Sterling Silliphant created two television series that should live forever, or at least until we have a nuclear war or a meteor hits us. The first was The Naked City, the first truly great Noir Police Procedural,which fashioned the template for almost every great Cop show that followed. The other had few imitators ( Mving On, Banyon, even , God save us, BJ and the Bear.). It was ,of course, Route 66. I had heard of this show for years, and finally caught many of the episodes from the first season on our local RetroTV affiliate. I know realize that it deserves its Iconic status. All I had known about it was that it had an unforgettable theme( NOT to be confused with the classic song by Bobby ( Emergency) Troup.)and a snazzy Red Corvette. I also knew that Martin Milner had starred in before he starred in Adam-12. After watching an episode, in which Lew Ayres played a Nazi-Hunter who meets our heroes on an oil derrick in Louisiana, I was hooked. The local Retro affiliate ran the show every day at Seven O'clock in the morning, right after The Cisco Kid. Forsaking Don Imus and Joe Scarboough, I watched almost every episode for about five weeks. With one or two exceptions, almost every episode was good, and at least seven were superb. I was especially impressed by "Ministering Angels", "Fly Away Home', "Two Drops of Water", "Play it Glissando", and an episode were Darren McGavin played a prize fighter. Perhaps it helped that I had just read On the Road for the first time. The show was well acted, and often poetic. Then, one morning, I learned that the Local station that ran it and other classic TV shows was switching to , God help us, a "life-style " format. Well, maybe, I 'll move to some city which still has its Rero station. Of course, by the time that happens, I'll be too old to enjoy it. We really need more networks like Retro, that rerun the great shows of all time.
