BOOK CLUB QUESTIONS I

"Did you know these things are so quiet that you can actually hear the rustle of silk stockings against the leather. I love the smell of leather." (Class in Crime)

• 401. “It’s nice to be wanted,” Hutch says facetiously when Iron Mike is requesting he and Starsky for the stakeout. Too bad their radars weren’t so finely tuned when Cameron requests their help in Las Vegas. Are there examples of other departments or law enforcement agencies genuinely requesting Starsky and Hutch’s help on their own merits? (Iron Mike, Las Vegas Strangler)

• 402. Starsky tells Hutch regarding the tango, “I’ll lead” because he is teaching Hutch. Hutch teaches Starsky to play chess, to meditate, to play golf. What are some other examples of Starsky actively teaching Hutch something? Does either man play the role of the teacher more often? (Tap Dancing, Iron Mike, Game, Playboy Island)

• 403. Hutch points out to Starsky that the Chapel of Bodily Invigoration would “appreciate a well-conditioned body.” So does Gretchen Knebel, who suggestively says she “likes a man who is physically fit,” and Meghan, who mentions hiking into Pine Lake with her girlfriend in order to “stay in really good shape.” What are some other suggestions that tie being physically fit with being sexual active? (Specialist, Pilot, Playboy Island)

• 404. On the subject of justifiable fear, Starsky reassures Hutch that he too is afraid “every time I pull this thing,” referring to his gun. Starsky also tells Meredith, “People who don’t get scared, scare me.” (Gillian, Black and Blue)

• 405. It appears Hutch ate Starsky’s plain baked potato, as he mentions the two Irish plums he consumed. But Starsky pays him back by hogging all the pillows in room 39 at the Country Squire. (Specialist)

• 406. Hutch makes a chilling foreshadowing statement when he asks Dobey, “What kind of security do we have around here anyway, when a guy can walk into this garage, plant a bomb in a car and walk out of here”? (Specialist)

• 407. Both Roger and Bigalow are co-workers that hassle Hutch, and both men think of themselves as funny guys. Envision the two of them eating in the cafeteria. What do they say about Starsky and Hutch? (Survival, Vampire)

• 408. Hutch, rather than Starsky, seems to be a magnet for unwanted women letting themselves into his place and wanting to cook him dinner. Does Hutch underestimate Diana, in part, due to his experiences with the fangless Fifi? (Fatal Charm, Starsky and Hutch Are Guilty)

• 409. How did Chief Ryan get as far as he has with his complete misread of Starsky and Hutch’s characters? When he tells them, “This time we got two witnesses,” he has certainly thought they have done some pretty awful things in the past, not just goofy and flamboyant things. And how does his misread of their basic character jive with the fact Starsky got a commendation and invitation to speak at the Academy? (Starsky and Hutch Are Guilty)

• 410. Chief Ryan distrusts Starsky and Hutch, but it is Starsky that distrusts Ryan, thinking right away he is out to frame them. Starsky is also the one to distrust Huggy when isn’t straight with them about the car in his alley. Is Starsky naturally more distrustful of people than Hutch? (Starsky and Hutch Are Guilty, Kill Huggy Bear)

• 411. Starsky mentions shopping for clothes with Hutch when he talks of the sweater they saw last week. Starsky also mentions being with Terry and seeing the way “she elbows her way through a department store.” Perhaps being a shopping companion is his character litmus test? (Little Girl Lost, Starsky’s Lady)

• 412. Starsky tells Terry he isn’t driving the bumper cars because Hutch won’t let him; Hutch is worried Starsky will “start driving like that on the street.” Sorry Charlie, he already is. Of the two, who is more reckless in vehicles? Who is more skillful? Do they ever have contact with someone who is a better driver? (Starsky’s Lady)

• 413. The last two statements George Prudholm makes to Starsky are one hundred percent true. He says to Starsky, “You’re not going to shoot me. You’re too good a cop.” What are some other things Prudholm gets right? And wrong? (Starsky’s Lady)

