Created by Howard Rodman (1920-85) Young patrol officer CHIP BRONX (played by Stephen Brooks) is shot while on duty, and learns he won’t be fit for active duty when he recovers. So his partner and best friend, LARRY DEAN (played by Robert Hooks), quits the department to become a private investigator, and urges Chip to join … Continue reading Larry Dean & Chip Bronx (Two for the Money)
Tag: Television
China Smith
Created by Robert C. Dennis B-film tough-guy movie actor Dan Duryea played two-fisted part-time scam artist/private eye CHINA SMITH who operated out of a bar in Singapore, in the eponymous syndicated TV show from the fifties. China’s cases often took him throughout the Orient, which him plenty of swash-buckling action in this early, as China … Continue reading China Smith
The Lone Wolf (Michael Lanyard)
Created by Louis Joseph Vance (1879-1933) Louis Joseph Vance's MICHAEL LANYARD, better known as THE LONE WOLF, didn't start out as a private eye, but as a criminal. However, like Jack Boyle's Boston Blackie, thanks to his numerous reboots, reincarnations and re-imaginings in radio, film and television, The Lone Wolf is now remembered by many, … Continue reading The Lone Wolf (Michael Lanyard)
Magnum P.I. (v 2.4)
Dr. Goldberg Delivers His Diagnosis—and it’s Murder March 2023: Watching MAGNUM P.I. this season has been interesting from a story-telling and budget standpoint. I was hoping when the show moved from CBS to NBC, we'd see a creative retooling that abandoned the terrible bifurcated storytelling that I assumed was a side effect of COVID social-distancing … Continue reading Magnum P.I. (v 2.4)
Charlie Willis
Created by Lee Goldberg Down, down, down. CHARLIE WILLIS is a Beverly Hills cop who lands a plum security gig for a major Hollywood studio, after being shot in the stomach by one of their most beloved stars, in this wicked spoof by Lee Goldberg, a TV scriptwriter and producer (Spenser: For Hire, Monk, Diagnosis Murder, … Continue reading Charlie Willis
Matthew Hope
Created by Ed McBain Né Salvatore Lombino Other pseudonyms include Evan Hunter, Curt Cannon, Hunt Collins, Richard Marsten, Ezra Hannon,John Abbott (1926 -2005) Robert Randisi considers Calusa, Florida attorney MATTHEW HOPE to be a private eye, and that's good enough for me. When we first meet Hope in 1978's Goldilocks, he’s a transplanted New Yorker … Continue reading Matthew Hope
Protected: Peter Gunn: The Television First That Dare Not Speak Its Name
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Butch Patterson
Created by Greg Lawrence "Do you think I'd look good in a hat?" How’d I miss this one? A 30-minute Canadian TV comedy lampooning the whole Shamus Game? That lasted three seasons? And I had no clue it even existed? Turns out Butch Patterson, Private Dick ran from 1999-2001 on The Comedy Network, a Canadian channel … Continue reading Butch Patterson
Michael Westen (Burn Notice)
Created by Matt Nix When the tough get burned, the burned get going... When spies get fired, they don't get a pink slip or a form letter from human resources. They get a "burn notice" and became untouchable. In the USA Network series Burn Notice (2007-13), Jeffrey Donovan played MICHAEL WESTEN, a handsome, young, yogurt-loving former … Continue reading Michael Westen (Burn Notice)
Watching the (Private) Detectives
Rolling Stone Picks 10 Classics In their January 2023 issue (#1371, for those keeping track), the venerable rock mag served up their top ten television “whodunits," as a sidebar to an article by their TV critic Alan Sepinwall on the upcoming Poker Face TV show. No real surprises, but judging from the brief but pithy summaries … Continue reading Watching the (Private) Detectives