Even when they were at the top of the ratings mountain, NBC suits made moves that made you wonder where their heads were sometimes.
Take, for example, Crime Story. For the first time since Buck Rogers in The 25th Century seven years earlier, the series began with a feature film release. ABC-Marvel's Inhumans went that route last year, and bombed, proving that it doesn't always work. NBC assigned the series to a Friday berth, coupled with and meant to complement Miami Vice, whose creator, Michael Mann, was also a producer on Crime Story. However, Mann was working with New World Television after Universal decided to pull out due to budget issues.
Crime Story ran for 2 seasons (1986-8), and its demise came about after NBC foolishly moved it to Tuesdays for season 2, opposite ABC's goofy Moonlighting.
Crime Story boasted a strong ensemble cast, fronted by Dennis Farina and Anthony Denison. Denison, in fact, would work on two series concurrently in season 2, as he was also cast in CBS' Wiseguy, a Stephen Cannell entry that had a healthier run. The theme song is a reworking of Del Shannon's classic, "Runaway", with new lyrics to reflect the subject matter of the show.
The Rap Sheet provides the intro:
Don't ya wish this was on cable today?
No rating. Never saw the show.
2 comments:
I caught an ep or tweo of the show at the time and it was ok. It wasn't around long enough to appreciate - at least for me.
It also represents a Las Vegas that is long gone - two actually. The one of the early 60s as depicted in series, and the Vegas that existed when they were filming the show itself. Most of the neon you see in the opening credits has changed drastically, and much of Old Vegas' charm has been erased. Even Fremont Street is different - there's been a canopy over it since the 90s and traffic has been banned from the area shown in the credits as it's a pedestrian mall now.
Bright side was having Del Shannon sing the title tune! He still had it 25 years after his original version was released!
It broke my heart when he committed suicide not too long afterward.
So Shannon rerecorded "Runaway" with new lyrics. Hmmmmkay.
Post a Comment