Editor’s Note: This article is part of a series examining how television has portrayed policing over the decades. From cultural upheaval to procedural realism, each installment will explore how TV crime dramas reflected — and shaped — their times.
The 1970s were not nearly as turbulent as the 60s, but it had its moments. We finally pulled our troops out of Vietnam, allowing the North Vietnamese government to assume control. For the first time in history, a president resigned his office over the Watergate scandal. New president Gerald Ford, the first president in history who had never run for president or vice president, immediately pardoned Nixon to forestall another few years of criminal trials and speculation. The draft was ended, and veterans took advantage of their GI Bill benefits and filled college classrooms. The free love/hippie/protest sign-carrying lifestyle was fading, to be replaced by the pounding rhythms, bright lights and tons of polyester that accompanied disco.
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Key shows of the decade
CHiPs — 1977-1983
- Basic premise: Two motor cops of the California Highway Patrol chase speeders and girls. They’re more successful with the speeders, but don’t do badly with the girls, either.
- What made it distinctive: No one had “done” motor cops before. Although they were on the rise, shows about uniformed cops were still rare. Also, you never saw a gun in the hands of a cop. The leads did not draw their revolvers during the entire run of the series.
- How it portrayed policing: Ponch and Jon, the lead characters, were always the good guys. They seldom had to fight anyone, and if they did, it was over in seconds. Every episode ended on a high note, often with a freeze-frame of someone holding their thumb up.
- What it got right: CHP motor officers do write tickets and chase speeders. Disco was popular for a time, even though CHiPs was the only cop show with a disco theme song.
- What it got wrong: The cops never broke a sweat, even riding motors in the LA heat. When the helmets came off, they were still perfectly coiffed. Uniforms were skin-tight, with no hint of body armor being worn. Every episode included at least one vehicle flying into the air, or a huge explosion (often both). Some episodes showed CHP officers working cases CHP would never get close to, like taking burglary reports. The cops lived in fashionable Marina del Rey, which is way outside a CHP officer’s budget. Except for the occasional jail deputy, there didn’t seem to be any other law enforcement agency working in Los Angeles. CHiPs was an entertaining show, but fantasy with regard to real police work.
- Why it mattered: CHiPs was G-rated cop stuff. It was almost a kid’s show, enough that CHP benefitted with a surge of applications for years. CHiPs did for the CHP what Top Gun did for the Navy. It was 100% positive reinforcement for cops.
Columbo — 1971-1998
- Basic premise: An LAPD lieutenant with a disarming dullard affect and a slovenly appearance is a lot smarter than he looks.
- What made it distinctive: Lt. Columbo was anything but a typical TV cop. He seemed slow-witted, came to work looking like an unmade bed, and seemed to ask random questions of people. His gimmick was the “doorknob question,” one he seemed to think of at the last second. That question often gave him the key to solving the case. Columbo also structured the show uniquely. The viewer saw the crime being committed and saw how the perpetrator covered their tracks so as to get away with it. The intrigue was in trying to foresee how Columbo would solve the case, as we already knew whodunnit.
- How it portrayed policing: Columbo was a very clever guy, but one wonders how an outfit like LAPD, which puts an emphasis on personal appearance, would tolerate a detective who always needed a haircut and a dry cleaner for his trenchcoat, and who usually fumbled to find his badge and ID card. One could easily believe he didn’t know where his gun was.
- What it got right: There is certainly a continuum of raw intelligence in policing, but Columbo regularly demonstrated he could outwit doctors, attorneys, scientists, and business moguls, as most of his killers were upper-class people. In that regard, he was a role model.
- What it got wrong: In just about every other regard, Columbo was a disaster. The subplot of one episode was Columbo’s quest to find a shill to go to the pistol range and get him qualified as required, suggesting that Columbo couldn’t hit the wall of an indoor range. His personal appearance was beyond slovenly. He drove his personal car, an ancient Peugeot that seemed to want to disintegrate at the curb, to crime scenes and interviews. Most of all, why was a lieutenant, a middle manager, in the field working cases? If people bought any part of Columbo as being realistic, they were being misled.
- Why it mattered: The style of showing how the crime was completed first was unique for the era. Columbo provided a platform for actors who everyone recognized but had usually not been seen in years, including a lot of Oscar- and Emmy-winners.
Hawaii Five-O — 1968-1980
- Basic premise: Detective Steve McGarrett and a squad of investigators go after major crimes for Hawaii’s fictitious state investigative agency.
- What made it distinctive: The main star of Hawaii Five-O was the State of Hawaii, with its gorgeous scenery and diverse cultures.
- How it portrayed policing: Jack Lord wore the McGarrett role like a bespoke suit. His stoic demeanor demanded respect. The detectives were brave and selfless. They always got their man — eventually.
- What it got right: Great detectives are smart and command a laser-like focus on the cases they work. If Five-O was real, they would make the governor proud.
- What it got wrong: The big one was that there was no agency anything like Five-O. Hawaii is the only state that has no state police or investigative body. McGarrett and Co. also occasionally got into cases where national security was involved. The feds would not have tolerated that.
- Why it mattered: McGarrett was just a larger-than-life figure. His “Book’em Danno. Murder One” became a catchphrase without humor. It’s hard to believe that anyone else could pull that off (as someone would try in 2010).
Police Story — 1973-1980
- Basic premise: Police Story was an anthology, with a different setting, cast, and story each week. Most episodes were self-contained, concluding in one hour. Most episodes were focused on LAPD or some other unnamed Southern California agency.
- What made it distinctive: Great writing, varied and generally talented cast, and believable plots and characters. Arguably the best cop show of the 1970s.
