# Whatever Happened to Great Action TV Shows? (A-Team, Knight Rider, The Fall Guy, etc) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 9, 2003, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-great-action-tv-shows-a-team-knight-rider-the-fall-guy-etc/187282 "2003-07-09T18:13:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2003, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-great-action-tv-shows-a-team-knight-rider-the-fall-guy-etc/187282/21 "2003-07-11T15:49:00Z")
Many recent action shows overplay their own importance, trying to cash in on that big “secret government conspiracy” crap (i.e. _Alias_, _Dark Angel_, _24_, _Roswell_, even _Buffy_ to some degree). They crowded out all the mindless but entertaining Robin Hood-style stuff where the gunfights and car chases and whatnot were just the hero(es) going through his/their normal search for justice (_MacGyver_, _The Equalizer_, _The A-Team_, _Stingray_, _Spencer for Hire_, _A Man Called Hawk_ etc.) _Birds of Prey_ tried to revitalize the action hero genre, (_Smallville_ is a bit too cerebral to count as an action show per se) but the current appetite is for conspiracy stories, and the networks follow the money. I’m hoping the genre dies soon, as I’m sick of it, but threads in GD about Bush knowing about, encouraging and/or orchestrating Sept. 11 tell me there will always be a market for this kind of hooey. ---
**Author:** ![UrbanChic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/9dc877/32.png) [@UrbanChic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UrbanChic)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2003, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-great-action-tv-shows-a-team-knight-rider-the-fall-guy-etc/187282/22 "2003-07-11T16:23:47Z")
Wow, Bryan. I’ve sat through a couple of eps of _Smallville_ (my hubby likes it) and cerebral is among the last words I’d use to describe that show! ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2003, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-great-action-tv-shows-a-team-knight-rider-the-fall-guy-etc/187282/23 "2003-07-11T16:30:26Z")
Well, I said a “bit” too cerebral, by which I meant all the expositional crap involving Lex and his father and whatnot. Okay, you got me, “cerebral” isn’t the word. “Soap-opery” might be closer to the mark. ---
**Author:** ![Zenster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/cdc98d/32.png) [@Zenster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zenster)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2003, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-great-action-tv-shows-a-team-knight-rider-the-fall-guy-etc/187282/24 "2003-07-11T16:50:41Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Bryan Ekers \* > Many recent action shows overplay their own importance, trying to cash in on that big “secret government conspiracy” crap (i.e. _Alias_, _Dark Angel_, _24_, _Roswell_, even _Buffy_ to some degree) … Such a splendid post and sterling observation … all utterly marred by leaving out the most notorious example of them all. _ **The X Files** _ Never in my life have I seen a show so well stocked, to the point of being overloaded, with self importance. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2003, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-great-action-tv-shows-a-team-knight-rider-the-fall-guy-etc/187282/25 "2003-07-11T17:00:38Z")
Ah, but _X-Files_ was only intermittently an action show, and invoking it invites a chicken-and-egg argument: Is the current crop of conspiracy shows a result of copying _X-Files_, or is the success of these shows **and** _X-Files_ indicative of a pre-existing audience appetite for conspiracy shows? In any event, conspiracy shows _sometimes_ have action-show moments, but everything is so **DEEP WITH MEANING, THOUGH THE MEANING IS NEVER REALLY CLEAR** and **RIFE WITH CONSPIRACY** and **TRUST NO-ONE** and **DON’T OPEN DOORS YOU CAN’T GO THROUGH, AGENT MULDER** that it makes me pine for the tidy days of good guys vs. bad guys and one-hour resolutions with no lasting consequences. ---
**Author:** ![Zenster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/cdc98d/32.png) [@Zenster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zenster)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2003, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-great-action-tv-shows-a-team-knight-rider-the-fall-guy-etc/187282/26 "2003-07-11T18:57:14Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Bryan Ekers \* > … Is the current crop of conspiracy shows a result of copying _X-Files_, or is the success of these shows **and** _X-Files_ indicative of a pre-existing audience appetite for conspiracy shows? … Let’s start a Kennedy assassination thread in Great Debates and maybe we’ll find out. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-great-action-tv-shows-a-team-knight-rider-the-fall-guy-etc/187282.md?page=1)