Once and Again
Crime Story
October 01, 2009
by David Krell
david@davidkrell.com
In the 1980’s, an NBC show about cops had it all.
A new look.
Story arcs that existed over several episodes.
And the elevation of lesser known actors into household name status.
Hill Street Blues? No.
Miami Vice? No.
Crime Story.
Michael Mann’s production of a Chicago cop and his mobster prey only lasted two seasons from 1986-1988.
But it was a terrific two years.
Set in the early 1960’s, Crime Story followed the exploits of Chicago Police Department Lt. Mike Torello and his squad at MCU or Major Crimes Unit. Their mission is to take down mobster Ray Luca.
When Luca moves his base of operations to Las Vegas, Torello and team follows, only to trade in their Chicago police badges to work for the feds.
At the end of the first season, Ray Luca and his addlebrained sidekick, Paulie Taglia, escape to the desert where they find themselves in the middle of nuclear testing. Because they survive, the federal government gives them immunity from prosecution and increases the difficulty of Torello’s job.
The medical information learned from their survival is simply invaluable during the Cold War and immunity from prosecution is the government’s compensation.
Crime Story was created by Gustave Reininger and Chuck Adamson. It starred Dennis Farina as Mike Torello. In a perfect example of art imitating life, Adamson and Farina worked for the Chicago Police Department before their show business careers. John Santucci played Paulie Taglia. Santucci was a thief in Chicago in his previous career. Adamson and Farina knew Santucci from their Chicago days. They arrested him!
Anthony Denison played Ray Luca. He went to the other side of law enforcement during a brief stint on Wiseguy when he replaced Ken Wahl. Denison played a former FBI agent drawn back into the fight against crime.
A reading of the list of guest stars on Crime Story is impressive.
Kevin Spacey. David Caruso. Julia Roberts. Ving Rhames. Gary Sinise. David Hyde-Pierce. Billy Zane. Laura San Giacomo. Dennis Haysbert.
Regular and recurring actors on Crime Story will also be familiar.
Before he was Corky’s dad on Life Goes On, Bill Smitrovich was Detective Danny Krycheck.
Before he was a single dad looking for a chance at true love on Once and Again, Billy Campbell was Detective Joey Indelli.
And before he sold out sports arenas, comedian Andrew Dice Clay was Max Goldman, a savvy partner of Ray Luca.
Del Shannon’s Runaway was the show’s theme song. It set the tone perfectly for the series. An upbeat tune balanced by somber words.
Crime Story paid great attention to style, setting, and detail. It captured the viewer. In Chicago, Torello and his squad often regrouped at a bar called the Orbit Room, a nod to the fascination inspired by the Space Age of the 1960’s.
In one episode, Torello and the guys talk about the Chicago Bears. He says that Ditka is the best player on the team. It was essentially a wink to the viewer. Mike Ditka played for the Bears in the 1960’s and coached the team during the mid-1980’s, the period of the show’s broadcast history.
Cars with fins. Suits with thin ties. Men with hats. All details of another era. But Crime Story recaptured them in an old-fashioned good guy vs. bad guy story line.
Crime Story ended with a cliffhanger. The principal characters airborne in a pilotless plane. Maybe one day, a tv-movie will tie up loose ends. And we will find out the ultimate destiny of Torello and Luca. Until then, you can create your own Crime Story ending.
david@davidkrell.com
In the 1980’s, an NBC show about cops had it all.
A new look.
Story arcs that existed over several episodes.
And the elevation of lesser known actors into household name status.
Hill Street Blues? No.
Miami Vice? No.
Crime Story.
Michael Mann’s production of a Chicago cop and his mobster prey only lasted two seasons from 1986-1988.
But it was a terrific two years.
Set in the early 1960’s, Crime Story followed the exploits of Chicago Police Department Lt. Mike Torello and his squad at MCU or Major Crimes Unit. Their mission is to take down mobster Ray Luca.
When Luca moves his base of operations to Las Vegas, Torello and team follows, only to trade in their Chicago police badges to work for the feds.
At the end of the first season, Ray Luca and his addlebrained sidekick, Paulie Taglia, escape to the desert where they find themselves in the middle of nuclear testing. Because they survive, the federal government gives them immunity from prosecution and increases the difficulty of Torello’s job.
The medical information learned from their survival is simply invaluable during the Cold War and immunity from prosecution is the government’s compensation.
