I forgot you were that tight with Stephen there Jet. He helped give us good action and drama TV while also helping launch the careers of several other writers (many of which who went on to become producers and directors). Maybe he is most known for the A-Team, which while it was good gun toting fun, it wasn't his best work IMHO. Shows I remember include:
Rockford Files: Okay, would anybody else ever pitch an idea for a pardoned ex-con who became a PI? It worked rather well and made mobile homes fashionable in California settings (Martin Riggs had one in Lethal Weapon, ironic considering Mel Gibson was in the movie version of Maverick with James Garner). Plus it gave us the firebird years before Smokey and the Bandit did. Mike Post theme music was also introduced to mainstream america here.
Baretta: Robert Blake not withstanding, I have vague memories of this show, mainly the cockatoo.
Baa Baa Blacksheep: They say it was based on the life of Greg Boyington, but that is about the only semblence to Boyington's actual life. Still, even if the stories set in WW2 were fiction, they usually set out to incorporate some actual legit WW2 combat techniques with the fighters and the character development was good. Plus, this one helped to launch Donald Bellasario into a producer capacity and we are still enjoying his work today.
Greatest American Hero: I regret to say I didn't watch too many episodes of this, but the ones I did were all great. My favorite was when Robert Culp's character got hypnotized to fall asleep whenever somebody said "Scenario".
A-Team: Mentioned already. I kind of think of it as a live action version of GI Joe where everyone is a crack shot, yet nobody gets killed.
Riptide: Actually lasted three seasons, although I only remember one, but it was fun to watch and you would be hard pressed to tell that this came from Stephen's production company alongside the A-Team. But it seemed more in keeping with the stuff I like about Stephen's production work while the A-Team seems to cater more to a lower common denominator crowd. I wish it had lasted longer since the characters seemed more 3 dimensional then Hannibal and the boys (a crossover story would have been interesting though).
Stingray: This is one I remember most from the 80s. It only lasted about two seasons as I recall. The story settings and writing were top notch IMHO. Nick Mancuso was perfect casting as well (watch the opening credits, is he rubbing his eyebrow with a middle finger and getting it by the censors?!). Whenever this show would air in reruns, I would drop what I was doing to watch and the same can't be said for other shows.
Hardcastle and McCormick: I only watched maybe 2 episodes as there was just SO much on TV back then. But this lasted three seasons on ABC when other shows of that genre did not.
Hunter: Works for me!
I recall the last SJC show I watched was Renegade where Stephen also acted in it as the cop who helped frame the show's main character. Stephen could play a pretty good baddie when he wanted to.
I will miss Stephen since from the beginning to the end, he wrote and produced some high quality shows. Some other writers who went on to produce sort of backslid down the other side after their peak years, partly because they never seemed to keep adapting their work. Stephen's batting average stayed high throughout from what I can gather. He will be missed.
