@Merry Andrew,
I'm a late stayer-upper. I work at night. I admit that things have gotten a bit out of hand lately. It's one thing to go to sleep at the crack of dawn. Another to go to sleep at the crack of noon.
Thinking back to medical shows--Dr. Kildare, Ben Casey, St. Elsewhere, ER. A character doesn't stand out for me.
Lawyer shows: The Defenders, Perry Mason. Maybe Perry.
Police shows: Dragnet. Sgt. Joe Friday. Did that man smile ever? Barney Miller. There was Fish.
Rin Tin Tin. How I loved that dawg. Nabisco had a contest. Name Rinty's puppies and win a puppy. You had to send in a box top of some horrible cereal. I ate it till I barfed. Sent in my names. Bupkis.
@Roberta,
Della Street and/or Paul the PI.
@JPB,
I agree, JPB, Della Street was a more interesting character than Perry Mason. Don't remember Paul the PI well.
@Roberta,
Paul Drake.
But I remember that only because I had read most of Erle Stanley Gardner's Perry Mason books long before the TV series premiered.
@Roberta,
Bupkis is a great name for a pup. Bupkis the pup-kis! Too bad they didn't make that the winner!
@Merry Andrew,
That character of paul drake....That actor was related to Hedda Hopper, I seem to recall he was her son. In her day, she was a very influential gossip columnist and a former actress herself.
@Ragman,
Right you are, Ragman. I was trying to remember who the actor was related to but couldn't come up with his name in my less-than-perfect memory banks. Dennis Hopper. His mom, Hedda, and Louella Parsons absolutely ran the Hollywood gossip mills of the 1940s/50s.
@Merry Andrew,
True..along with Walter Winchell. Apparently Ed Sullivan (entertainment columnist) was in the mix, too. Winchell and Sullivan locked horns often.
@Merry Andrew,
Hedda Hopper was not Dennis Hopper's mother. William Hopper, who played Paul Drake, was Hedda's only son.
@eoe,
William, of course. Dunno why I said Dennis. Early onset of dementia, I reckon.
Dr. Sam Beckett, Quantum Leap hasn't been mentioned which is a shame because he was such an original character on an original show.
@tsarstepan,
You're right. He was an original character and the show was indeed original.
No one has mentioned Roy Rogers (I liked Pat Buttram) or Gene Autry.
Still can't believe Rogers stuffed Trigger. What a woild.
Gene Autry was a favorite of mine. Gene's horse, Champion, also had a TV show.
@edgarblythe,
Remember what was distinctive about the reins and headgear on Champion, edgar?
@Merry Andrew,
I ought to remember, but I don't, Andrew.
@edgarblythe,
The little thingies (I forget what they're called) that connect the bit in the horse's mouth to the reins held by the rider were upside-down miniature sixguns.