- How it portrayed policing: Favorably, but often tragically. Unlike CHiPs, the endings weren’t always happy. Not knowing whether the character would triumph added to the allure.
- What it got right: Nearly everything. Many of the stories were written or sourced from real cops. Procedures were generally realistic. Viewers found out about aspects of policing they never saw before.
- What it got wrong: Sometimes the story was accelerated faster than would be the case in real life. This was necessary to move the plot along and finish up in the allotted hour.
- Why it mattered: Joseph Wambaugh had his influence in every episode of Police Story, and it showed. The program was the springboard for series or TV movies that sustained on their own, like Policewoman, Joe Forrester, and David Cassidy — Man Undercover.
Police Woman — 1974-1978
- Basic premise: LAPD Sgt. Pepper Anderson goes undercover nearly every week to root out criminals and close the case.
- What made it distinctive: There weren’t a lot of cop TV shows with female lead characters.
- How it portrayed policing: Dedicated cops in difficult assignments. The loyalty the support team showed for Pepper was true to life.
- What it got right: Female officers have always been prime candidates for undercover roles, as most bad guys are men who will expose themselves (literally and figuratively) to a woman they see as vulnerable and susceptible to manipulation. It doesn’t hurt that the undercover cop is beautiful and sexy.
- What it got wrong: No one is in a different undercover (UC) role every week. It takes time to set up each UC’s “legend,” and the assignment itself is psychologically and physically hazardous. Few people can make friends and then betray them without some misgivings. The UC needs time to recover and rehabilitate before moving to another role.
- Why it mattered: The show drew attention to the fact that there were women in mainstream policing and working undercover roles. It had an additional draw in Angie Dickinson, who oozed sexuality and wasn’t reluctant to appear in skimpy outfits every week.
Quincy, ME — 1976-1983
- Basic premise: A pathologist employed by the L.A. County Coroner’s Office is frequently skeptical about the police department’s conclusions on how victims died. He and his assistant leave the morgue to conduct their own investigations.
- What made it distinctive: No series had explored criminal investigations from the coroner’s perspective.
- How it portrayed policing: The premise was that the cops don’t always get things right. Most of the time, when presented with the evidence Quincy discovered, the cops were amenable to chalking it up to a learning experience. That might have caused considerable friction in real life. The character of Quincy was based on the real-life coroner Thomas Noguchi, who was renowned but unpopular in many police circles.
- What it got right: Most of the scientific and medical jargon and procedures were accurate, owing to the presence of technical advisors who checked the scripts.
- What it got wrong: Quincy’s methods of obtaining evidence (“trickery and deceit” were frequently mentioned) would have damaged many cases and made the evidence inadmissible. They might have known who really did it, but the evidence to prove it would have been suppressed at trial.
- Why it mattered: Viewers were educated on the role of the coroner in criminal investigations, even if the portrayal was something less than real life.
SWAT — 1975-1976
- Basic premise: The tactical team of the otherwise unnamed WCPD takes on the biggest threats to the city.
- What made it distinctive: This was the first TV show focused solely on what was then a new aspect of policing, the special weapons and tactics team.
- How it portrayed policing: WCPD saw a lot of action. The team was forever suiting up and rolling out in the big bread van to take on heavily armed bad guys.
- What it got right: At this time, most large departments had tactical teams that might or might not have been called SWAT. Smaller agencies were often still thinking about it.
- What it got wrong: Unless WCPD was as large as LAPD or NYPD, they wouldn’t have a full-time SWAT function. Many viewers went away believing that their local PD had a bunch of guys in black jumpsuits, ready to jump into the van and engage terrorists.
- Why it mattered: The show educated people on the functions and capabilities of SWAT, but led them to believe every PD had one of these, ready to go around the clock. This belief often remains in place today.
Key figure of the decade
Where cop shows were concerned, the unquestioned man of the decade was Joseph Wambaugh. Wambaugh was a detective sergeant at the LAPD when he published his first novel, The New Centurions, in 1971. When Hollywood started to take an interest in adapting his books for film, he left the LAPD in 1974 to work in “the industry.” He learned from experience the value of maintaining control. The first film produced, The New Centurions, was mildly successful, owing to the faithful storyline and the casting of George C. Scott and Stacy Keach in lead roles. The next film produced was The Choirboys, which was butchered so badly that Wambaugh sued the production and had his name removed from the credits.
Wambaugh got his faith back with The Onion Field, a non-fiction story of the murder of LAPD Officer Ian Campbell. Wambaugh secured financing for the movie himself, ensuring he would maintain creative control. He cast largely unknown actors in part for their resemblance to the people they were playing. Some of those actors, like John Savage, Ted Danson, James Woods, and Ronny Cox, didn’t stay unknown for long.
The ex-cop got into television with Police Story, an anthology series with different settings (though most were LAPD), cast, and stories each week. Several episodes were springboards for new series, including Police Woman, Joe Forrester, and David Cassidy — Man Undercover. Wambaugh consulted on or produced nearly every episode.
Joseph Wambaugh died on February 28, 2025, at the age of 88, from esophageal cancer.
How these shows shaped public perception
People doing bad things for good reasons have always had a place in American literature and entertainment, but the viewer understood more of what the cops of the 1960s were doing and why they did it. They might not have approved, but they did (mostly) understand.
Closing
Except for the few series that Wambaugh had his hand in, the seventies were not a fertile field for great TV. Most of the shows were not memorable hours we would want to relive again. We could only hope that Joe would make some more TV shows, or that the eighties would be better.
NEXT: Listen to our podcast discussion on the best cop shows in TV history
