Wow.  It has been a rough week in the entertainment world.  We’ve lost some greats, and while Stephen J. Cannell might not be a common name in households across America, his shows most definitely are.  Cannell passed away at his home in Pasadena Thursday night from complications due to melanoma.  At 69, with his talent and voice, he truly leaves us too soon.

To call Cannell prolific is like calling the Pacific Ocean a bathtub.  As a producer he had his name attached to nearly 80 different TV shows and movies, but as a writer, stand back!  Over 60 shows took advantage of his prowess and that was on top of his 16 published novels.  One gets the sense that his infamous Cannell Productions ID that ran at the end of each episode and showed Stephen typing furiously at a typewriter was less a marketing ply and more a necessity since he was always writing!

!  He created and wrote for such legendary TV shows as:

• Ironside
• Columbo
• Adam 12
• Black Sheep Squadron
• Baretta
• The Rockford Files
• The Greatest American Hero
• Hunter
• Hardcastle and McCormick
• The A-Team
• Wiseguy
• 21 Jump Street
• The Commish
• Renegade
• and one of my personal favs, Silk Stalkings

And, he acted!!  More recently you might have seen him sitting around a poker table on ABC’s Castle.  I write all of this because I have mad love for Cannell and what he was able to do with his time on this planet.  Not only did he work his butt off, but it was quality work.  He had a knack for developing characters with real grit and sincerity.  A self-proclaimed “populist,” Cannell’s stories were accessible and entertaining, sometimes pandering, but always told with a skillful hand earned through a combination of talent and determination.  Very few people work as hard as they should in Hollywood, and with Stephen you always got the sense he worked too much.  He was a rare professional and our televisions will be sorely lacking without his bright light behind the screen.