• 414. Starsky and Hutch and their tastes in popular culture are often at odds. Hutch doesn’t know who Kate Jackson is and Starsky isn’t familiar with Ingmar Bergman. Hutch likes country music and Starsky doesn’t. Hutch likes the classical music on the radio and Starsky doesn’t. Hutch complains Starsky only went to the Brahms concert to impress Allison. What are some popular culture they DO agree on? (Murder on Stage 17, Long Walk, Starsky and Hutch Are Guilty, Targets 2)

• 415. What did Wally Stone go to prison for? It was bad enough to have a woman spit in his face later, but Steve says, “They never proved that Wally pushed” Jane. (Murder on Stage 17)

• 416. Hutch tells Dobey Captain Ryan doesn’t like the way he and Starsky comb their hair, the way they dress and doesn’t think Starsky’s joke was funny. That’s a far cry from what Ryan is thinking about them when he says, “This time you got sloppy. This time you got two witnesses.” Points in style and brutality are pretty far apart. How do Starsky and Hutch misread Ryan so badly in what he suspects of them? (Starsky and Hutch Are Guilty)

• 417. Hutch says Starsky makes Earl’s Custom Car Cult sound like a religion. Does this make Father Merle the only religious figure of integrity Starsky and Hutch run into in Bay City? (Jojo)

• 418. What if Wally Stone and Steve Hanson were in on the murder of the rest of the Wolf Pack? Steve is getting old, and Wally is washed up. Steve admits this movie is his last hope. What better publicity that a “real life” walk down Main Street, ghosts from the past and all that yummy publicity? There already seems to be something going on between them, as Wally says he “took the rap” for Steve. Steve seems way braver, and foolhardy, than expected in his High Noon Moment with Wally. And Wally can use all the help he can get. (Murder on Stage 17)

• 419. Starsky asks Hutch, “Do you trust me or not? Hutch replies, “With my life, yes. With your choice of women, no.” Does Hutch consider Starsky’s choice in women bad? Worse than his own? (Starsky and Hutch Are Guilty)

• 420. Dobey says regarding the frame-up of Starsky and Hutch, “Twenty-seven years on the force, god knows I’ve had my situations like this.” Could he be referring to a prior case where a fake Dobey and a fake Elmo were framed in a series of abuses? (Starsky and Hutch Are Guilty)

• 421. Would Nikki really get the real Starsky and Hutch mixed up with the fake ones? First of all, she is used to seeing men in the dark, so her identification skills are high. And the fake Starsky puts out a cigarette just as he knocks on the door. Nikki would smell that and know the real Starsky, just a couple of minutes ago, didn’t smell like that. (Starsky and Hutch Are Guilty)

• 422. Tthere are only two episodes that have Starsky and Hutch specifically mention a past case the viewer has seen. “Partners” is one long reminisce. And “Pariah” is mentioned in “Starsky’s Lady.” The four-part arc in season four isn’t taken into account with this observation, as I am considering it one long episode unto its own. (Losing Streak, Partners, Pariah, Targets 1, Targets 2, Targets 3, Sweet Revenge)

• 423. “Seventy-Eight” is mentioned as something worn out and down to a bad end: Hutch offers to sell Starsky his old “78” records a few seconds before Knight tells Starsky and Hutch about the seventy-eight year old man who died in his arms. (Committee)

• 424. Two characters in the Committee have similar names: Officer Williams and Paul Willits. Take the part that differs, “am” and “it,” and investigate how those two words relate to their respective characters. (Committee)

• 425. Compare and contrast the characters of Dirty Nellie and Anita. (Committee, Game)

• 426. Dobey better go downstairs to see Bigalow. He declined the wastepaper basket once, but seems to be missing it. (Survival, Committee)

• 427. Hopefully Starsky and Hutch’s evidence on Sample is more than forensic, as I don’t think they’ll be able to keep a straight face in court having to say “hairy sample.” (Shootout)

