Having inaugurated the vogue for producing American series in Canada in the mid-80s, Cannell has subsequently become a dominant force in that country's film and TV production through the North Shore Studios in North Vancouver, British Columbia (in which he holds a 65 percent interest). The first to be honored by DAILY VARIETY (August 17, 1995) as a "Thousand- Episode Producer", the mogul has remained first and foremost a writer--and an impressively proficient one at that. Cannell wrote the TV-movie pilot that became "The Rockford Files" (NBC, 1974-80) in just five days. He has continued to rise before dawn to churn out an act a day (about 15 pages of script). Cannell also found time to write his first novel, a political thriller entitled "The Plan", in 1995 and a second tome, "Final Victim", the following year. (The movie rights for the latter sold for $1 million.) Not bad for a dyslexic who reads slowly and spells poorly.
Though he worked hard and displayed excellent verbal skills, Cannell graduated at the bottom of his high school class due to his undiagnosed condition. His skill at track and football won him an athletic scholarship to the University of Oregon in Eugene but his low grades prevented him from keeping it. Cannell stuck it out, became interested in creative writing and earned his BA in 1964. Failing in his initial attempts to break into Hollywood, Cannell began working in his father's interior design firm to support his young wife and newborn child. He wrote teleplays each evening and sold a story to "Mission: Impossible" in 1966. Two years later, Cannell quit his day job upon selling an actual teleplay to "It Takes a Thief". He graduated from freelancer to staffer when--after selling a teleplay to producer Jack Webb's low-key patrol car police procedural "Adam-12"--he was hired as the show's head writer/story editor. Working on the Universal lot also quickly led to directing assignments on various series.
It was when Cannell began creating and producing his own product, however, that he really emerged as a leading force in American television. His rise began under the tutelage of his first mentor, producer Roy Huggins ("Maverick"; "77 Sunset Strip"; "The Fugitive") for whom he became a top pilot writer. The typical Cannell series quickly emerged: usually in the police, detective or action genre, targeting a lower middlebrow male audience. A number of his heroes, when not partnered by others with similarly eclectic talents, are offbeat, sometimes hardened but usually amiable loners whose cynicism only thinly masks their essential earnestness.
These qualities typified Cannell's first major success as a creator-producer, "The Rockford Files". With a witty lead performance by James Garner, an engaging collection of regular and recurring characters and a casual narrative style which mimics its hero's involvement with crime each week, "Rockford" was Cannell's most acclaimed and fondly-remembered contribution to TV. His subsequent critical successes include the quirky detective spoof "Tenspeed and Brown Shoe" (ABC, 1980), the dark and multi-layered undercover cop drama "Wiseguy" (CBS, 1987-90) and "Profit" (Fox, 1996-), an unusual psychodrama set in the world of high finance. (Cannell served as co-executive producer without creating the latter.)
Founding his own production company in 1979 to acquire greater creative control over his product, Cannell stepped up his already impressive slate of productions in the 1980s. By the early 90s, he had written more than 200 episodes of the various series he created, and produced or co- produced more than 520 episodes. Although Cannell has had his fair share of series misfires (such as "Richie Brockelman, Private Eye" 1978, "Duke" 1979, "Stone" 1980, "The Quest" 1982, "The Rousters" 1983-84, "The Last Precinct" 1986, "Top of the Hill" 1989), his record of popular success is, within its scope, a highly impressive one, with product ranging from the grunt-heroic ("Baa Baa Black Sheep" 1976-78; "The A-Team" 1983-87), to the gritty and hard-edged ("Baretta" 1975-78), to the slick if faintly absurd ("21 Jump Street" 1987-90) to the good-humored ("Hardcastle and McCormick" 1983-86, "Riptide" 1984-86 and "The Greatest American Hero" 1981-83, the latter to some extent an amiable parody of typical Cannell product).
In 1991, Cannell eschewed his behind-the-scenes role to host "Scene of the Crime", a late- night mystery anthology he also created. Prior to that on-screen job, he played a supporting role in a TV-movie ("Charley Hannah", ABC 1986). Subsequently he has played a recurring role as a sinister cop on his successful syndicated series "Renegade" (1992-). Cannell again hired himself out to host "US Customs: Classified", a syndicated reality-based series. Never one to toss away a good thing lightly, he resuscitated two popular canceled series--"The Commish" (ABC, 1991-95) and "The Rockford Files"--in a series of two-hour TV-movies in the mid-90s.
In 1995, Cannell sold Stephen J. Cannell Prods. and Cannell Films to New World Communications for $30 million so as to better distribute and market both his library and new products in an increasingly competitive global market.