Silk Stalkings – CliqueClack Flashback

Silk Stalkings takes me back to a time in my life where escapism TV ruled my world. I had just graduated from college — a place that I had immense fun every moment of every day — with a double major in Art History and English. A complete blast at the time, but pretty useless unless you want to be a chiropractic assistant. Don’t ask.

Anyway, I got a television for graduation and late at night, that’s what I did. Donna Reed and Mary Tyler Moore were role models for the wife and mother I’d someday become (thank you, Nick at Nite), but Rita, oh Rita Lee Lance led the life of excitement and danger that I craved, with a hunky partner (my first crush of many on Rob Estes’s characters) Christopher Lorenzo.

Then there was the sex. I think Silk Stalkings was the most riskee TV show I’d ever seen. Maybe I led a sheltered life, but c’mon, I was watching The Donna Reed Show for crying out loud, work with me. Sex, drugs, danger; I found Silk Stalkings to be dark and suspenseful, but the partners and their bosses (all three were great!) had so much spark and chemistry (banter, if you will) that it was light enough to be entertaining.

But back to the dark and scary for a moment, because I don’t think I’m explaining that right. There was something so artistic done with the lighting on this show, that a mood was created that fascinated me. This was Miami (Palm Beach, if you want to get specific), but not the pastel-ed, palm-treed Miami of Miami Vice. Somehow they juxtaposed brightly colored sets with darkened lighting to create a unique mood exclusive to Silk Stalkings. Sexy, suspenseful, dark and creepy, but so, so appealing. Are you worried about my deviant nature yet? Check it out in this clip… you’ll see just what I mean:

And here you get a very good idea of the chemistry the two leads, Estes and Capture have:

The cases added to the sexy nature of the show, because they were all about hookers and drugs… how do I convince you that this really was quality television if you haven’t seen it? Just because the guest actresses were always high and in their underwear didn’t make it any less compelling. There was a magic to Silk Stalkings that would draw you in, with the cinematic artistry, the writing and the chemistry of the actors.

Don’t talk to me about the later seasons when Capture and Estes were replaced by another team of cops… there was no Silk Stalkings for me without the original duo, even though the series lasted for three more seasons. Good for them, but I don’t handle change very well, so by then I’d moved on to Friends and Early Edition. There’s such a fondness in my heart for Chris and Rita, the darkness of Miami after dark and the love of raunchy TV they instilled in me all those years ago. Thank you Stephen J. Cannell, for your sex-tainted vision of a detective show.

Clacked by Debbie McDuffee
on Jun 17, 2009 @ 12:00 EST5EDT