NEW YORK (AP) — Don Brinkley, a noted television writer and the stepfather of supermodel and actress Christie Brinkley, has died. He was 91.
A spokeswoman for Brinkley said her stepfather died on Saturday in Sag Harbor, N.Y.
Don Brinkley was a television writer and producer whose career spanned more than 50 years.
His credits included such 1950s and 1960s staples as "Wanted: Dead or Alive," ''The Untouchables," ''Ben Casey," ''Rawhide," ''The Fugitive," ''The Man from U.N.C.L.E." and "Medical Center."
In 1988, he was honored by the Museum of Broadcasting in New York.
He also was a journalist for CBS Radio News.
Admittedly, any piece written on the subject of television tempts the writer to take the obvious and, frankly, lazy tack of how the quality of one generation's work far surpasses the quality of subsequent generation's work.
The hidden subtext in almost any piece like that is, simply, "in my day....".
Attempting, at least, in some small measure to resist going there, I'll simply offer that one need only check out any of the aforementioned programs that Don Brinkley worked on (via Hulu, YouTube, etc) to see that the values portrayed, and the manner in which they were portrayed, are radically different from the values and portrayal of same in today's television presentations.
Whether you think that's good or bad depends entirely on your personal theology.
One man's meat and all that.
As for me, I'll spare you the long harangue that, subtextually, preaches "..in my day.." and simply offer this.
Television, regardless of personal tastes and preferences, is, arguably, very often simply a reflection of the values held by those during the times in which they live.
Two sad things here.
The Brinkley family's loss is certainly the other one.
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