Why did I never watch Starsky and Hutch ?

[The Toyroom]

I watched this regularly on Tuesday nights if I recall back in the 70s. Happy Days @ 8:00followed by Laverne & Shirley and Three's Company....THEN the dreaded Taxi @ 9:30. My brother and I hated Taxi and struggled to stay awake through it just so we could get to 10:00 and Starsky and Hutch. He almost always DIDN'T make it.

[Joe90]

I was in High School when S&H first aired. Even back then a lot of the stuff on the show was accepted as being cliched or unrealistic. I'm surprised that nobody has mentioned the automatic Gran Torino with a 4 speed soundtrack. That was an ongoing joke about the realism of the show back in the 1970's.

We laughed at it, but we watched it. And we enjoyed it.

I agree with MIB41, the movie was focussing on the dated aspect of S&H -- lampooning it, I guess -- but doing it almost affectionately.

[Hector]

Starsky & Hutch is my all time favorite 70s cop show.

[MIB41]

Absolutely loved the show in the 70's and am a devoted viewer these days, watching the show on DVD typically in the fall. I don't know why but the scent of fall makes me want to watch this show, so that's when I dig in. I completely "got" the movie and didn't take offense at making it into a comedy because, in some ways, it was just ribbing the viewer about how some of the now dated characterizations that were textbook qualities of the show. Can you count how many shows in the 70's (like Starksy and Hutch and Swat) had the lead bad guy drinking milk or running a candy store as a criminal front? I mean, c'mon! That's naive as h*ll and those were the qualities the movie addressed. I thought the movie was hysterical AND it made me WANT to watch the series too, so I would say the director did his job.

[Mikey]

I never watched it either when I was a kid (I watched a lot of CHiPs though) and admit I've never seen an episode. Hmmm, with all the good things people are saying about it here, I might have to try it out.

If you like CHiPs, then I think you'll like S&H

It's basically CHiPs except people get killed all the time

Also, unlike CHiPs which has multiple stories all going at once, S&H usually only has one per episode

[kennermike]

I think alot of kids didnt watch S&H back when it originally ran thats because ABC had it playing at their 10 pm time slot since it was alot more violent then CHIPS on NBC which had a 8:00 pm Sunday night slot .but Im with you guys I watched alot more chips and when it when into syndication around 1980 it was on 5 days a week .I watched S&H in syndication starting around 1983?

[cjefferys]

I never watched it either when I was a kid (I watched a lot of CHiPs though) and admit I've never seen an episode. Hmmm, with all the good things people are saying about it here, I might have to try it out.

[filmation batman fan]

Type 1 Kirk. I can relate to your post. As a little kid, I knew of Starsky and Hutch and I recall seeing the Mego dolls as a kid, but I never saw the series as a kid. I was too young to watch it, with the exception of one night when my parents left me at a babysitter's house. She was watching a show about a black father and son having a disagreement, the son running out, and the father being driven to work by a friend who was a drinker and he drove a clunker car, which broke down on them in an alley and the father was shot by a police officer and later died. I did not know at the time I was watching an episode of S&H. Years later, I caught this episode on TNN and discovered it was called Manchild on the Streets and was directed by David Soul (Hutch) and it was a third season episode.

I first got interested in Starsky and Hutch in the 90's because I had the season two theme intro on a Television's Greatest Hits CD. It wasn't until 1999 or 2000 when TNN began airing the show and I began watching it. And I fell in love with it. I was already a huge fan of the Dukes of Hazzard and CHiPs and this was another awesome buddy show that was a cross between the other two in that they are two cops who dress casual and drive around in a sporty car. Huggy Bear was entertaining and so was Captain Dobey, whom I always enjoyed being the butt of occasional pranks. My favorites were when Hutch faked radio interference and you're hearing Dobey shouting on the other end or when Dobey got mad because he was consistently getting calls from people who think his office is a fast food joint. Or the episode "Partners" where he gets the last laugh when Hutch's faking of amnesia is exposed and Dobey tells S&H to report for traffic duty Monday morning and "Bring your whistles."
I loved Starsky's taste in cars and food, but I can relate to Hutch's personality. I could see myself being Hutch in that series, even if it means driving the crappy car and eating the organic foods.
As for the movie, it wasn't all that great since they made it a comedy with Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson. I could not see it as a prequel but more as an original and reimagining. Stiller and Wilson's S&H were incompetent. The only reason to see this movie is to see Glaser and Soul's cameos at the end of the movie and the extra feature where Glaser gets on to Soul for selling his car.
But Starsky and Hutch is another awesome show and I proudly own the DVD sets and the new movie. "I'm Hutch. He's Starsky."
Zebra 3 out.

[toys2cool]

Chips was my thing but I saw a few episodes as a kid, I know my mom really liked it

[kingdom warrior]

I loved that show!!! I begged my mom to get me the Megos soon as she did I watched them with Megos on hand.

[MysteryWho]

I don't know if there was any intentional subtext, but I doubt it.
Starsky and Hutch is not terribly realistic in a number of ways.
I mean, look at the car they go around in. Undercover my butt.

[Mikey]

I've only seen like 9 episodes so far, but I don't see their friendliness as anything more then just close brothers.

It might be unrealistic for a cop drama, but to me it seems perfectly innocent.

[MysteryWho]

I never saw it when it originally aired, I was too young to stay up till ten.
It was kind of a cool legend among the kids. Then I saw it in re-runs later.
I was hooked. It is a great TV show.
I also recall when I was watching the re-runs how much my dad hated it.
I don't know if it was because it was on during the weather report or if
he thought the boys were too "friendly", as some guys thought back then.
Oddly enough, my dad was huge Columbo fan, and I hated it.
Now I'm going through a phase of watching all the Columbo movies.
Bottom line, it's weird how these shows are threaded through our lives.

[Mikey]

What's up with Huggy Bear ?
He's clearly the biggest snitch that ever was -- so why do bad guys tell him their secrets ?

Captain Dobey ......
I love this guy ...
The actor who plays Dobey really pulls off the tough teddy bear really well.
Dobey is my favorite character so far.

[huedell]

loved the original, sadly the memory of it was killed by the horrible movie

If someone can define how the memory of it was "killed" by a
funny Stiller re-make I'd be very interested to hear "how" this was done.

It's questions like these that keep me coming back time and time again to
the Museum boards

I mean, even if you didn't like the movie---how does it take away from your
enjoyment of the original series?