In 2022, I discovered the absolutely wonderful television show, Starsky and Hutch, via GET-TV, one of numerous television channels that broadcasts older television shows. I had heard of the show Starsky and Hutch but never watched it in its first-run or on other television channels who had broadcast the show in reruns. I was watching a third season episode when I said to myself, “This show is really good.” I then viewed other episodes broadcast on GET-TV and then decided to purchase the DVD box set of all of the episodes from Seasons One through Season Four.
I then decided to look through Facebook to see if there were groups that had a passionate interest in this show. I found a few groups and subscribed to these groups, but what interested me was a SHareCon virtual event devoted to Starsky and Hutch. I signed up for this event as I was interested in fans’ knowledge of the show and I then discovered that many of them were fans from the very beginning. I discovered that there were fan fiction writers, especially of the variety known as “slash,” as well as fans who created much-loved videos.
After the virtual SHareCon event, I found out about a Saturday Zoom Watch Party whereby fans get together via Zoom and talk about the episode shown on that day as well as other topics of conversation. From this Zoom event every Saturday, I have met so many passionate and devoted fans who are always teaching me a great deal about anything related to Starsky and Hutch.
There are many great and wonderful episodes that can be viewed many times over. What is interesting is that some Starsky and Hutch episodes presented storylines that resonate in today’s society such as the episode, “Manchild on the Streets,” which concerns a white police officer who kills a black man, and the episode, “Death in a Different Place,” which touches on the murder of a police officer who is found to be a homosexual and the struggles Starsky faces with the issue of homosexuality.
As a television series centering on two characters as police officers, Starsky and Hutch was not just a generic “cop show” but a show that presented two characters who trusted one another and also had a love for one another. Paul Michael Glaser and David Soul, as the characters Starsky and Hutch, provided the audience with a different portrayal of two police officers, which was really not shown on television during the 1970s.
The entire fandom community has shown its devotion to this series and its characters and for the future, the series should once again be broadcast on other over-the-air broadcast stations as well as streaming channels in order that the series can reach a wider audience of new fans.