Crime Story was created by Gustave Reininger and Chuck Adamson. It starred Dennis Farina as Mike Torello. In a perfect example of art imitating life, Adamson and Farina worked for the Chicago Police Department before their show business careers. John Santucci played Paulie Taglia. Santucci was a thief in Chicago in his previous career. Adamson and Farina knew Santucci from their Chicago days. They arrested him!
Anthony Denison played Ray Luca. He went to the other side of law enforcement during a brief stint on Wiseguy when he replaced Ken Wahl. Denison played a former FBI agent drawn back into the fight against crime.
A reading of the list of guest stars on Crime Story is impressive.
Kevin Spacey. David Caruso. Julia Roberts. Ving Rhames. Gary Sinise. David Hyde-Pierce. Billy Zane. Laura San Giacomo. Dennis Haysbert.
Regular and recurring actors on Crime Story will also be familiar.
Before he was Corky’s dad on Life Goes On, Bill Smitrovich was Detective Danny Krycheck.
Before he was a single dad looking for a chance at true love on Once and Again, Billy Campbell was Detective Joey Indelli.
And before he sold out sports arenas, comedian Andrew Dice Clay was Max Goldman, a savvy partner of Ray Luca.
Del Shannon’s Runaway was the show’s theme song. It set the tone perfectly for the series. An upbeat tune balanced by somber words.
Crime Story paid great attention to style, setting, and detail. It captured the viewer. In Chicago, Torello and his squad often regrouped at a bar called the Orbit Room, a nod to the fascination inspired by the Space Age of the 1960’s.
In one episode, Torello and the guys talk about the Chicago Bears. He says that Ditka is the best player on the team. It was essentially a wink to the viewer. Mike Ditka played for the Bears in the 1960’s and coached the team during the mid-1980’s, the period of the show’s broadcast history.
Cars with fins. Suits with thin ties. Men with hats. All details of another era. But Crime Story recaptured them in an old-fashioned good guy vs. bad guy story line.
Crime Story ended with a cliffhanger. The principal characters airborne in a pilotless plane. Maybe one day, a tv-movie will tie up loose ends. And we will find out the ultimate destiny of Torello and Luca. Until then, you can create your own Crime Story ending.
Miles Drentell
April 15, 2009
by David Krell
david@davidkrell.com
Mad Men has received accolades for its portrayal of advertising executives at the dawn of the 1960’s.
Twenty years ago, we enjoyed another ad exec, one of the most compelling characters in network television -- Miles Drentell from thirtysomething, played by David Clennon.
After The Michael & Elliott Company folded, Miles Drentell brought the two yuppie ad men to his company, DAA.
Michael, the wordsmith,
Elliott, the artist.
With not too many options after their failed foray into entrepreneurship, Michael and Elliott take the job offered to them by the mercurial, talented, and sometimes devious Drentell, the D in DAA.
While enigmatic, Miles Drentell revealed some details now and then. He described his youthful self as someone who could see around corners where his business partners could not even see the corners.
When a friend’s son wanted to learn about advertising, Miles revealed a military stint when he told Michael and Elliott that he worked with the boy’s father and they shared a desk as well as a rather jaundiced view of the military. Michael later tells his wife Hope that he believes Miles was involved in the propaganda machine in Vietnam, helping to gain the hearts and minds of the enemy.
While seemingly devoid of emotion, Miles reveals his inner self to another mercurial character, Michael’s cousin Melissa.
Where Miles’ business decisions always seemed to have a logical basis, even if they were borderline unethical, Melissa’s life and love decisions had no basis.
Yearning for years in an on-off relationship with Michael’s commitment-phobe friend from college -- Gary.
Getting romantically involved with a 23-year-old man.
Miles asks for Melissa’s expert photographic opinion about some photos. She gives him a brutal critique, sensing the photographer’s emotional makeup through how the photos are taken.
She soon realizes that Miles is the photographer.
He is intrigued by her on-target assessment, perhaps even appreciative. Certainly curious that she could penetrate a wall seemingly invincible to others.
True opposites attract.
Not really. When Miles gets physically semi-aggressive, the scene ends before it goes too far, but the shock remains. Later, Miles reveals to Melissa that he’s been sad of late but she has made him less so.
Miles provided a perfect foil for Michael Steadman, the by-the-book nice guy who started to emulate Miles’ manipulative ways. In one story arc, Michael and Elliott attempted to engineer a takeover for Minnesota Brands, a Midwest conglomerate that wants to transform from being a DAA client to being a DAA owner.
