Stephen Kandel from an interview about The Magician television series.
Stephen Kandel, an incredibly versatile television writer, died in October, according to the Writers Guild of America website. He was 96.
Kandel, over a long career, penned episodes for shows devoted to science fiction (Star Trek), espionage (certain episodes of Hawaii Five-O and A Man Called Sloane) and crime drama.
Writer Harlan Ellison in 1970 referred to Kandel as "one of the more lunatic scriveners in Clown Town." In a column reprinted in The Other Glass Teat, Ellison wrote that Kandel was assigned to write an episode of a drama called The Young Lawyers that was to introduce a new WASP character.
According to Ellison, ABC opted to tone down socially conscious stories among other changes. Kandel wasn't a fan of the changes. He initially named the new WASP character "Christian White."
"It went through three drafts before anyone got hip to Steve's sword in the spleen," Ellison wrote.
Other in-joke humor by Kandel that did make it to television screens.
One was a 1973 episode of Mannix, Sing a Song of Murder. Kandel named a hitman Anthony Spinner. Kandel had earlier worked for Spinner on the QM series Dan August.
Presumably, Spinner didn't mind. Kandel ended up working for Spinner on Cannon. Spinner died in 2020.
Another bit was Kandel's script for A Man Called Sloane episode titled The Seduction Squad. Robert Culp played a Blofeld-like criminal, except he carried around a small dog instead of a cat.
Other Kandel credits included the 1960s Batman series. Kandel also wrote a two-part story that began on Cannon and concluded on Barnaby Jones.
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