Nichols was essentially unseen for 40+ years or so -- and the vast majority of reviews on IMDb are from those years, with people fondly remembering the show they watched back in 1971/72 but hadn't actually viewed in decades.
Now that it's out on DVD? If you watch, it still might raise a grin or two on occasion -- but looked at dispassionately, without the warm glow of nostalgia, this is awfully thin beer. Nichols veers uncomfortably between (sometimes) ver-r-r-y broad Western humour and ham-fisted attempts at social relevancy. As well, the supporting cast is mostly a series of one-note caricatures that are usually very funny at first, but fail to develop or grow, and the plots and writing are often slapdash.
The pilot is probably the show's strongest episode -- it's funny, and has heart. (Although most modern audiences will rightly react poorly to a very peculiar scene dropped into the middle, in which Nichols goes on a weirdly sexist rant.) After that? Nichols becomes mired in a somewhat predictable rut.
So far from tuning out because Nichols wasn't Maverick, or because the lead character wasn't a traditional hero, it's pretty easy to see that the audiences of '71/'72 tuned out because Nichols just wasn't that good a show. It wasn't *terrible*, mind you, and had its moments...but it was certainly no classic, then or now. The charismatic performances were much stronger than the material, and the warm feelings audiences had for James Garner, Stuart Margolin and Margot Kidder are probably what kept this show alive in the minds of its fans.
Garner and Margolin did much better with their next series, The Rockford Files, which featured much sharper writing. Too bad Kidder didn't show up there too!
Now that it's out on DVD? If you watch, it still might raise a grin or two on occasion -- but looked at dispassionately, without the warm glow of nostalgia, this is awfully thin beer. Nichols veers uncomfortably between (sometimes) ver-r-r-y broad Western humour and ham-fisted attempts at social relevancy. As well, the supporting cast is mostly a series of one-note caricatures that are usually very funny at first, but fail to develop or grow, and the plots and writing are often slapdash.
The pilot is probably the show's strongest episode -- it's funny, and has heart. (Although most modern audiences will rightly react poorly to a very peculiar scene dropped into the middle, in which Nichols goes on a weirdly sexist rant.) After that? Nichols becomes mired in a somewhat predictable rut.
So far from tuning out because Nichols wasn't Maverick, or because the lead character wasn't a traditional hero, it's pretty easy to see that the audiences of '71/'72 tuned out because Nichols just wasn't that good a show. It wasn't *terrible*, mind you, and had its moments...but it was certainly no classic, then or now. The charismatic performances were much stronger than the material, and the warm feelings audiences had for James Garner, Stuart Margolin and Margot Kidder are probably what kept this show alive in the minds of its fans.
Garner and Margolin did much better with their next series, The Rockford Files, which featured much sharper writing. Too bad Kidder didn't show up there too!