Sunday, July 17, 2011

From the EV Grieve archives: Looking at 1980s New York via network television

Originally posted on July 17, 2008....

Rolando at Urbanite brought back a memory for me with a post on The Equalizer from 1985. As he notes, The Equalizer shows Times Square in all its pre-Giuliani glory. (Via Jeremiah)

Here's a clip I found from the show's opening (New York looks so SCARY!):



And where was the Olde Garden, which you see at the 21-second spot?

Oh, and all this makes me think of Cagney & Lacey from 1982 (and what happened to Meg Foster?):


Still, I prefer the gritty realism of other shows. (ACID RAIN in MANHATTAN! @ the 2:26 spot)
at

4 comments:

  1. Lux LivingJuly 17, 2011 at 2:20 PM

    If I can find them, all of these shows are going on my Netflix. Note the abscence of flip flops! Thanks Grieve.

    ReplyDelete
  2. AllStevieJuly 17, 2011 at 4:07 PM

    OMG my parents took me to the Olde Garden fairly often when I was a kid! I belieeeve it was in the 30s (but don't remember why I think that).

    ReplyDelete
  3. Andrew GardnerJuly 17, 2011 at 5:18 PM

    If I remember correctly Olde Garden was somewhere in the upper 20s/low 30s near Broadway. I used to walk past every day on my way to work in the early 80s. What Olde Garden was I don't remember...but it may come back to me.

    ReplyDelete
  4. elyseJuly 17, 2011 at 10:31 PM

    OMG! Thanks for the memories. I worked on the Equalizer back in the day, in the casting department. Talk about being pre-Giulani, you should have seen some of the extras we would round up to add to that grit. Some interesting tidbits: Stewart Copeland of Police fame penned that hard beating drum intro. It was a first TV theme song to have rock name. Also first show to be on film instead of video which I'm sure added to realism. Unfortunately most of the scripts weren't up to it. But pre-dates all the Law & Order hoo-ha.

    ReplyDelete

Your remarks and lively debates are welcome, whether supportive or critical of the views herein. Your articulate, well-informed remarks that are relevant to an article are welcome.

However, commentary that is intended to "flame" or attack, that contains violence, racist comments and potential libel will not be published. Facts are helpful.

If you'd like to make personal attacks and libelous claims against people and businesses, then you may do so on your own social media accounts. Also, comments predicting when a new business will close ("I give it six weeks") will not be approved.