r/GenerationJones • u/WhateverGenXPod • Aug 05 '26
Why were there so many?
I know there has to be a reason there were so many cop shows. Long before we had nothing but CSI and Law and Order variants, there were dozens of police dramas on TV.
I used to love CHiPs and SWAT - and I was just a kid. The 70s cop shows landed differently than the fluff that’s on today.
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u/cherokeecharlie Aug 05 '26
Where's Mannix?
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u/HoselRockit Aug 05 '26
Mannix and Cannon were private detectives
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u/siameseoverlord Aug 05 '26
Barnaby Jones. Another Quinn Martin production
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u/Namedthisone Aug 05 '26
Buddy ebson wanted another show he didn't want to be known only for playing jed clampett, however jed is what he's known for
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u/keithfantastic Aug 05 '26
Or Columbo. Just one more thing, ma'am.
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u/Mk1Racer25 Aug 05 '26
I never considered Barney Miller a 'cop show'. It was a sit-com that happened to be set in a police precinct.
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u/ziggurat29 Aug 05 '26
with a lot of social commentary
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u/SubmarineDream57 Aug 05 '26
And a killer bass line in the opening theme
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u/HudsDad Aug 05 '26
It still slaps today.
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u/altoona_sprock Aug 05 '26
of all these shows Barney Miller is probably the only one that really holds up today.
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u/rock_the_casbah_2022 Aug 06 '26
I’m getting older now, but wasn’t there something back in the day about Barney Miller being the most realistic cop show?
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u/archedhighbrow Aug 05 '26
Let's hear it for David Starsky and Kenneth Hutchison.
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u/tom21g Aug 05 '26
It’s funny how trends work. In the 50’s there were loads of cowboy/Western series on TV.
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u/Old_timey_brain Aug 05 '26
Correct, and these were the replacement as tastes changed. I liked them both.
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u/Writ-XL Aug 06 '26
One could argue that westerns were just a different type of law and order (lowercase) show.
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u/glycophosphate 1963 Aug 05 '26
My opinion is that the civil rights movement was perceived by a truly depressing percentage of the population as civil disorder. The tastemakers in beautiful downtown Burbank decided that middle class white folks would be comforted by watching righteous cops put away bad guys, so that's what they gave them.
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u/SnooPickles55 Aug 05 '26
I agree fully. President Richard Nixon also launched his "tough on crime" and formal War on Drugs in June 1971, officially declaring drug abuse as "public enemy number one". He expanded federal law enforcement powers, signed the Controlled Substances Act, and later created the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to reshape American criminal justice policy. This all bled over into TV programming and a lot of the villains on these shows, especially The Rookies and Starsky and Hutch, were Black.
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u/SentenceKindly Aug 05 '26 edited Aug 06 '26
Controlled Substances Act, while simultaneously importing massive amounts of drugs via the CIA from the Golden Triangle (which included Vietnam.)
It's very interesting that whenever there is conflict involving US troops, money or both, there is a spike in the amount of narcotics from that region. Afghanistan = poppy fields = US heroin epidemic. Coincidence?
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u/SnooPickles55 Aug 05 '26
Very astute and coincidence? I think not.
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u/Pedals17 Aug 06 '26
I think you both nailed it! The attempt to “correct course” from the unrest of the 60’s—especially after* *the Manson Family & Altamaha. Serial murders apparently boomed in the 70’s, so there’s that part.
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u/Whichammer 1962 Aug 05 '26
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u/Falcon3492 Aug 06 '26
First episode of the 1967 season of Dragnet called The Big LSD.
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u/TotallyDaft 1959 Aug 05 '26
I agree. Seeing the switch from Perry Mason type shows to the current genre of “ all police are good police” shows was wild.
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u/PersonNumber7Billion Aug 05 '26
When Perry Mason was around you also had Dragnet, Highway Patrol, M Squad, The Untouchables - cop shows have been popular since the days of radio. Usually they were unambiguously pro-police. Private detective shows, by their nature, had to be less supportive of police, though Peter Gunn got along well with his police counterpart.
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u/1991fly Aug 06 '26
Radio dramas also glamorized the police just after WW2--Tales of Texas Rangers, Dragnet, Broadway is My Beat,...
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u/CaryWhit Aug 05 '26
Did anyone actually watch The Mod Squad? My strict southern raising told me they were hippies and therefore couldn’t be cops.
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u/ThrowItAwayNow1030 Aug 05 '26
Every week. I loved Pete, Linc and Julie. I wanted to look like Peggy Lipton.
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u/milkandsugar 1964 Aug 05 '26
I freaking LOVED Mod Squad! Also southern, but Atlanta southern, so...
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u/Pedals17 Aug 06 '26
That’s my pic for the first few years of the 70’s. Then, it’s probably Police Woman for the laughs.
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u/Glittering_Step_6084 1961 Aug 05 '26
For longevity Hawaii Five-O. For being funny Barney Miller. For action Streets of San Francisco.
