Just watched part 1 of a Adam 12 episode about a gun runner. they bust him on weak evidence. Will it stick? We'll find out in part 2 of "The D.A." Oops, That's another show that's not being shown in syndication. Frustrating, isn't it?
shareI'm not sure I would call this a crossover, but in the Season 6 episode Trouble in the Bank, after Malloy rescues Reed, we cut to a shot of the parking lot/ambulance drive up area of Rampart/UCLA Harbour before we then cut to Malloy and Reed inside the hospital. I recognized that establishment shot from it being used in many episodes of Emergency. Mark VII knew how to save money!
Another way the episode controlled costs was having the extras/hostages in the bank be locked in a room, thus Mark VII only had to pay them for one day's work rather than the two it probably took to shoot all the scenes in the bank.
A few years ago when Shout! began releasing the remaining seasons of "Adam-12" I alerted them to the fact that an episode concluded on "The D.A." and that they should try to secure it for the S4 DVD set. They said they would look into it. As it turned out though, Universal did not have usable elements for that show. "The D.A." has never been aired in syndication or sold to a cable station for repeats and that means Universal at no time ever created a set of videotape masters off the original film elements. So in order for us to see this episode, they would have to create a whole new set of masters off the 35mm elements that would cost millions of dollars and thus, we are alas denied the chance of seeing how this episode turned out. If there'd been a backup 16mm print available, then perhaps Shout could have used that, but the word is that no 16mm prints are available for "The D.A.".
shareCrossovers are nothing but gimmicks to try to boost ratings during sweeps or if one of the shows is under-performing. I am sure that somewhere in the history of television it has been done reasonably well, but Ive never seen it.