Starsky & Hutch
Season 4 SABC3 (*193) 15:00 Action
Original cop bromance show Starsky & Hutch (1975-1979) has survived four decades, bad fashion and a Ben Stiller/ Owen Wilson reboot movie in 2004. While Hollywood has a remake show in the works, SABC3 is reliving the action with David Starsky (Paul Michael Glaser) and Kenneth Hutchinson (David Soul) making arrests and speeding around town in their flashy wheels. But did you know that…
The series is based on two former 1
undercover New York detectives who were also the basis for 1974 action thriller movie The Super Cops.
David Soul was handpicked after 2
producer Aaron Spelling saw him opposite Clint Eastwood in 1973 action film Magnum Force.
Paul Michael Glaser was unhappy 3
with the direction of the show in season 3 and tried to get out of his contract for season 4. The producers chose to end the series with Paul’s character Starsky dying and Hutch getting a new partner, Starsky’s younger brother.
The show was actually a lot more 4
violent when it started but public outcry forced the producers to take a more socially responsible direction for seasons 3 and 4.
The pilot episode was a 70-minute 5
“movie of the week”. The other 92 episodes were 50 minutes each.
Starsky’s pride and joy – his red 6
Ford Gran Torino that Hutch called “a striped tomato” – almost never was. The producers had wanted a green and white Chevy but the production company had a loan deal with Ford.
Paul hated the car so much that he 7
purposely tried to wreck as many as possible. The show used four replacements in the first season alone.