drama
Drama is the specific Mode (literature), mode of fiction Mimesis, represented in performance: a Play (theatre), play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on Radio drama, radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a g ...
television series created by
Richard DiLello
Richard DiLello (born 1945) is an American photographer, author, and screenwriter.
Career
Serving as the "house hippie" (formally termed Client Liaison Officer) at Apple Corps, DiLello's duties included promotional campaigns for The Beatles, Badf ...
, which aired on
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...
from October 25, 1988, to May 10, 1991. It was one of the first television series to address the dramatic possibilities of the then-growing phenomenon of
talk radio
Talk radio is a radio format containing discussion about topical issues and consisting entirely or almost entirely of original spoken word content rather than outside music. They may feature monologues, dialogues between the hosts, Interview (jo ...
.
Premise
Jack Killian is a former San Francisco police detective who quits the force after he accidentally shot his partner dead in a confrontation with armed criminals. After lapsing into alcoholism, Killian receives an offer from Devon King, the beautiful and wealthy owner-operator of KJCM-FM, to become "The Nighthawk", host of an overnight talk show, taking calls from listeners and acting as a detective solving their problems during the day (the title of Killian's show would later be adopted in real life by talk-show host
George Noory
George Ralph Noory (born June 4, 1950) is an American talk radio, radio talk show host. Since January 2003, Noory has been the weekday host of the late-night radio talk show ''Coast to Coast AM''. The program is radio syndication, syndicated to ...
on KTRS in St. Louis from 1996 until 2003, when Noory took over from the retiring
Art Bell
Arthur William Bell III (June 17, 1945 – April 13, 2018) was an American broadcaster and author. He was the founder and the original host of the paranormal-themed radio program '' Coast to Coast AM'', which is syndicated on hundreds ...
as host of the nationally syndicated ''
Coast to Coast AM
''Coast to Coast AM'' is an American late-night radio talk show that deals with a variety of topics. Most frequently the topics relate to either the paranormal or conspiracy theories. It was hosted by creator Art Bell from its inception in 198 ...
'').
Even though Killian snapped that he doesn't listen to FM radio, he accepted the offer.
Killian's adventures took him frequently back into the realm of police work, where several of his former colleagues were less than happy to see him again. He faced myriad problems, both personal and professional, and was at various points required to come to grips with the nature of his relationships with his absentee father, his troubled siblings, and Devon.
Devon eventually became pregnant in a relationship with another man and sold the station (Kilbourne was simultaneously pregnant in real life). Episodes dealt with AIDS, capital punishment, and child abuse among other topics. The show lost viewers when it was moved from its original time slot and was cancelled after three seasons.
Most episodes ended with Killian monologuing to listeners, recapping the episode and lessons learned. Killian's radio show sign-off comment was "Good night, America, wherever you are."
The show's
jazz
Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...
music soundtrack added to its popularity.
Rick Braun
Rick Braun (born July 6, 1955) is an American smooth jazz trumpet, flugelhorn, trombone and keyboards player, vocalist, composer, and record producer.
Early life and education
Braun was born in Allentown, Pennsylvania and attended Dieruff High ...
wrote the theme tune for the series.
In October 1990,
Wendy Kilbourne
Wendy Kilbourne Read is an American attorney and former television actress.
Biography
Kilbourne may be best known as Constance Hazard on the ''North and South (miniseries), North and South'' miniseries (1985, 1986 and 1994), and as Devon King in ...
(Devon King) left the show due to her pregnancy.
Lisa Eilbacher
Lisa Marie Eilbacher (born May 5, 1957) is a retired American actress. She is best known for her role as Jeanette Summers in the ''Beverly Hills Cop'' film in 1984.
Early life
Born to American parents in Dhahran, Saudi ArabiaWP:TVCAST -->
*
Gary Cole
Gary Michael Cole (born September 20, 1956) is an American actor. He began his professional acting career on stage at Chicago's Steppenwolf Theatre Company in 1985. His breakout role was playing Jack 'Nighthawk' Killian in the NBC series '' M ...
as Jack Killian
*
Wendy Kilbourne
Wendy Kilbourne Read is an American attorney and former television actress.
