What do these things have in common?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w3VnJfWR-Yg

The first is from “Hawk,” a 1966–67 ABC-TV series about a New York City police detective, played by Burt Reynolds. “Hawk” was replayed in the summer of 1976 on NBC, in order to capitalize on Reynolds’ popularity, and because, well, NBC had nothing better to show at the time.

The second is from “NYPD,” a 1967–69 ABC series about a group of New York City police detectives. I remember seeing “Hawk” on NBC, and years later in syndication. I have never seen “NYPD,” one of TV’s last half-hour dramas, anywhere except YouTube.

From those two series lies a tale from the Classic TV History blog about how Hollywood operated in the 1960s. Long story short: “Hawk” lasted only one season for various reasons, even though …

Hawk was a cop show that debuted on ABC on September 8, 1966.  It had a simple premise.  John Hawk (Burt Reynolds) was a tough young plainclothes detective who caught killers, thieves, and other felons.  There were two gimmicks.  One, Hawk was a full-blooded Native American.  Two, he worked the night shift.  Hawk never saw daylight, and neither did the viewer.

Let’s look again at the credits of the Hawk pilot, which was titled “Do Not Spindle or Mutilate.”  Hubbell Robinson was one of television’s most respected independent producers, a former CBS executive whose championing of Playhouse 90 (which he created) and other quality television had damned him as, perhaps, too cerebral for the mainstream.  The writer was Allan Sloane, a recent Emmy nominee for an episode of Breaking Point.  Sam Wanamaker, who had spent his years on the blacklist as a distinguished Shakespearean actor in England, directed.  Kenyon Hopkins, composer of East Side / West Side’s brilliant, Emmy-nominated jazz score, wrote the music, and The Monkees impresario Don Kirshner is in there as a “music consultant,” whatever that means.  Oh, and the guest villain, the guy who bundles up a bomb in a brown paper wrapper before the opening titles?  Gene Hackman.

And what about that missing name?  He had some Emmys on his shelf, too.  The producer of “Do Not Spindle or Mutilate,” the one who’s not mentioned in any reference books or internet sites, was Bob Markell, fresh off a stint producing all four seasons of The Defenders.  The Defenders won multiple Emmy Awards every year it was on the air, including the statue for Best Drama (which Markell took home) during the first two seasons.  Hawk was only Markell’s second job following The Defenders.  So why was his name expunged?

“There are a lot of well-kept secrets about me,” said Markell in an interview last month.

The story is interesting, particularly because of what replaced “Hawk”:

Markell’s highlight reel sold the stripped-down N.Y.P.D. pilot to the network.  Superficially, the new show was similar to Hawk.  Both spilled out into the streets of Manhattan, updating the grimy, teeming urban imagery of Naked City and East Side / West Side with a burst of color.  But Hawk courted a film noir sensibility – John Hawk was the lone wolf, hunting at night – and N.Y.P.D. was about the institution, the process.  It followed three detectives of varying seniority as they plowed methodically through the drudgery of police work: legwork, surveillance, interrogation. …

Hawk ran on Thursdays at 10 PM, N.Y.P.D. on Tuesdays at 9:30.  But it seems likely that ABC had only one “slot” for a stylish Manhattan police drama on its schedule, and that N.Y.P.D.’s pickup had been contingent upon Hawk’s cancellation.  And the network probably told Markell as much.

What do all these series have in common? For one thing, they look and sound (as in their soundtracks) great from the beginning:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sPuoplSAeFE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J08vCGnL880

They all had a gritty view of New York before New York’s nadir in the 1970s and 1980s. (Did art imitate life, or did art precede life?) They were all in the Television Code days, before words you couldn’t then but can now say on TV, before things (and body parts) you couldn’t show then but can now show on TV.

It’s not as if we can go back, but one wonders why TV producers can’t combine the best of both worlds today.