In honor of Thanksgiving Week, here’s a genuine turkey from Tom Selleck’s up-and-coming years.
THE CHINESE TYPEWRITER (1979) – It’s tough to remember the time before Tom Selleck was a tv megastar. His looks made him stand out and he had “future success” written all over him. He even showed he had a knack for comedy when he made two appearances on The Rockford Files as the annoyingly perfect and cliche-ridden detective Lance White. (“I’m okay, Jim. It’s just a flesh wound.”)
Television giant Stephen J. Cannell even used Tom’s second Rockford Files episode as a backdoor pilot for a potential series starring Selleck and James Whitmore, Jr. That didn’t work out, but Cannell still had faith in Tom and his unexpected chemistry with Whitmore.
And that brings us to The Chinese Typewriter, a 90-minute (with commercials) pilot movie for a different series to star Selleck and Whitmore. Stephen J. Cannell wrote and executive-produced the telefilm and tv veteran Lou Antonio directed.
With those writing and directing pedigrees behind the project you should have been able to smell several seasons, big money and some Emmy Awards in the offing.
Instead, it was the most embarrassing production I’ve ever seen either Cannell or Antonio be connected with. The whole thing seems slapped together like the pair were told they had ten minutes to put together ideas for the tv-movie and fifteen minutes to start filming. Continue reading
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