In his three-and-a-half-hour Archive interview, Stephen J. Cannell (1941-2010) talks about the challenges of battling dyslexia and using his innate storytelling ability to break into the television business. He describes his work with Jack Webb on the series Adam-12 for which he served as head writer/story editor. He discusses his continued work in series television as a creator/producer, on such series as Toma, Baretta, Baa-Baa Blacksheep, and one of the biggest hits of the 1970s, The Rockford Files. For Rockford, he talks about creating the series, selling it to the network, and working with series star James Garner. He speaks in great detail about his hit series of the 1980s and 90s, which included The Greatest American Hero, The A-Team, 21 Jump Street, Wiseguy, and The Commish. Throughout the interview, Cannell discusses his approach to storytelling and characterization as well as the processes involved in producing a series for television. Stephen J. Abramson conducted the interview on June 23, 2004 in Pasadena, CA.
