Aaron Spelling spent
almost two decades in Hollywood as a writer, actor, and producer of failed Westerns
before he hooked up with former undercover cop Bud Ruskin to create The Mod
Squad, a
hip cop show that brought the language of the streets and the sensibility of
late-'60s Sunset Boulevard to standard-issue stories of thugs and drugs. The
premise was simple: Tough-but-open-minded police captain Tige Andrews tried to
reach the young people of Los Angeles by deputizing three troubled kids:
hulking black rebel Clarence Williams III, fresh-faced waif Peggy Lipton, and
super-sensitive rich boy Michael Cole. Each week, the trio would integrate themselves
into some scene or another—staffing an underground newspaper, working at
a local high school, and so on—and after a few red herrings and usually
at least one harrowing experience for the fragile Lipton, they'd figure out who
was pushing dope or strangling young girls or bombing hippie hangouts.
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