Week of October 8: Farewell To the Man At the Typewriter

By Sylvia Gurinsky

He was an iconic figure at the end of most episodes of the shows he produced, typing and then taking the paper out of the typewriter and throwing it back into a graphic that revealed the production belonged to Stephen J. Cannell.

As a writer and producer, Cannell, who died late last week, was a constant presence from the early 1970s on. He had the occasional failure (His 1997 version of a new Hawaii Five-O television series was short on quality and memories of the original series, but at least it didn't have the LSD-trip-type editing the new show - which he was not responsible for - has.).

But Cannell had many more successes, including "The A-Team," "Hunter," "21 Jump Street," "Baretta," "The Greatest American Hero" and unquestionably his greatest series of all, "The Rockford Files." He lived up to that end credit, writing many episodes of his shows.

One little exaggeration in that end credit was the number of Emmy awards he had in his office. He won a single Emmy, for "The Rockford Files" as best drama in 1974. But he helped along the careers of others, such as David Chase and Johnny Depp.

Here's a typically great clip from "Rockford":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PNjv35DfSo4&feature=related

That and the other Cannell hit shows can be found on DVD.

Rest in peace, Mr. Cannell....

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See you next week. Until then, Happy Viewing!