Kent McCord felt that the best of Adam-12 wasn't the action — it was the relationships between characters

McCord knew what brought viewers back to their show.

We all love a bit of action now and again. Sometimes, when life seems a bit too humdrum and boring, the best remedy is to flip on an action scene in a television series to inject a bit of excitement into your everyday. The tension, the exhilaration, and the ultimate resolution can be a great escape and an opportunity to live vicariously through your favorite actors.

Even though he lived that excitement every day in his series Adam-12, Kent McCord had a different argument for the true appeal at the heart of the show. He spoke to the Richmond Times-Dispatch and said that the show's true appeal didn't come from the shootouts and car chases — it came from the heartfelt moments between the two leads.

He said, "What keeps the interest in our show is the thread of personal relationship that runs between Marty and me." Strangely enough, McCord also felt that the typical action sequences used in Adam-12 had been so overdone that it was those moments that had become overdone and boring. He said, "It mystified me that we spend between 125 and 130 thousand dollars per show and we can't seem to get better stories." He continued, "There are so many possible storylines it seems ridiculous we're shooting the same old thing over again."

In an effort to shift the focus of the series to what he felt was truly important, McCord wrote potential episodes for the series. He commented on the experience, and said, "It will be interesting to see if I'm any better at developing a concept than some of the writers I've complained about."

But despite his occasional creative differences with the show, McCord was able to acknowledge his appreciation for being a part of it all in the first place. He said, "Adam-12 is still a good situation in spite of the problems. When I look around and see how many actors have dropped out of the business because they couldn't get work, I know I'm lucky."


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9 Comments

dphil40 8 months ago
Adam-22 is my favorite Jack Webb production!!
Randall 11 months ago
I love ADAM -12, and looking at it today, the relationship between Reed and Malloy make it relevant! It really hasn't dated as much as you would expect and it really laid the groundwork for reality shows about law enforcement! It also told human stories between the officers and especially the victims they protected!
DonaldGarv 11 months ago
Wells was a chore; Woods was entertaining.
MikefromJersey 11 months ago
"What keeps the interest in our show is the thread of personal relationship that runs between
Marty and me."

Exactly. Which is why I hated when COZI ran the series as they cut out most of the banter
to wedge in more commercials.
As well as repeatedly stopping smack in the middle of dramatic moments to run ads, instead
of putting them at the natural fade out moments as was originally intended.

When they reran the Joey Bishop Show they literally stopped at the 24 minute mark, running commercials to the end. So you never saw the endings!
Infamously the episode with Don Knotts where the story line's payoff was the cast in a rubber boat inside a cabin as waters were rising, it never got to the point of the boat even being inflated, they just cut away in the middle of a line by a character. Worst network editors ever, lazy unprofessional slobs, I hope MeTV never hires any of them, they don't respect their work, the public or themselves.
Daisygirl64 11 months ago
One of the few shows, we watched as a family.
They had great chemistry together.
MikefromJersey Daisygirl64 11 months ago
I remember NBC spent a fortune promoting it all summer before it started that 1st year,
all the kids in my neighborhood couldn't wait to see it. They kept showing a chase scene
down the LA river, I remember because I had never heard of a river bed made out of
concrete before.
DocForbin 11 months ago
Fourteen years later, Kent McCord and Martin Milner would be together again in the made-for-cable movie "Nashville Beat".
Adamtwelvia DocForbin 9 months ago
They became best friends off the show as well. There's a vid of him eulogising Martin Milner at his funeral on youtube.
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