Biography
Kilbourne may be best known as Constance Hazard on the ''North and South (miniseries), North and South'' miniseries (1985, 1986 and 1994), and as Devon King in ...
as Devon King
*
Dennis Dun
Dennis Gong Dun (born April 19, 1952) is an American stage and screen actor.
Early life and education
Of Chinese Jamaican descent, Dun was born in Stockton, California. He trained in martial arts and Chinese opera growing up. He originally st ...
as Billy Po
*
Mykelti Williamson
Mykelti Williamson (; born Michael T. Williamson; March 4, 1957) is an American actor and director best known for his roles in the films ''Forrest Gump'', '' 12 Angry Men'' (1997), ''Con Air'', and '' Ali'', and the television shows ''Boomtown'' ...
as Deacon Bridges
* Arthur Taxier as Lt. Carl Zymak
*
Lisa Eilbacher
Lisa Marie Eilbacher (born May 5, 1957) is a retired American actress. She is best known for her role as Jeanette Summers in the ''Beverly Hills Cop'' film in 1984.
Early life
Born to American parents in Dhahran, Saudi ArabiaPete Ham
Peter William Ham (27 April 1947 – 24 April 1975) was a Welsh singer, songwriter and guitarist best known as a lead vocalist of and composer for the 1970s rock band Badfinger, whose hit songs include "No Matter What (Badfinger song), No Matte ...
for the band
Badfinger
Badfinger were a Welsh rock music, rock band formed in Swansea in 1961. Their best-known lineup consisted of Pete Ham (guitar), Mike Gibbins (drums), Tom Evans (musician), Tom Evans (bass), and Joey Molland (guitar). They are recognised for th ...
. DiLello had previously authored ''
The Longest Cocktail Party
''The Longest Cocktail Party'' is a book by Richard DiLello, published in 1972 by Playboy Press in the US and Canada and Charisma in the UK, and reprinted in 1981, 1983 (Pierian Press), 1997 (Popular Culture Ink) and 2005. ''The Longest Cocktail ...
'', a history of the rise and fall of
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960. The core lineup of the band comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are widely regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatle ...
' corporation,
Apple Corps
Apple Corps Limited is a British multimedia company that was established in London by the members of the Beatles in the 1960s to form a Conglomerate (company), conglomerate. The company's name, pronounced "apple core", is a pun. Its chief div ...
, and their record label,
Apple Records
Apple Records is a British record label founded by the Beatles in 1968 as a division of Apple Corps Ltd. It was initially intended as a creative outlet for the Beatles, both as a group and individually, plus a selection of other artists inclu ...
, where Badfinger had originally been signed. The song itself had no relation to the series' subject matter; it had been written by Ham in tribute to a friend of the band who had resorted to working as a high-priced prostitute to pay her bills.
Production
The series was filmed on location in
San Francisco
San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...
. Interior shots were done at a studio complex in the city, while exterior shots happened on location.
Theme song
The series theme, as performed by
Rick Braun
Rick Braun (born July 6, 1955) is an American smooth jazz trumpet, flugelhorn, trombone and keyboards player, vocalist, composer, and record producer.
Early life and education
Braun was born in Allentown, Pennsylvania and attended Dieruff High ...
, has become a popular mainstay on
Smooth Jazz
Smooth jazz is commercially oriented crossover jazz music. Although often described as a "genre", it is a debatable and highly controversial subject in jazz music circles. As a radio format, however, smooth jazz radio became the successor to e ...
radio stations.
"After It Happened" controversy
In the 1988 episode "After It Happened", a bisexual man is depicted as an AIDS carrier who deliberately infects heterosexual women. As originally conceived, the man is gunned down in a
vigilantism
Vigilantism () is the act of preventing, investigating, and punishing perceived offenses and crimes without legal authority.
A vigilante is a person who practices or partakes in vigilantism, or undertakes public safety and retributive justice ...
murder by one of the women whom he infects, and a medical team in full
Hazmat suit
A hazmat suit is a piece of personal protective equipment that consists of an permeation, impermeable whole-body or one piece garment worn as protection against hazardous materials.