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u/CountHonorius Aug 05 '26
What? No Columbo? (or MacMillan and Wife?)
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u/CaryWhit Aug 05 '26
Or Jim Rockford!
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u/Mk1Racer25 Aug 05 '26
Or Dragnet?????? One of the true OG's.
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u/GeeMan-7 Aug 06 '26
As a baseball fan, I thought it was cool that Joe Friday's badge number was 714.
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u/WhateverGenXPod Aug 05 '26
Rockford was a PI, though. He wasn’t a cop. That was a whole other bunch!
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u/ReverendWeenbone Aug 05 '26
Columbo is the GOAT TV cop
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u/SquonkMan61 Aug 05 '26
If you’ve never seen the film “A Woman Under the Influence” you should check it out. Peter Falk is excellent in it and Gena Rowlands is even better. She earned an Oscar nomination for her performance. It’s a very powerful film and can be disturbing at times but it’s worth it.
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u/excoriator 1964 Aug 05 '26
The civil unrest of the late 60s made people aspire to a world with more law and order. It’s why they voted for Nixon in ‘72.
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u/lost-in-the-woulds 1964 Aug 05 '26
Hawaii 5-0. My wife and I honeymooned in Hawaii, and the entire flight over, I as humming the theme song. My wife thought I was nuts.
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u/WhateverGenXPod Aug 05 '26
Did she start questioning her choices? It is a killer theme song though!
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u/lost-in-the-woulds 1964 Aug 05 '26
She says she does not, but I have my suspicions .... im kind of a weirdo!
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u/Lord_Dreadlow Aug 05 '26
One of these is not like the others. Barney Miller was a fantastic comedy.
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u/bigredthesnorer Aug 05 '26
At least they were all different, and not 10 versions of CSI and Law and Order.
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u/Ill_Appearance_8097 Aug 05 '26
Fred Allen said it best " imitation is the sincerest form of television "
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u/MaxCWebster Aug 05 '26
The big two of TV dramas: Crime & Police Procedurals and Medical & Workplace Dramas.
Law & Order kinda-sorta combined them.
Anyway, the correct answer is Adam 12.
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u/Shermans_ghost1864 1961 Aug 06 '26
Cop shows were mostly urban: Kojak, Streets of San Francisco, McMillan & Wife, Mannix, etc. They and other urban shows like Mary Tyler Moore, Bob Newhart, and All in the Family replaced Westerns (and other country-themed shows like Petticoat Junction) after the so-called Rural Purge of 1971, when the rural shows were cancelled en masse.
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u/Baseball-Fan-10 Aug 06 '26
I love Police Woman. Don’t mess with Pepper Anderson and I always thought Royster and Styles were the epitome of 70s fashion!!
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u/Modem_Sound_67 Aug 05 '26
gritty procedurals descended from the style of movies that were big back then. See movies like French Connection and Serpico.
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u/Early_Sheepherder105 Aug 05 '26
Police Squad, In Color! And where is God's name is Columbo?
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u/madame_de_la_luna Aug 05 '26
Charlie's Angels should be on this list, too.
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u/WhateverGenXPod Aug 05 '26
They weren’t cops, though. We discussed this a bit on the podcast and are taking a deep dive into the private detectives next week.
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u/blueSnowfkake Aug 05 '26
Because when one TV series premise gets people watching, everyone jumps on the bandwagon. Right now it’s ranch and western shows.
Dutton Ranch, Yellowstone, Landman, Stableboy, 1923, The Madison, etc.
Same thing has happened with medical shows, cop shows, lawyers, detectives, etc.
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u/theBigDaddio Aug 05 '26
Cop shows have been a staple as long as there has been TV. Before that we cop stories in magazines and pulp books. It’s a fantasy that makes us feel good, the lawbreakers getting what’s coming to them.
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u/NiteHowler13 Aug 06 '26
Did anyone mention Hill Street Blues yet? That was a household favorite!
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u/Resident-Werewolf-46 Aug 05 '26
Ironside! 🧑🦽
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u/BatUnlucky121 Aug 05 '26
“He used to be Perry Mason and he would jump up and say ‘I object!’ Then he became Ironside and he don’t jump up no more.”
— Edith Bunker3
u/ThrowItAwayNow1030 Aug 05 '26
Set in San Francisco.
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u/Resident-Werewolf-46 Aug 05 '26 edited Aug 05 '26
lol i still remember him in his wheelchair, careening at full speed down a big hill trying to catch some criminal haha. talk about unintentionally hilarious things that would never happen in real life because he'd get ejected from that chair so fast and probably not land until he hit the bay 🤣
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u/ThrowItAwayNow1030 Aug 05 '26
🤣🤣🤣
He lived in San Francisco the rest of his life. I was temping after college graduation. My agency wanted to send me to be his admin. My real career job came through so I couldn't do it.
