Retrospect: High Performance

Self-tutoring about people and events from the past: the tutor reflects…

There I was, alone in the living room on a Wednesday night in March, 1983. Wandering among the channels, I encountered a show called High Performance. I’d not heard of it, but could tell immediately it was an action show, one hour duration, which was a common genre back then: A-Team and Knight Rider were examples.

Lying on the couch just passing time, I decided to stay with High Performance. It didn’t seem very compelling, I quickly decided, but then again, there didn’t seem a reason to jump from it, either. We only got about 9 channels back then, a few of which never had anything interesting. High Performance, I thought, might hold a surprise or two, considering its name.

I seem to recall the show’s outro and intro, when it would leave, then return from a commercial, showed a digital clock running through tenths of seconds. It was a decent hook, because back then digital clocks were still relatively new. When you saw one – especially running through tenths or hundredths of seconds – it suggested a new, futuristic setting.

From what I could tell, the premise of “High Performance” was that the team – which I think had four people – were competent, well prepared, and capable of executing independent tasks which, together, would undo their adversaries. They were all young, and none was very memorable – at least, not to me. In that way, “High Performance” may’ve been too far ahead of its time.

Back in the 70s and 80s, it was big personalities that people liked, so made a show popular. Not only on TV, but in everyday life, people liked uniqueness and spirit.

Nowadays, much more than back then, people seem to like other people to be predictable and forgettable – generic is perhaps the term for it. They prefer no flavour, rather than a strong flavour. Not everyone shares this preference, but most seem to.

Over the years, that episode of High Performance has continued to echo in my brain, and perhaps that’s why: it was a generic hour-long action show. Compared to shows that celebrated individuals, like Magnum, PI, A-Team, Knight Rider, and Fall Guy, High Performance seemed unable to compete – back then.

I never saw another episode of High Performance. My research suggests only four episodes were made, all shown during March 1983. Curiously, the next day at school, a classmate of mine mentioned she’d watched High Performance the night before, as well.

Source:

imdb.com