Thu 1 Mar 2012
Jim Doherty’s list of the Top Ten Television PI Series.
Posted by Steve under Bibliographies, Lists & Checklists[11] Comments
Recently posted on the Mysterical-E website is a definitive list of the Top Ten PI series ever televised, according to Jim Doherty. Definitive only to him, perhaps, but I’ll bet many of them are going to turn up on yours as well, if you were to make one. But there are a couple of them that may surprise you. They did me — not that I would disagree with him — but the chances I’d have come up with one or two of them on my own are slim.
Before you head on over, you might want to take the following quiz. I chose one, two or maybe three words from Jim’s descriptions of each of the shows — the latter well worth reading in themselves. If I’ve done a good job, maybe you can match the phrases below with the corresponding series. Most should be easy, but if I’m a little sneaky, perhaps not.
1 ) suave
2 ) most violent show
3 ) disgraced agent
4 ) girth
5 ) municipal corruption
6 ) car never worked
7 ) ex-con
8 ) good-looking
9 ) security officer
10 ) covert ops
March 1st, 2012 at 10:54 pm
The rule the PI must be a TV original made this list much harder to complete.
1. BANACEK – NBC- 1972-74
2. Laura Holt (REMINGTON STEELE) – NBC – 1982-87
3. THE ROCKFORD FILES – NBC – 1974-80
TV MOVIES – CBS – 1994-99
4. HARRY O – ABC – 1973-76
5. SEARCH – NBC – 1972-73
6. Emerson Cod (PUSHING DAISIES) – ABC – 2007-09
7. THE SINGING DETECTIVE – BBC – 1986
8. T.H.E. CAT – NBC – 1966-67
9. PETER GUNN – NBC/ABC – 1958-61
10. SHOESTRING – BBC – 1979-80
March 1st, 2012 at 11:24 pm
I like Jim Doherty’s list alot and would also like to stress that he limited the series to TV originals only. Which automatically excludes such shows as the Powers Boothe, MARLOWE and the different versions of Mike Hammer.
I’ve seen and liked all the shows on his list exccept for the last one listed, BURN NOTICE. I guess it’s too recent for me to notice but I would have eventually got around to it. By the way, if you are wondering where THE OUTSIDER is, Doherty admits to liking it alot.
March 2nd, 2012 at 12:11 am
BANYON was the only one on his list I have not seen.
PETER GUNN made my top 10 but it is all style and no substance.
I like wit and humor with my TV so there went MANNIX, CANNON, EQUALIZER and MAN IN A SUITCASE.
BURN NOTICE is more a spy series than PI and has fallen from greatness since they expanded the cast beyond Michael, Fiona, Sam, and Mom.
Sadly, RICHARD DIAMOND, the best PI series for TV I have ever seen does not qualify.
March 2nd, 2012 at 1:56 am
I like wit and humor also but I still think this is a very level headed and intelligent list of the better PI series.
I also agree about RICHARD DIAMOND, a series which I have on bootleg dvds. I like Darren McGavin in MIKE HAMMER despite the fact that he played it with wise cracks and humor.
March 2nd, 2012 at 11:04 am
So, Walker, any TV PI you think deserves to be in the top ten but has not been named?
Since I was a child I have take great efforts to be different. The worse insult you could give me is call me normal. My list proves that.
BANACEK is one of the few TV series I never tire watching. The mysteries are strong, the characters unique. When we talk of PIs there is the hardboiled, the traditional and the team. BANACEK is a hardboiled traditional and one of the best,
Laura Holt of REMINGTON STEELE is the best Nick Charles TV has ever produced. The series was flawed by the stupid “will they or won’t they” romance, but Laura Holt as a PI solving mysteries remained worthy of being mentioned here. As for tough, lets see Mannix run down all those bad guys in high heels like Laura had to.
ROCKFORD FILES deserves to be number one but I find I have to be in the mood to put up with Angel as well as Rockford’s whining.
HARRY O may move down when we see it again. The series became great when Anthony Zerbe joined the cast as screaming Lt. Trench (he won an Emmy for the part).
SEARCH was TV’s the best blend of PI and sf. It was what the first season of MANNIX should have been.
Emerson Cod of PUSHING DAISIES was out of the Sam Spade school. He was no knight walking down the mean streets, he wanted paid.
THE SINGING DETECTIVE understood the “romance adventure” of the PI. As a man is dying and in pain, he escapes to the fantasy world of Philip Marlow (no e thus not based on Chandler) where justice exists.
T.H.E. CAT and PETER GUNN can be compared in style, weird characters, and music. Cat lived on the mean streets which moved him above Gunn who was too rich to be an honest PI.
SHOESTRING, also known as “Private Ear,” worked for a call in radio show, solving mysteries sent in by listeners. It reminds me a bit of THE ROCKFORD FILES in tone. But it is on the list because I couldn’t think of anything better.
March 2nd, 2012 at 11:14 am
Moonlighting’s David Addison and the titular characters in Angel and Veronica Mars are all very serious omissions to me.
A top ten list of TV cops — now THAT would be a challenge.
March 2nd, 2012 at 12:52 pm
Nice picks. Ask any TV fan under thirty to name a TV PI and Veronica Mars will be the most popular pick.
I remain amaze at how forgotten MOONLIGHTING has become.
March 2nd, 2012 at 1:28 pm
There is one British series that I think deserves consideration in the top ten. PUBLIC EYE starring Alfred Burke as Inquiry Agent Frank Marker. The series lasted almost 10 years but many of the earlier episodes have been lost due to the practice of “wiping”. They evidently did not forsee that there would ever be a market for these TV shows on video and dvd.
I have 3 or 4 box sets from Britain, so you need a multi region dvd player but they are very unusual for a PI series. Frank Marker is not your usual good looking private eye fighting off the girls and solving all his cases. He is homely, down at the heels, depressed, working at low paying, sort of sleazy cases.
In fact the opening episode shows Marker being released from prison because of some mistake like being in possession of stolen goods. The first thing he thinks of is hiring a prostitute because he has not been with a woman for a couple years. Unfortunately, things do not go well as she trys to rob him, etc.
The British had a very interesting, different view of American crime and film noir.
March 2nd, 2012 at 2:24 pm
Walker, I haven’t seen an entire episode of PUBLIC EYE but the theme music makes me want to. Check out this clip from YouTube listed under PUBLIC EYE FRANK MARKER
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lt6xRqf3TE0
March 2nd, 2012 at 6:43 pm
In Comment #6, David Bushman suggested:
“A top ten list of TV cops — now THAT would be a challenge.”
I hope someone decides to take David up on this, because I’ve discovered that there’s no way in the world that I could.
I’ve come up with some possibilities, but I quickly realized that I was writing down names of shows I’d never seen, or seen only one or two episodes of.
With only so much time to spend watching TV, I spent mine watching PI shows, and most of the cop shows, I never had time for.
March 2nd, 2012 at 8:05 pm
In Comment #9 Michael posts a link to the interesting clip showing the theme music and a scene to PUBLIC EYE. Alfred Burke died about a year ago, age 92. The link has 62 comments, all raving about how good Burke and the series was.