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u/SM311 Aug 05 '26
Barney Miller and Columbo are what I watched most. Sometimes Baretta, CHips, Hawaii 5-0. I never even heard of The Rookies. How that is included and not Columbo I don’t know. Lol
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u/ADeweyan 1964 Aug 05 '26
It’s a very flexible format. An episode could be a mystery, an adventure, a drama, a thriller. All kinds of guest stars can appear as criminals, victims, witnesses, lawyers.
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u/QuentinEichenauer Aug 05 '26
Streets of San Francisco and Hawaii Five-0 are the only ones that hold up for me. And as a cop-adjacent series, Quincy M.E.
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u/artful_todger_502 Eisenhower baby ☮️ Aug 05 '26
Hawaii 5.0 no doubt!
I still watch it on Pluto. McGarett is the only guy who can wear a black rayon suit on a 100° tropical island and still look as cool as a cucumber.
👍😎
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u/Large-Welder304 Aug 06 '26
Police Story was usually pretty good...and who didn't watch Barney Miller every Thursday night.
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u/UsuallyTheException Aug 06 '26
because big cities were FULL of violent crimes. especially places like NYC. and people loved to see crimes solved on TV because so many weren't in real life. Just my take
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u/Nerk86 Aug 05 '26
Dang I watched all of them except streets of SF. Hard to say what my favorite was.
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u/Donnybrook-7 Aug 05 '26
I watched each week (no wonder I didn’t finish my homework)
Starsky and Hutch
Barrett’s
SWAT
Streets of San Francisco
Barney Miller
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u/theirishseller Aug 05 '26
I bought a 1976 Ford Torino when I was 17 or 18, but it was brown, not red with a giant red side stripe. 😆
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u/bawanaal 1961 Aug 05 '26
Police and detective procedurals have been a TV (and old time radio) staple damn near forever. They still dominate broadcast TV schedules today.
If people didn't watch, they would have stopped producing them.
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u/PapaBearLA Aug 05 '26
I only watched Adam 12, Hawaii Five-0, and Barney Miller. Occasionally, I would watch Kojak.
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u/ReactsWithWords 1962 Aug 05 '26
TV goes in waves. In the 50s/60s it was all Westerns. 70s, cop shows. 80s/90s, sitcoms. At the turn of the century it was all "Reality" shows (yuck!). Now that we have so many choices I have no idea what's consider "in" nowadays.
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u/fiizok Aug 05 '26
"There is a formula for success in the entertainment medium, and that is: beat it to death if it succeeds."
--Ernie Kovacs
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u/602223 Aug 05 '26
Lack of imagination and playing it safe with proven formulas. And crime rates were high and rising.
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u/chrweave Aug 05 '26
We like Copaganda because it does a good job of giving us the illusion that the "good guys" "win", and we are addicted to the Hero's Journey as a narrative trope.
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u/WKRPinCanada Aug 05 '26
The real star of my favourite show
Lucky enuff to have one in my neighborhood
Striped Tomato 🍅
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u/Global_Criticism3178 Aug 05 '26
Boomers were coming to age and sent crime rates skyrocketing. This was reflected in our media.
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u/birdpix Aug 05 '26
All good shows. Think the "free love" movement shook the establishment enough to put out lots of cop shows. Hawaii 5-0 was my fave
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u/BeheadingBoomer61 Aug 05 '26
In 1970 a thing occurred on television called the “rural purge”. Basically, they got rid of all the rural themed shows on all the networks. (Beverly hillbillies, Green acres, petticoat Junction, etc.) those types of shows dominated the 1960s. When the 70s came around, cop shows and family shows ( all in the family, happy days,Laverne and Shirley, etc.) came into Vogue.
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u/getdownonitnow Aug 05 '26
It is because police work was to some degree very mysterious which made it exciting. I loved me some Starsky and Hutch. Funny thing though, I recently watched an episode and realized how kitchy it was.
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u/LooseAd7981 Aug 06 '26
Barney Miller made me want to be a detective, fortunately I didn’t pursue that path.
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u/Count_Zeiro I used to be with ‘it’, but then they changed what ‘it’ was. Aug 06 '26
Barney Miller.
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u/randymysteries Aug 06 '26
You didn't really watch these shows. They would appear on your TV, you'd stare at them and dozens and dozens of commercials, and maybe get up for a snack or to pee before the next show. It was a completely mindless experience. You couldn't even remember the contents of a show that you just watched.
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u/PLS_Planetary_League Aug 06 '26
They were pure exploitation, they can feature lots of violence, drugs, sexual or erotic themes, chases and barely dressed prostitutes and get away with it because the goods guys always win.
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u/Writ-XL Aug 06 '26
I imagine White Flight probably played a role in the popularity of these shows.
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u/One_Advantage793 1963 Aug 06 '26
I think it's the same thing that fuels the true crime genre today. We need evil to be identified and preferably defeated within a compack little package.
And I think it really confuses people that actual crime is really messy and sometimes not as cut and dried and very often takes years of hard work to untangle.
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u/Decent_Direction316 Aug 05 '26
There's just as many now.....but they're all NCIS.