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The weirdness of 70s TV
I finally broke down and got Netflix this summer to watch Daredevil (which I am still only about halfway through because it's a little more violent than I can do for casual watching purposes), and I also capitulated and got an Amazon firestick since watching on my computer was getting annoying.
Anyway, Netflix decided to recommend "The Rockford Files" to me, and I have fond memories of watching it with my dad as a wee child in the 70s--I love the theme song A LOT (it's probably my favorite TV theme song) and I love James Garner, so I figured, why not?
Um, yeah. Not so much. On the plus side, this was back when they still filmed TV in LA, and there is some seriously lovely cinematography, especially of the shore. And the major guest star of the pilot was Lindsay Wagner, who was my very first girl crush.
On the minus side--well, I guess I will cut for spoilers, despite this show being 45 years old.
Unfortunately, Lindsay Wagner that did not make up for (a) the horribly, horribly predictable plot; (b) the PACING--my god, I remember shows being much slower in the 70s, yes, but the recap between part 1 and part 2 of the pilot was SIX AND A HALF MINUTES LONG. In a 43 minute episode! (c) The casual sexism--in part of the episode, Lindsay Wagner has to pretend to seduce a guy, which she doesn't want to do (she says twice to Rockford she's afraid of being raped), and after she successfully gets into his apartment, Rockford berates her for letting him touch her too much during the pickup! I mean, SRSLY? And of course it's because he's jealous, because of course the 50 year old detective is going to end up with the 24 year old guest star. BLERG. And (d) the casual homophobia (Rockford actually calls the martial artist bad guy queer, which I didn't realize you could say on TV back then).
SO, that is an experiment I won't be repeating. It was somewhat interesting, as a document of the 70s, but what I remember liking about the show was Jim Rockford, and now that is spoiled for me, dammit. (Also, the actor playing his dad looks way different to me--I wonder if that's just because I was 11 when the show went off the air or if he actually got recast sometime, but I don't even care enough to look that up on IMDB.)
Anyway, Netflix decided to recommend "The Rockford Files" to me, and I have fond memories of watching it with my dad as a wee child in the 70s--I love the theme song A LOT (it's probably my favorite TV theme song) and I love James Garner, so I figured, why not?
Um, yeah. Not so much. On the plus side, this was back when they still filmed TV in LA, and there is some seriously lovely cinematography, especially of the shore. And the major guest star of the pilot was Lindsay Wagner, who was my very first girl crush.
On the minus side--well, I guess I will cut for spoilers, despite this show being 45 years old.
Unfortunately, Lindsay Wagner that did not make up for (a) the horribly, horribly predictable plot; (b) the PACING--my god, I remember shows being much slower in the 70s, yes, but the recap between part 1 and part 2 of the pilot was SIX AND A HALF MINUTES LONG. In a 43 minute episode! (c) The casual sexism--in part of the episode, Lindsay Wagner has to pretend to seduce a guy, which she doesn't want to do (she says twice to Rockford she's afraid of being raped), and after she successfully gets into his apartment, Rockford berates her for letting him touch her too much during the pickup! I mean, SRSLY? And of course it's because he's jealous, because of course the 50 year old detective is going to end up with the 24 year old guest star. BLERG. And (d) the casual homophobia (Rockford actually calls the martial artist bad guy queer, which I didn't realize you could say on TV back then).
SO, that is an experiment I won't be repeating. It was somewhat interesting, as a document of the 70s, but what I remember liking about the show was Jim Rockford, and now that is spoiled for me, dammit. (Also, the actor playing his dad looks way different to me--I wonder if that's just because I was 11 when the show went off the air or if he actually got recast sometime, but I don't even care enough to look that up on IMDB.)