That was quite a long life. Never was a Starsky & Hutch fan, but I was aware of their cultural popularity.
They changed the show. It was a very dark and violent show at first, but the squealers got it repackaged on the fly into a pseudo comedy, which was pretty much the same as the movie decades later. The show melted like an ice cube and the do-gooders moved on to their next target, even way back then.