Starsky & Hutch: The Complete First Season

Two years before Hill Street Blues reinvented the television cop drama as an ensemble piece with multiple, realistic storylines, Starsky & Hutch ended its 1975-79 run exhausting a radically different, if sillier, format. Dave Starsky (Paul Michael Glaser) and Ken "Hutch" Hutchinson (David Soul) were two undercover detectives whose commitment to catching bad guys manifested itself in reckless physicality: here, these L.A. heroes routinely scale walls, leap from rooftop to rooftop, and roll out of moving cars, all the while absorbing extreme punishment. Given that the series ran in the early aftermath of the Vietnam War, it's perhaps not surprising that neither character played the stoic John Wayne type, or was afraid of letting his partner see him in pain or grief. But there's also a lot of humor in this first season compilation: the sight of Starsky and Hutch trying to conduct business backstage at a strip club is worth the price of this collection alone. Released to coincide with the theatrical makeover Starsky & Hutch starring Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson, the special features on this box set include several featurettes and recent interviews with Soul and Glaser. While hardly must-see TV, this is a strong optional purchase for larger collections. (T. Keogh)