Courtesy of Amazon.com

If there was an Aaron Spelling tribute band, it would have plenty of material to work with. Spelling has created nearly 200 productions, which totaled to more than 3,800 hours of air time and won him a spot in the Guinness Book of World Records as the most prolific producer of American television. In all of those episodes, there are enough love triangles, bouts of amnesia and bitter bitch-slaps to keep any musical group cranking out beats for at least a few decades.

Maybe now is the perfect time for such a band because as of this summer, Spelling himself can be enjoyed only in syndication. He suffered a stroke on June 18, and though the tabloids said he was in stable condition, the television king died a few days later on June 23. The tube was devoid of any new Spelling productions this semester, but the list of shows he produced is longer than any one else’s, and his passing definitely deserves a trip down memory lane.

Long before Spelling even thought about “Charlie’s Angels” or “Melrose Place,” he was spending his childhood in Dallas. It was during his early years that he said he got his creative urge, according to an Associated Press article. At age 8, he had a nervous breakdown and was bedridden for a year. Perhaps that breakdown is to thank for giving him time to ponder life and use his creativity.

A decade later, Spelling joined the Air Force for a short time and then it was off to New York to pursue show business. While he first got work was as an actor, he really wanted to be a writer and considered performing to be his day job, according to a New York Times article.

After moving to California, he got his first big break writing for “The Mod Squad.” The rest, you could say, is history. There were some bumps in the road and not every show of his was successful, but Spelling has been a mainstay on television ever since he started. He was mainly a producer, but did some writing and a bit of acting as well, often appearing as himself.

Most people have spent at least some time watching one of Spelling’s shows because there are so many to choose from. “The Love Boat,” “Dynasty,” “Twin Peaks,” “7th Heaven,” “Melrose Place” and “Beverly Hills 90210” are just a few.

“The more we talk about (the number of shows), the more tired I get,” Spelling said during an interview last year with Michael Idato, an Australian journalist.

In addition to being responsible for so many shows, he was praised for conquering subjects such as discrimination against women, racism and homophobia. He seemed to value diversity and liked to see it in his shows. He always said the most important things to have in mind are “style and attention to detail.”

Many of his plots were fairly candy-coated because he preferred to depict a family the way the audience would like to see it rather than how a family actually is.

His own family resided in a 6-acre Bel Air mansion named “The Manor,” which deserves mention of its own, as it’s one of the larger star homes in Los Angeles. In total, it has 123 rooms and houses a bowling alley, screening room and an entire floor just for closets, according to London’s The Independent. There are even two rooms that his wife used for gift-wrapping. Spelling told Time magazine in 2001 that she could take up to two hours to wrap a single gift. It all sounds so extravagant, but a man valued at more than $300 million certainly could afford it.

One surprising fact about Spelling was his fear of flying. He chose to travel by boat or train and said he enjoyed meeting people that way. In today’s fast paced world, it’s hard to imagine a busy man traveling by such slow means of transportation.

Transportation preferences aside, is it presumptuous to say that Spelling was a television genius? It’s possible that he just had good luck and was in the right place at the right time. He certainly spoke to several generations and played a role in shaping the pop culture of today and yesterday. He was innovative and somehow knew exactly what people wanted to see. Maybe he won’t be missed personally, but television is different without him.