuse and alcoholism, not to mention the many shows that dealt with rape, the inefficiency of the judicial system, the plight of illegal immigrants and the black man in our society.... surely these deserve a little credit. By depriving us of hard hitting realism the powers-that-be reduced us to doing silly, inane stories like DANDRUFF and THE GROUPIE. Certainly these episodes were fun, but after a while they became pointless, and people started laughing atthe show instead of with it. I'm not advocating violence for the sake of violence, simply an honest approach to police drama. In my opinion, the network went too far in its censorship of STARSKY AND HUTCH and contributed to the sagging ratings and ultimate cancellation of a fine show.
I must say that we went out on a bang though. The TARGETS WITHOUT A BADGE trilogy and the unofficial fourth part, SWEET REVENGE, constitutes some of the best work we ever did. All of the important elements that made STARSKY AND HUTCH so special seem to have been incorporated into those four hours, from their pursuit of justice, their desire to protect the innocent, their frustration at the system which leads to them quitting the force, to a hint of the "Me and Thee" syndrome which was so much a part of the show's initial success. SWEET REVENGE was pure STARSKY AND HUTCH, a love story in the tradition of A COFFIN FOR STARSKY, SHOOTOUT, and SURVIVAL, shaded by Hutch's blind determination to get the bad guy at any cost.
Everyone finally calmed down and dried off, and then it was time for goodbyes. Paul and I cried on each other's shoulders, David ran around thanking everybody (even those not involved with the show) and around 1 AM, we left the set for the last time. We had an official party planned for the following week at a Beverly Hills disco owned by Charlie Picerni, our stunt coordinator, but, for the most of us, that night on the set was the real finale.
Fan Comments
I have a couple of pet prejudices and one of them is intrusive reality (or attempts at same) barging into my fantasy worlds. I was uneasy with Amanda Green's article in Casa Cabrillo -- I bought a Starsky and Hutch fanzine, not an issue of MODERN SCREEN. If I'd wanted to read excerpts from VARIETY et al., I would have taken out a subscription." [1]
Of the minor pieces, ‘Starsky and Hutch Remembered.’ a retrospective by the producer’s secretary, manages to overcome its subject matter to be both uninteresting and unilluminating….
- "Starsky & Hutch Remembered was... .uninteresting and unilluminating" ? It gave us a much-needed inside look at Starsky & Hutch in produc tion and David and Paul as Individuals that most of us will never see refreshingly ex pressed with Amanda's typically British style of delivery. I for one giggled for an hour over the line "I bristled with indignation that they should sully my lovely office so..."[2]