032: Just the facts, ma'am

I love PBS.  We sat around for two hours after dinner, watching the two episodes of Pioneers of Television shown tonight, doing a rundown of early TV westerns and crime dramas.  Two weeks ago, they ran one about science fiction shows.  I think my frequent use of the television label speaks for how much I watch, and my go-to genre is the crime drama, so I was particularly interested to see the overview of the way it all started.

Watch the full episode. See more Pioneers of Television.

Some of these shows I've never seen and have barely heard of -- I'd never heard of Mannix at all -- but I find the behind-the-scenes anecdotes from the actors and writers fascinating.  You can see how some of the crime shows on the air today evolved; the humor on Castle owes quite a bit to The Rockford Files (and the latter's creator, the late Stephen J. Cannell, was a consultant for the former), and Law & Order's "these are their stories" tagline is akin to Dragnet's "the story you are about to see is true" introduction.  This is the kind of stuff I find interesting and entertaining.  No, I don't get out much, how could you tell?

Anyway, if I've learned only one thing from this series it's this: Martin Landau and Veronica Cartwright have been on every television show, ever.  Seriously, look it up -- those two are everywhere.