Shaft (TV series)

Television series
German title	Shaft
Original title	Shaft!
Country of production	United States
original language	English
Year (s)	1973-1974
Episodes	7 in 1 season
genre	Thriller
First broadcast	February 11, 1973 (USA) on CBS
German-language ; first broadcast	September 21, 1988 on Das Erste
occupation
	Richard Roundtree : John Shaft; Eddie Barth : Lt. Al Rossi;

Shaft (Original title: Shaft! ) Is an American television series that was produced in 1973 and 1974. It is based on the 1971 film Shaft . Richard Roundtree stars as the black New York private investigator John Shaft .

background

The series produced by CBS has been changed significantly compared to the films and set up for a more conservative audience. The background of a black detective who also uses violent means against a white establishment has been rewritten. The social and ethnic tensions gave way to a liberal idea of assimilation and togetherness, so Detective Shaft got a white friend, Lieutenant Al Rossi, at his side. Shaft's masculinity and his vicious dealings with women were also defused, the slippery plot lines, biting dialogues and Shaft's tough, witty demeanor of a man from the street were lost. While the movies were very successful with a predominantly black audience, the tamed and adapted direction of the television series lost its audience appeal and was discontinued after just seven episodes.

Episodes

episode	German first broadcast	title	Original title
1	September 21, 1988	The abduction	The kidnapping
2	5th October 1988	Shots from ambush	Cop killer
3	October 19, 1988	The Vote Court	The Executioners
4th	November 2nd, 1988	Deadly gambling	Hit run
5	November 16, 1988	Death of a pimp	Murder One / The Killing
6th	November 30, 1988	Bloody diamonds	The Capricorn Murders
7th	December 14, 1988	The professional killer	The Murder Machine

Web links

Shaft in the Internet Movie Database (English)

Individual evidence

↑ Elaine Pennicott: "Who's the Cat did Will not Cop Out?" Black masculinity in American action series of the sixties and seventies . In: Bill Osgerby, Anna Gough-Yates: Action TV. Tough Guys, Smooth Operators and Foxy Chicks. Routledge, Stroud 2001, ISBN 0-415-22621-X , pp. 108-109.

[1] Elaine Pennicott: "Who's the Cat did Will not Cop Out?" Black masculinity in American action series of the sixties and seventies . In: Bill Osgerby, Anna Gough-Yates: Action TV. Tough Guys, Smooth Operators and Foxy Chicks. Routledge, Stroud 2001, ISBN 0-415-22621-X , pp. 108-109.