Trivia / Starsky & Hutch

TV Series

• The Cast Showoff: David Soul is a professional musician; Hutch therefore is given opportunity to sing and play guitar in a number of episodes.
• Creator Couple: In "Gillian," Hutch's Girl of the Week is played by David Soul's ex-wife Karen Carlson.
• The Danza:
  • Linda Scruggs-Bogart plays the rape victim Linda Mascelli in "JoJo."
  • Beulah Quo plays Dr. Quo in "Starsky's Lady."
  • In "Manchild on the Streets," petty criminal Maurice is played by Maurice Sneed.
• Development Gag: "Murder on Stage 17" was titled after ABC Stage 17, where the main sets were.
• Directed by Cast Member: Chances to direct were part of the deal to get Paul Michael Glaser to come back to the show. He directed five, David Soul directed three.
• Enforced Method Acting: In "A Coffin for Starsky", Starsky and Hutch are racing against the clock to find a criminal that injected Starsky with a deadly poison that's slowly killing him. In one scene Starsky collapses in a fit of pain. While this was scripted, Paul intentionally fell earlier than what was rehearsed, and Hutch's shocked reaction is genuine.
• Fake Russian: Anna Akhanatova, the Russian ballerina in "A Body Worth Guarding", is played by Dutch actress Monique van de Ven.
• Friendship on the Set: David Soul and Paul Michael Glaser became best friends while making the series.
• Method Acting: In "The Fix", Hutch becomes forcibly addicted to heroin after gangsters kidnap him. David Soul prepared for the episode by depriving himself of sleep, food, and even bathing and isolated himself from the cast and crew. It got to the point where they began to genuinely worry about his mental health.
• Missing Episode: There is a missing unaired episode called "Honeytrap," it guest starred Donna Mills. She played wife Cathy who lures single men and her jealous husband shoots them dead.
• The Pete Best: In the pilot, Captain Dobey was played by Richard Ward; the role was then recast with Bernie Hamilton.
• Recycled Script: "The Game" was recycled from the I Spy episode "Bet Me a Dollar", in which the partners set up a large-scale game of hide-and-seek that turns abruptly serious when it's revealed that the hiding partner has been poisoned.
• The Red Stapler: At the height of the show's popularity, Ford Motor Company marketed an exact copy of Starsky's Torino, white stripe and all.
• What Could Have Been:
  • The producer actually wanted to use a green and white Camaro instead of the red and white Ford Torino, but General Motors were unable to help them.
  • Huggy Bear was so popular that he almost got a Spin-Off.
• Written by Cast Member: "Ballad for a Blue Lady" was co-written by Paul Michael Glaser (as well as directing the episode).
• You Look Familiar: All over the place.

Film

• Cast the Runner-Up: Vince Vaughn was originally set to play Hutch.
• The Cast Showoff: Owen Wilson gets to show off his singing talent, which also provides an homage to the original Hutch as that particular number was written by David Soul, who portrayed him in the series.
• In Memoriam: The film was dedicated to Elliott Marks, the Still Photographer, who died on the last day of principal photography.
• Throw It In!: When Vince Vaughn slapped Snoop Dogg during the golfing scene, it was unexpected the first time. Todd Phillips said, "Snoop went on with the scene, and then when it ended he said, 'What the hell was that?'"
• Uncredited Role: Thomas Lennon and Robert Ben Garant did uncredited work on the screenplay.
• What Could Have Been:
  • Don Cheadle and Chris Rock were considered for Huggy Bear.
  • Bradley Cooper auditioned for the role of Kevin Jutsum.
  • Antonio Fargas was asked to make a Remake Cameo, but for some reason, he didn't appear.

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