Trivia / Airwolf

• Actor Leaves, Character Dies: After Ernest Borgnine left the show, the writers decided to kill off his character by way of showing Ernest's stunt double - filmed only from behind, natch - being killed in a helicopter explosion (using Stock Footage from an entirely different episode, filmed in an entirely different location).
• Completely Different Title: The series is known as "Supercopter" in France.
• Executive Meddling:
  • CBS had the series made more domestic and much lighter in tone after the first season, insisting on a female character being added and Hawke's somewhat dark and troubled nature being toned down.
  • Season 4 was made for the USA Network, which as a cable channel in 1987 and even after taking the series to Canada, could not afford to keep any of the original cast. Dominic Santini was killed off (using a body-double since they couldn't afford even a few moments of Ernest Borgnine), and since they had the money for a few minutes of Jan-Michael Vincent they had String appear, but be critically wounded so he couldn't fly anymore. Archangel was said to have been "reassigned overseas", and Caitlin was never mentioned or seen again.
• Fatal Method Acting: Stuntman Reid Rondell was killed in a helicopter crash.
• Follow the Leader: Airwolf is one of several shows based around Cool Helicopters that were inspired by the 1983 film Blue Thunder. Ironically, the series based on Blue Thunder itself was nowhere near as popular as Airwolf.
• The Other Darrin: In the first series, St. John Hawke (when he appeared in flashbacks) was played by Christopher Connelly. When he became a main character following USA's re-launch of the series, he was played by Barry Van Dyke.
• Referenced by...: On early episodes of The Fantasticast, whenever a flying vehicle appeared they would compare it to Airwolf and play the theme.
• Romance on the Set: Bryan Cranston met his wife Robin Dearden when they starred in the episode "Desperate Monday". Funnily, Cranston played a villain while Dearden played his hostage. Cranston was very dismissive of the series although he was a fan of the theme music.
• Science Marches On: Archangel's comment to String that they'll never know if a Vietnamese-American boy in one episode is really St. John's son (and Stringfellow's nephew). DNA fingerprinting had just been invented in 1984 and was still new and not entirely well known or trusted, and DNA paternity testing wasn't really done much until the 1990's. Now that DNA testing has become a widespread thing that comment seems really redundant.
• Troubled Production: The show had to deal with a star (Jan-Michael Vincent) with drinking problems who got arrested four times in four years and consistent budget overruns. Eventually, Vincent's alcoholism lead to a Role-Ending Misdemeanor.
• Written by Cast Member: Season 2's "Fallen Angel" was the first writing credit for Deborah Pratt (Marella). She later wrote for Magnum, P.I. and Quantum Leap (as well as voicing Ziggy), she developed the TV series of The Net (1995).

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