Created by–
Shot almost completely on location in Miami, the 1961 syndicated TV show Miami Undercover followed the adventures of odd couple detective duo JEFF THOMPSON (played by Lee Bowman) and his partner “Rocky” (real-life middleweight boxing champ Rocky Graziano). The two were hired by the Miami Beach hotel association to go “undercover,” posing as a wealthy playboy and his live-in assistant, to quietly solve crimes and “keep trouble out of Miami.”
Right.
It was a cute idea, even if that angle didn’t quite make it into all the shows–much of the time it seemed the two were just working pro bono, helping various friends (and friends of friends, and complete strangers) out of various jams.
At the time the show was filmed, Bowman, once a promising movie star, was 47, tired-looking and getting a little long in the tooth, and Graziano was coasting on his post-boxing glow, showing off his acting “skills” on television and film, but it wasn’t enough. The show only lasted one season, running from January to October 1961.
By hey, somebody must have loved it enough to publish a tie-in paperback. Miamo Undercover, a “suspense novel by Evan Lee Heyman was published in
TELEVISION
- MIAMI UNDERCOVER
(1961, syndicated)
38 30-minute episodes
Black & white
Premiere: January 23, 1961
A ZIV Television Production
Writers: Gerald Drayson Adams
Directors: Howard W. Koch.
Producers: Howard W. Koch and Aubrey Schenck
Theme music composed by Johnny Green
Starring Lee Bowman as JEFF THOMPSON
and Rocky Graziano as Rocky
Guest stars: Larry King, Jill Corey, Nora Hayden
NOVELS
- Miami Undercover (1961, by Evan Lee Heymen)Â |Â Buy this book
ALSO AVAILABLE
- MIAMI UNDERCOVERÂ |Â Buy this DVD
Includes four episodes.