• 428. Envision the crime pit these two addresses seem to be: Schultz’s Bar is at 1326 Devon. This address also is heard over the police radio three years later as the scene of a “211 in progress.” Nikki’s house of prostitution is also located at 1328 Devon, apparently right next door. (Iron Mike, Moonshine, Starsky and Hutch Are Guilty)

• 429. Watch the story played out when Starsky and Hutch dress as a mime and as Charlie Chaplin. Starsky looks interested in the other mime, Hutch hits him to distract him and Starsky turns the screws on Hutch’s instrument as an effort to control him. Starsky’s character has complete fluid motion and Hutch’s character is choppy and controlled. (Velvet Jungle)

• 430. "Velvet Jungle" is an episode filled with “hand talkers.” Sally the sandwich guy, Lou Brownley and Paco Ortega use their hands extensively to gesture and speak. Perhaps this is a subtle way of saying that despite a difference in spoken language, people have a great capacity to understand each other. (Velvet Jungle)

• 431. Envision for a moment that Guillermo the bartender isn’t just some whippo Hutch put in the junk three years ago. Perhaps it is Mike Todesco undercover, cover so deep even Hutch isn’t aware of its depth, and is working to crack an immigration ring even bigger than Sterling’s and Paco’s? (Velvet Jungle)

• 431. Harry tries to reassure Sue Ann about Tabor, “We’ve got experts who can deal with people like that.” Does Hutch really have a solid faith in this, even after their experience with Commander Jim and his doctors? Or is he doing what Paco did to Andrea Gutierrez when he tells her Sterling “has no power…he only pretends to be big.” Both Hutch and Paco aren’t necessarily telling the truth, as their past experience in the system has told them otherwise, but both seem willing to stretch this belief just a little further to get at something bigger. Discuss Paco and Hutch’s possible remorse at using a victim in this way. (Velvet Jungle, Long Walk)

• 432. Compare and contrast the twenty pound baby girl “due” to the showgirl, the eighteen pound baby girl Starsky tells Rosey Malone about and the twenty pound turkey Molly / Pete says isn’t in her refrigerator. (Targets 1, Rosey Malone, Little Girl Lost)

• 433. Starsky and Hutch, as per their emasculated undercover characters, bring it home to the station. There have been plenty of times they have gotten drenched, buy have never piteously wrapped themselves in blankets, shivering and putting bare feet on Dobey’s desk. This scene also has Dobey scolding them and Starsky responding, “Sometimes we act instinctively.” Hutch adds mincingly, “Sometimes impetuously.” Dobey rounds out the scene by referring to the salon as “where you two are practicing your culture. “ (Dandruff)

• 434. When Ed Ohlin says, “Sometimes the big picture is more important than the bit parts,” is he agreeing or disagreeing with Hutch’s observation about Iron Mike’s inability to see the forest for the trees? (Groupie, Iron Mike)

• 435. Name two things referred to as Golden Eagles. (Game, Huggy Bear and the Turkey)

• 436. While Sharon may have not decided to tell Emily who Starsky really is at the time she sees him in the park taking photos, she also, for some inexplicable reason, declines to do so later. It is stated Emily has “no family,” making Sharon her closest ally. It would appear Sharon is the only person to have Emily’s best interests at heart, yet is just a crummy friend as Don and Starsky. Her good moves: she sits in the waiting room for Emily, suggests Emily not to go with Don at the end and makes a half-hearted try to try to call Starsky about Don moving in on Emily. But not telling Emily who Starsky really is, not being more forceful about Don, not calling Starsky immediately when Don comes and takes Emily, she executes some serious lapses with a friend who has been blind all of a week or so. (Blindfold)

• 437. Emily, after regaining her eyesight, tells Starsky he really is handsome. He replies, “Would I lie to you about a thing like that?” No, but he sure lied about other more important things. (Blindfold)

• 438. Hutch tells Slate angrily, “Justice has nothing to do with murder. Never did.” True? (Strange Justice)

