When we were kids, Whirlybirds was an "appointment watching" show. We had to drop everything to watch Craig Stevens and the rest of the cast tackle the day's events. I dreamed of being a helicopter pilot, my cousin eventually went to work for the Bell Helicopter plant outside of Amarillo in the 1970s. And, like others on the IMDb site, I'm amazed this series, and others like "Cannonball, "Highway Patrol," "Surfside 77,"The Real McCoys," and such haven't found a home on some cable channel. Vintage programming like these have some superb casts, adequate writing, good photography and great entertainment. I miss the days of black and white TV. "Whirlybirds" was a part of my childhood, as it was for my husband. He's in the industry, too, and misses working with B/W TV. Perhaps the folks who own the copyrights to the shows will bend a little and release the seasons on DVD. They make great learning tools for aspiring screenwriters, filmmakers, cinematographers and directors/producers.
Reviews
2 Reviews
Cannonball
(1958–1959)
Cannonball-the series
30 December 2006
I remember watching the series as I was growing up in El Paso. The series seems now to be a roving trucker's plot, sort of in the vein of "Route 66," only from a Canadian point of view. I was a small girl so I didn't really see Canada in the show. The U.S. Southwest was my point of reference. I would love to see the series come out on DVD. My husband remembers the show, too, and he says the series almost influenced him into becoming a trucker like his grandfather. "Cannonball" has the rudimentary set of screenplay constructs that could help aspiring writers understand the makeup of camera cutaways, acting interaction and time constraint editing. It also is a great little piece that extols the virtue of the old GMC round snout cab, the Trailways aerodynamic trailers and the road lifestyles back in the '50s. Perhaps the owners of the copyright will see fit to reintroduce the show in DVD form.
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