The Greatest '70s Cop Shows (Charlie's Angels / Starsky and Hutch / S.W.A.T. / Police Woman / The Rookies)
It may sound like a gimmick--The Greatest '70s Cop Showsis a compilation of first episodes fromStarsky and Hutch,Police Woman,S.W.A.T.,The Rookies, andCharlie's Angels--but this DVD anthology really opens one's eyes to the look and feel of dramatic television during the so-called Me Decade. Except forAngels, which never wavered from its self-mocking, glossy action/stiff exposition playbook, these cop-program debuts (four of them from Aaron Spelling) import much of their fluid camera movement, multiple points-of-view, and dynamic, often wordless storytelling from the era's rough-and-tumble action movies (e.g.,The French Connection). Which is to say these shows may be dumb but not necessarily cheesy (exceptAngels' post-modern cheese). There is a lot to admire about the opening ambush inS.W.A.T.'s "The Killing Ground," the hard-boiled camaraderie ofPolice Woman's "The End Game," and especially the reckless physicality and ironic jokes ofStarsky and Hutch's "Savage Sunday."--Tom Keogh