Michael and Elliot’s strategy is to go to Miles’ two silent partners – the two A’s in DAA. After all, 2 out of 3 makes a majority.
Jack Ashley had no sense of reality – he wanted Michael and Elliot to take the roof off the building. Initially, they thought he meant figuratively removing the roof and letting the creative folks explore limitless boundaries.
He actually meant removing the roof.
The second partner was Carol Arthur, the widow of Miles’ second partner. Miles had Mrs. Arthur on his side because, as he later revealed, Mrs. Arthur spent her whole life trying to run away from her Midwestern Iowa roots. There was no way she was going to sell to Minnesota Brands.
Miles keeps Michael and Elliott on board at DAA. With a tip of the hat to Michael’s passion, Miles says that Michael’s already thinking about how he would run things differently, and who’s to say he won’t succeed the next time.
Clennon also appeared as Miles Drentell on Once and Again. No great mystery here…Marshall Herskovitz and Edward Zwick created thirtysomething and Once and Again.
Miles Drentell died during the run of Once and Again.
Miles Drentell. The original Mad Man.
david@davidkrell.com
Mad Men has received accolades for its portrayal of advertising executives at the dawn of the 1960’s.
Twenty years ago, we enjoyed another ad exec, one of the most compelling characters in network television -- Miles Drentell from thirtysomething, played by David Clennon.
After The Michael & Elliott Company folded, Miles Drentell brought the two yuppie ad men to his company, DAA.
Michael, the wordsmith,
Elliott, the artist.
With not too many options after their failed foray into entrepreneurship, Michael and Elliott take the job offered to them by the mercurial, talented, and sometimes devious Drentell, the D in DAA.
While enigmatic, Miles Drentell revealed some details now and then. He described his youthful self as someone who could see around corners where his business partners could not even see the corners.
When a friend’s son wanted to learn about advertising, Miles revealed a military stint when he told Michael and Elliott that he worked with the boy’s father and they shared a desk as well as a rather jaundiced view of the military. Michael later tells his wife Hope that he believes Miles was involved in the propaganda machine in Vietnam, helping to gain the hearts and minds of the enemy.
While seemingly devoid of emotion, Miles reveals his inner self to another mercurial character, Michael’s cousin Melissa.
Where Miles’ business decisions always seemed to have a logical basis, even if they were borderline unethical, Melissa’s life and love decisions had no basis.
Yearning for years in an on-off relationship with Michael’s commitment-phobe friend from college -- Gary.
Getting romantically involved with a 23-year-old man.
Miles asks for Melissa’s expert photographic opinion about some photos. She gives him a brutal critique, sensing the photographer’s emotional makeup through how the photos are taken.
She soon realizes that Miles is the photographer.
He is intrigued by her on-target assessment, perhaps even appreciative. Certainly curious that she could penetrate a wall seemingly invincible to others.
True opposites attract.
Not really. When Miles gets physically semi-aggressive, the scene ends before it goes too far, but the shock remains. Later, Miles reveals to Melissa that he’s been sad of late but she has made him less so.
Miles provided a perfect foil for Michael Steadman, the by-the-book nice guy who started to emulate Miles’ manipulative ways. In one story arc, Michael and Elliott attempted to engineer a takeover for Minnesota Brands, a Midwest conglomerate that wants to transform from being a DAA client to being a DAA owner.
Michael and Elliot’s strategy is to go to Miles’ two silent partners – the two A’s in DAA. After all, 2 out of 3 makes a majority.
Jack Ashley had no sense of reality – he wanted Michael and Elliot to take the roof off the building. Initially, they thought he meant figuratively removing the roof and letting the creative folks explore limitless boundaries.
He actually meant removing the roof.
The second partner was Carol Arthur, the widow of Miles’ second partner. Miles had Mrs. Arthur on his side because, as he later revealed, Mrs. Arthur spent her whole life trying to run away from her Midwestern Iowa roots. There was no way she was going to sell to Minnesota Brands.
Miles keeps Michael and Elliott on board at DAA. With a tip of the hat to Michael’s passion, Miles says that Michael’s already thinking about how he would run things differently, and who’s to say he won’t succeed the next time.
Clennon also appeared as Miles Drentell on Once and Again. No great mystery here…Marshall Herskovitz and Edward Zwick created thirtysomething and Once and Again.
Miles Drentell died during the run of Once and Again.
Miles Drentell. The original Mad Man.