Glen A. Larson

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Glen A. Larson (born 1937) is a television writer and producer. Some of his series have become cult hits and either remain in syndication or have been revived. Larson is sometimes compared to Gene Roddenberry by fans of genre television. He began his career in the entertainment industry as a member of the singing group The Four Preps (with whom he appeared in one of the Gidget films). The Four Preps ultimately produced three gold records for Capitol, all of which Larson wrote: "26 Miles Across the Sea (Santa Catalina)", "Big Man", and "Down by the Station".

After working for Quinn Martin, Larson signed a production deal with Universal Studios. His first hit series was Alias Smith and Jones. One of Larson's tactics has been to copy successful formats. He was involved in the development of The Six Million Dollar Man and later secured an unprecedented $1,000,000 per episode budget for Battlestar Galactica which exploited the popularity of Star Wars (George Lucas sued for copyright infringement and lost). Even with this generous budget the series was reportedly marred by recycled effects shots along with poor scripts and cancelled after a short run. The pilot episode of Galactica was refashioned as a theatrical release in North America and Europe, and in some Europeans markets was the top grossing film of 1979.

Larson was known for co-authoring some of the themes to TV programs he produced, usually with the help of composer Stu Phillips. These include "Suspension," used in the Buck Rogers movie.

Larson re-used sets, props, costumes, and effects work from Galactica to create the light-hearted sci-fi series Buck Rogers in the 25th Century (1979). Larson collaborated with Donald Bellisario in creating Magnum, P.I. one of the most enduring television series of the 1980s. (Curiously, "Magnum" was only developed because the production company had significant unutilized resources in Hawaii after the cancellation of Hawaii 5-0.)

Larson also created The Fall Guy, which made much use of stock footage as well. Larson's most influential series was probably Knight Rider, featuring science-fiction elements with a light hearted action adventure scenario and limited violence. These basic elements characterised Larson's output through the 1980s with Automan, Manimal and The Highwayman but few of these were renewed and Larson's popularity declined. He made a brief comeback in the 1990s' with an adaptation of the Ultraverse comic Nightman, which lasted two seasons and became a small cult favourite, but failed to make a larger impact.

He was credited as consulting producer for the Sci-Fi Channel/Universal's radical 2003 remake of Battlestar Galactica which attracted wide attention and critical praise.

Larson has a star on Hollywood Boulevard for his contributions to the television industry.

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