Created by Richard Carr and Robert L. Jacks “It’s a dirty business.” — Kelly takes the case. “Last of the Private Eyes,” which aired on April 30, 1963, was the final episode of The Dick Powell Show, and made no bones about it—it’s a tongue-in-cheek parody of the genre. Here's guest host Ronald Reagan in his … Continue reading J.F. Kelly (“Last of the Private Eyes”)
Tag: Unsuccessful Pilot
Justin Case
Created by Blake Edwards and Jennifer Edwards In the definitely kooky but only slightly spooky made-for-TV flick Justin Case, which appeared during The Disney Sunday Movie on ABC in 1988, the ghost of murdered private eye, the unfortunately and eponymously named JUSTIN CASE (played by George Carlin, of all people), teams up with Jennifer (played … Continue reading Justin Case
Bill O’Keefe and Douglas Hawke (Shooting Stars)
Created by Michael Fisher and Vernon Zimmerman ''This is not a television show-- this is reality.'' -- O'Keefe explains to Hawke More lameness from the House of Spelling. In Shooting Stars, a 1983 TV flick, BILL O'KEEFE (Parker Stevenson) and DOUGLAS HAWKE (Billy Dee Williams) are actors (and co-owners of a failing restaurant) who get … Continue reading Bill O’Keefe and Douglas Hawke (Shooting Stars)
Kate Bliss
Created by William Bowers, John Rester Zodrow Right after wrapping up her role as Emily on the popular The Bob Newhart Show, actress Suzanne Pleshette, still riding high, lit out for the territories, popped up in a string of TV pilots, all of them unsuccessful. In the 1978 rom com Kate Bliss and The Ticker Tape Kid, … Continue reading Kate Bliss
Mike Hercules (Alias Mike Hercules)
Created by Herbert Margolis Hugh Beaumont, the affably bland fifties actor mostly known as the persistently perplexed dad, Ward Cleaver, on TV classic Leave It to Beaver (1957-63), had an earlier career as a sort of utility player, appearing in numerous films and television series. His resumé included several crime flicks, including roles in The … Continue reading Mike Hercules (Alias Mike Hercules)
Henry Savage
Created by Irwin Gielgud (1919-61) & Gwen (née Bagni) Gielgud (1913-2001) Savage is the Name was a pretty good title for a proposed television show that would have starred Barry Sullivan as HENRY SAVAGE, a former FBI Agent turned security specialist for a major airline, with Pat O'Brien as his sidekick. The pilot for the show … Continue reading Henry Savage
Florian Slappey
Created by Octavus Roy Cohen (1891-1959) Man, those were different times... One of the first black detectives, and an early proto-eye, FLORIAN SLAPPEY was a tall, slim drink of water, a "colored gentleman," a well-dressed and well-known man about town who decides to leave "Bumminham", Alabama" for the bright lights and big city … Continue reading Florian Slappey
Not Quite Ready for Prime Time
Pilots That Didn't Fly & Spin-offs That Didn't Spin Television has always been a battlefield when it comes to getting a show actually on the air, and the P.I. genre has had it as rough as any other genre, although the nineties were particularly brutal. Some of these aired and nobody bit, and some of … Continue reading Not Quite Ready for Prime Time
Lucius Crane
Created by Blake Ritchie Pseudonym of Ivan Goff and Ben Roberts LUCIUS CRANE was a corpulent, harpsichord-playing gourmet and private detective hired by the friends of a murdered women to find her killer in the failed 1959 TV pilot The Fat Man: The Thirty-Two Friends of Gina Lardelli. Crane was played by "hefty, beetle-browed character … Continue reading Lucius Crane
Rose Winters
Created by Andy Lewis Intended as a pilot, the 1974 TV movie Big Rose: Double Trouble, starred Shelley Winters as "BIG ROSE" WINTERS, a big, brassy Los Angeles private eye who's been around the block once or twice, and doesn't let much stand in her way, including her young partner, Ed Mills (Barry Primus). He's struggling … Continue reading Rose Winters