Such suits are often combined with self-contained breathing ap ...
comes to take his body away as Jack Killian comforts the distraught shooter. In the broadcast version, the victim is stopped before she can kill the carrier. Coming in the early years of the
epidemiology of HIV/AIDS
The global pandemic of HIV/AIDS (human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome) began in 1981, and is an ongoing worldwide public health issue. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), by 2023, HIV/AIDS ...
in the US at a time when public understanding of the disease was quite low, the proposed episode was immediately criticised as sensationalistic, ignorant of bisexuality, and
pseudoscience
Pseudoscience consists of statements, beliefs, or practices that claim to be both scientific and factual but are incompatible with the scientific method. Pseudoscience is often characterized by contradictory, exaggerated or unfalsifiable cl ...
. Protests were launched by
GLAAD
GLAAD () is an American non-governmental media monitoring organization. Originally founded as a protest against defamatory coverage of gay and lesbian demographics and their portrayals in the media and entertainment industries, it has since ...
,
BiNet USA
BiNet USA (officially Bi/Net USA, The Bisexual Network of the USA Inc.) was an American national nonprofit bisexual community whose mission was to "facilitate the development of a cohesive network of bisexual communities, promote bisexual visibil ...
and
bialogue
Bialogue, a portmanteau of the words ''bisexual'' and ''dialogue'', is an American activist group that started in New York City, working on issues of local, national, and international interest to the bisexual, fluid, pansexual, queer-identified co ...
, among others. Additionally
ACT UP
AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power (ACT UP) is an international, grassroots political group working to end the AIDS pandemic. The group works to improve the lives of people with AIDS through direct action, medical research, treatment and advocacy, ...
pickets disrupted the show's filming. Then-NBC affiliate
KRON-TV
KRON-TV (channel 4) is a television station licensed to San Francisco, California, United States, serving as the San Francisco Bay Area's outlet for The CW. Owned and operated by The CW's majority owner, Nexstar Media Group, KRON-TV has studios ...
in San Francisco ran a disclaimer before the show with an AIDS hotline number and aired a half-hour live special, ''Midnight Caller: The Response'', during which activists and public health officials aired their grievances.
Awards and nominations
In 1989, both
Kay Lenz
Kay Ann Lenz (born March 4, 1953) is an American actress. She is the recipient of a Daytime Emmy Award and a Primetime Emmy Award, as well as nominations for a Golden Globe Award and a Saturn Award.
Lenz is best known for her title role in the f ...
and
Joe Spano
Joseph Peter Spano (born July 7, 1946) is an American actor known best for his roles as Lt. Henry Goldblume on ''Hill Street Blues'' and FBI Special Agent Tobias C. Fornell on '' NCIS''. He also voiced the Chuck E. Cheese (at the time Chuck E. ...
won an
Emmy Award
The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the year, each with their own set of rules and award categor ...
for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series and Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series, for their performances in the episodes "After It Happened" and "The Execution of John Saringo", respectively.
International distribution
In the Philippines, the show was broadcast on
PTV-4
DWGT-TV (channel 4) is a television station in Metro Manila, Philippines, serving as the flagship of the government-owned People's Television Network. The station maintains studios and hybrid analog/digital transmitting facility at Broadcast Co ...
from 1990 to 1991, and then
ABC-5
TV5 is a Television in the Philippines, Philippine free-to-air Television network, television and Radio network, radio network headquartered in Mandaluyong, with additional studios in Novaliches, Quezon City. TV5 serves as the flagship netwo ...
from 1992 to 1996, with dubbing in Tagalog from 1994. In the UK, it was broadcast by
BBC1
BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's oldest and Flagship (broadcasting), flagship channel, and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includ ...
from 1989, before later being re-run on
ITV
ITV or iTV may refer to:
Television TV stations/networks/channels ITV
*Independent Television (ITV), a British television network and company, including:
**ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network in the United Kingd ...
in the late '90s, and being re-acquired for broadcast by
Forces TV
The British Forces Broadcasting Service (BFBS) provides radio and television programmes for His Majesty's Armed Forces, and their dependents worldwide. Editorial control is independent of the Ministry of Defence and the armed forces themselv ...
in 2021. In New Zealand, the series was one of the early shows on the then-newly launched
TV3 Channel 3 or TV 3 may refer to:
Television
*Canal 3 (Burkina Faso), a commercial television channel in Burkina Faso
* Canal 3 Niger, a commercial television channel in Niger
* Canal 3 (Guatemala), a commercial television channel in Guatemala
* Can ...
, and it was screened in the early 1990s.
It is not currently available on any streaming channel.