...and his was one of them.

Marvin Wald died last week at the age of ninety, according to the NY Times.

Not famous, but he was the guy who wrote "There are 8 million stories in the naked city. This has been one of them". The link requires login (Damn you, NYT!), but it's likely every one of us has watched something this guy wrote.

Jeez, I must be getting old. I can't be the only one who remembers Naked City.

Naked City was the first of a new kind of crime drama, without the hardboiled private eye. It was about the real world of crime and punishment, a school that continued with Perry Mason (for whom Wald also wrote), Hill Street Blues, until today with various flavors of CSI. Perhaps he stole the idea from Dostoyevsky, but if so, he did a good job filing the serial numbers off.

Wald I find interesting because he wrote the first screenplay of this sort, and created a change in the way police and detectives, criminals and victims, courts and prisons, would be portrayed from that point on. Every one of us, at least once in our lives, has probably spent some time raptly listening to this man's words.

Not bad, for a guy you never heard of.

The Naked City is a classic. I'd never heard of him, but based solely on the fact that he wrote one episode of The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis, I hereby salute him.

Dobie Gillis? Well, everybody has an off-week once in awhile.

Although, I do miss Maynard G. Krebs from time to time. Don't remember if I did an obit thread for him.

I'll bet you don't like Scooby-Doo either.

Well, yeah, but only because there's no nudity.

Then again, I always thought Natasha was pretty hot - couldn't figure out what she saw in Boris.

Though I remember The Naked City, I never watched it for some reason.
Probably 'cause we didn't have a TV.

I remember Jack Webb's Dragnet on radio. That was my favorite.

"...Ladies and gentlemen: the story you are about to hear is true. Only the names have been changed to protect the innocent...
(The voice of Jack Webb) ...Tuesday, February 12. It was cold in Los Angeles. We were working the day watch out of robbery division. My partner's Ben Romero. The boss is Ed Backstram, chief of detectives. My name's Friday."

Dobie Gillis,you guys are really bringing out the oldies...what's next Amos and Andy!!!

Amos N' Andy,
They weren't allowed to spell correctly back then...

There was a shortage of a's and d's after the depression. Apostrophes were subsidized, through affirmative action.

You kids wouldn't know about hardship. When I learned programming, there was none of this "0" and "1" shit - we had zeros, and damn glad of it!

I had missed that he wrote for Daktari, also - another one I remember well.

Now all I need is a Branded tie-in.

Sorry, don't know of him. I do however know of Perry Mason and Naked City so I'll give him props.

Dobie Gillis was wonderful, however.

Bulk of the series, Dude.