This is a very personal review, since my memories of Ironside date back from the early adolescence. At the time I simply liked the series. Still it was and is hard to identify or empathize with Robert T. Ironside. The middle-aged chief in his wheelchair is simply too brilliant. His personality appeals to your admiration, like a guru. In fact Ironside has a close resemblance to the present hero House M.D., with his stubbornness, sarcasm and cynicism, and his contempt for bureaucracy and conventions. Both have a hearth of gold (Ironside: "You don't quit a loser"). It seems odd, and in the sixties I missed the point, but Ironside and House are both sex symbols, although not in a very healthy manner. For instance the episode "Barbara who" is clearly a romance of Ironside. Now, half a century later, I assume and appreciate the irony and sarcasm in its dialogs (Ironside to Barbara: "Don't worry, we'll find him!"). Many other episodes hint at romance in a subtle way. For instance Ironside: "I'll take you up on that some time". Woman: "And bring a friend". Or nurse: "What are you doing in those clothes?" Ironside: "I could ask the same to you" Nurse: "What do you mean?" Ironside: "Raw passion". The life style of Ironside is truly bizarre. He lives and sleeps in his office, together with his black assistant. What does this mean? Ironside has two deputies, called Ed and Eve. To them their work seems like paradise. I like such puns. Of course the series stirs up suspense, but the main attraction are the moral and the ethics of the stories. A few examples: the episode "In a days work" reflects on police violence. The episode "Due process of law" promotes the rights of suspects. The episode "Trip to hashbury" stresses the importance of education. The episode "The fourteenth runner" seems to criticize the morals of the CIA. Etc. Note that the scenery is San Francisco in the late sixties, the Vietnam war escalates, and flower power blossoms. The respect for authority wanes, thank God. Its influence on the script writers is apparent. In a scene at the start of a rather violent episode Eve says to a singer: "Do you know 'Flower Children'?" The handicap and the wheelchair are also a target for puns. For instance some hippies reject police violence. Ed: "How do you think he got in this chair?" Or a guy says: "I'll break both of his legs". Ironside: "That is good enough for me". To be fair, such puns depend on the writer of the particular episode, and their quality fluctuates. There is also plain humor, for instance Ironside: "Tell the boys of the press that we expect an arrest within the next 48 hours" Detective: "Do we?" Ironside: "No, but we tell them 48 for years". Forty years ago I could not really connect to the series, and preferred the flood of competing private eye shows. But the tide has changed, and now I enjoy Ironside. The series, not the guy. The morals and the puns work for me. Don't forget to check off the "useful: yes" ballot.
