It was also the era of "Columbo," the 1968-78 detective series starring Peter Falk as an LAPD homicide detective. I still watch reruns of this show, which I consider one of the best acted, written and directed TV series ever.
What impresses me most about "Columbo" is that its premise isn't detection so much as class warfare. Lt. Columbo, the quintessential working-class guy and proud of it, doesn't defend the Establishment (in sharp contrast to, say, the cops of "Dragnet"); he wages guerilla war on it. Every perpetrator in this series is a person of wealth, power, selfishness and hubris -- the series strongly suggests that wealth and power are inherently evil. Columbo triumphs over these arrogant pricks by conducting a self-mocking display of working-class buffoonery while constantly needling the suspects -- according them immense, superficial respect while using steel-trap logic to destroy their alibis, not to mention their psyches.
I don't think there's been a TV series since predicated on the notion that the rich are corrupt, dangerous ... and vulnerable -- easy prey for the working class if workers exercised smarts like Columbo.
Carl
_________________________________________________________________ See what you’re getting into…before you go there http://newlivehotmail.com/?ocid=TXT_TAGHM_migration_HM_viral_preview_0507