Before Stephen J. Cannell, television’s heroes tended to be square-jawed, flawless, never-a-hair-out-of-place kind of guys. But the creator of series such as “The Rockford Files” and “The A-Team” changed that.
“His characters had weaknesses — they were fallible human beings,” said David Chase, who worked early in his career with the prolific producer on “The Rockford Files.” “That was the beginning of viewers seeing a TV protagonist as someone like themselves.”
The Rockford Files was one of my favorites growing up. He will be missed–read it all–KSH.
That makes me sad that he is gone. As a child growing up during the 80s, I watched a few of his shows along with those created by Larson and Belisario. And that snippet of Cannell at his typewriter seguing into the nifty graphic of his logo was cool.
RIP.
It was nice seeing Cannell appear with James Patterson on a number of episodes of ‘Castle’ playing himself. His tv shows are wonderful, and make up some of the more enjoyable programs of the ‘silver age’ of TV.