By Jonathan Klotz
| Updated
Ask someone to name the most popular action shows of the 80s, and chances are you’ll hear Miami Vice, A-Team, Knight Rider, Magnum P.I., and maybe even The Fall Guy before they remember one of the most popular shows of the decade: Airwolf. Even if you’ve never seen a single episode of the helicopter action series, you know exactly what it’s all about.
Now, thanks to The Roku Channel, you can watch the entire series and realize both how dark and groundbreaking Season 1 was and how fast the entire production fell apart.
Airwolf Is Pure 80s Awesomeness
Airwolf stars Jan-Michael Vincent as the equally amazingly named Stringfellow Hawke, a military test pilot. Through a series of double-crosses, Stringfellow finds himself in possession of the experimental stealth helicopter with every government and shadowy organization out for his head.
Season 1 features Hawke working for and against The Firm, an obviously evil organization that happens to be the lesser of many evils, in a series of missions that happen to reflect the real-world flashpoints of the Cold War. It’s dark, Hawke is forced to make decisions with no good answer, and the episodes’ focus on geopolitical drama gives it greater stakes than you’d expect from a show about a super helicopter.
Season 1 was, in retrospect, the high point of Airwolf, with the following two seasons devolving into hokey action more in line with Knight Rider than a Tom Clancy novel. That and Ernest Borgnine, who played Hawke’s friend and backer, Dominic Santini, was written off the show in one of the most dramatic ways possible. They killed off his character to the point where there was no doubt he wasn’t coming back.
Worst of all, after season one, the amazing aerial dogfights were noticeably shorter and less cinematic. But in the show’s defense, when that theme song kicks in, and Hawke lands the fatal missile, it’s as awesome the 20th time as it is the first time.
Airwolf Was An Overnight Hit And An Overnight Failure
As the series exploded in popularity, Jan-Michael Vincent, who was already a multiple-time Golden Globe winner, found himself, almost overnight, the highest-paid star on television. CBS knew that without him, there was no show.
Haunted by personal demons encouraged by the sudden windfall, Vincent’s alcoholism made him impossible to work with. In a rare move, the entire show was canceled and then sold off to the USA network for a complete, top-to-bottom retooling with an all-new cast.
That’s why most Airwolf fans pretend the series ended when Jan-Michael Vincent left. USA didn’t even get the real helicopter in the sale, forcing the last round of episodes to rely on old footage, or, in some hilarious cases, the toy replica filling in. And yet, though the show fell apart behind the scenes, there’s no greater example of 80s action.
Airwolf combined Cold War paranoia, hokey action, a bombastic synth score, and a charismatic leading man into the perfect 80s package that could never be replicated. Other shows tried, including Street Hawk (Airwolf with a motorcycle), but they all crashed and burned. Miami Vice and The A-Team were remade for the big screen, but no one has dared bring back Stringfellow Hawke and his experimental aircraft.
Airwolf is now streaming on The Roku Channel, but be sure to eject before Season 4.
