Peacock’s hit Poker Face has been a hit for creator Rian Johnson, who envisioned recreating the magic of 70s and 80s case-of-the-week classics like Rockford Files and Columbo—and it worked.
Johnson tips his hat to star Natasha Lyonne for much of the show’s success. “I had the idea in my head of wanting to do a case of the week, episodic type show.
Something that was kind of like the TV shows I grew up loving like Magnum P.I., Murder, She Wrote and Quantum Leap. I wanted to go back to that versus a show with a mystery that runs across the whole season,” Johnson said during Deadline’s TV Contender event on Saturday. “What I realized is that what these shows have in common is they all have an incredibly charismatic star at the center.
I’m following the mysteries, sure, but I’m mainly watching to hang out with Peter Falk every week. There aren’t that many people out there who can do that today.
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