Starsky & Hutch California freeway with a flat-tired Ford Explorer). At the first viewing of the car with David Soul (Hutch), Glaser remarked that the car looked like a "striped tomato." That nickname stuck, and very soon the show's writers had worked it into the show as Hutch's derogatory name for Starsky's beloved Torino. Glaser remarked to Soul that he hated the car and that he was "going to destroy that car...burn it down every chance I get", and repeated the story in the 1999 "reunion" interview. Several scenes of Glaser driving the car show him smashing the front wheels into curbs as
Starsky & Hutch the violence ejected and more of a focus on the friendship of the two leads, viewership remained steady during the season. From September to December 1977, the show stayed in its Saturday night time slot, now up against "The Jeffersons" and "The Tony Randall Show" on CBS and the "NBC Saturday Night at the Movies". In January 1978, the show moved back to it original Wednesday night time slot of 10 p.m. The ratings dropped a little bit, however "Starsky & Hutch" finished #33 (tied with ABC's "Lucan") with a 19.2 Nielsen rating. Glaser again voiced his desires to leave