• 439. “You guys ever get tired of putting the squeeze on?” Cobb asks Starsky and Hutch. Hutch answers, “Nope.” Is this true? (Strange Justice)

• 440. Harry Owens says, “She won’t talk. I’ll bet my life on it.” He ends up paying with his life, as Fitch calls in his marker. And in the end, was Harry right about his sister? And was she right about him? (Ballad for a Blue Lady)

• 441. Hutch tells Starsky before they get to the warehouse standoff with Reuben and Luke, “Look, I promised Doris I’d give her the money.” The money is the motivating factor for all. Doris told Hutch about Luke, but extracted the promise Hutch would return the money to her, putting Hutch in a terrible spot. Luke sets up Reuben and Hutch for the money. Luke sets up Palmer for the money. In the end, it is unclear if Doris gets the money, but she sure lost her husband. If Doris thought waiting for him to come home from work was lonely, she now gets to wait out a shameful prison sentence. (Birds of a Feather)

• 442. Janet Margolin, who played Dr. Judith Kaufman, had her very first television role in a 1961 episode of the “Edge of Night.” The “Edge of Night” is the daytime drama Mrs. Marlowe says was on when Starsky and Hutch went to beat up Oscar Newton. (Plague, Starsky and Hutch Are Guilty)

• 443. “Either you pay off, or I blow the whistle that you arranged it.” Really. Is this Reuben threatening Luke or the other way around? And does it really matter? Both have about an equal amount of dirt on the other; it seems Huntley could have spun this differently, but since his goal was to get the money back, he was backed into a corner. (Birds of a Feather)

• 444. Hutch mentions Starsky being “back east “ three years ago as they devise the barrio bar plan. Hutch mentions Starsky hasn’t seen Nick in four years when Nick comes to visit, two years later. Depending on the part of the year Starsky’s visit was, it is possible these two mentions are the same visit. This would match up to when Starsky had his first case out of uniform. But it is entirely possible that when Starsky went “back east,” it didn’t include seeing Nick. (Velvet Jungle, Pariah, Starsky’s Brother)

• 445. Both Red and Dolphin, and Dewey, drive away from a robbery in which they shoot a man in a panic. Both parties involve the “light green Ford” in a minor traffic accident. It is parked in front of Red and Dolphin’s get-a-way car and they run into it. Dewey drives the “light green Ford” into the car parked in front of him. Even more coincidence is that both of these episodes involve Huggy protecting someone and lying to Starsky and Hutch. (Huggy Can’t Go Home, Kill Huggy Bear)

• 446. Jimmy Lucas corners Palmer who is being protected by police. He tells Palmer, “Reuben sends his regards.” He then shoots him, and Palmer’s body flies out the window.” Soldier corners Rigger, who is being protected by police. He tells Rigger, “Hello Pigeon. Let’s see if you can fly.” He then shoots him, and his body flies out the window. (Birds of a Feather, Targets 1)

• 447. Starsky tells Commander Jim’s doctor he wouldn’t let him fix a sewing machine. Would Starsky allow Gunther Senior the job? (Lady Blue, Sweet Revenge)

•448. Combining all three of the rattlesnakes that make an appearance or get a mention, one would have a snake with a noisy tail, in the refrigerator, whose name is Ernie. (Velvet Jungle, Satan’s Witches, Game)

• 449. Starsky proposes marriage to two people and one thing, Terry, Mrs. Greene and his hot dog lunch. With whom or what would he have been most compatible? (Starsky’s Lady, Black and Blue, Silence)

• 450. Starsky and Hutch note that Huggy has out-and-out lied to them twice. In both instances, they speculate why Huggy would lie. It is noted that maybe "he never had a good enough reason" before. And in another instance, that the amount of money involved was high enough to make him lie. Are Starsky and Hutch assuming that every single person has their price? What would Starsky and Hutch's be? (Kill Huggy Bear, Huggy Can't Go Home)