Top 10 TV Detectives

[bholas]

5. Remington Steele and Laura Holt

The show ran for five years from 1982 to 1987 but the premise sounds more like a TV show from the 50’s than the 80’s. Laura Holt (Stephanie Zimbalist) discovers that no one wants to hire a female detective so she invents an imaginary boss, Remington Steele. Pierce Brosnan’s character shows up in the pilot episode to impersonate him.

According to thrillingdetective.com, “in the original concept, Remington Steele wasn’t even going to exist.” However, the studio executives were unwilling to place their confidence in a female detective (not unlike the clients on the TV show). A role was created for a Remington Steele character rather than an imaginary boss who would never actually appear on the show “only after NBC insisted on a male lead” (thrillingdetective.com).

Pierce Brosnan made the role of Remington Steele so memorable – he was perfect as the mysterious, handsome, charming, slightly bumbling, and rather dangerous con man. The same characteristics that made Brosnan such an effective James Bond eight years after the Remington Steele Agency closed its doors forever.

[bholas]

4. Thomas Magnum

I recently tried to watch Magnum PI episodes airing as reruns and could not sit through them. It was so disappointing because I loved the show when it aired in the 1980’s.

One timeless aspect of the TV show is the all around hotness of Tom Selleck during his Magnum PI years. I mean, look at him! Although his big dumb mustache and un-waxed chest dates him back to the 80’s, he is still a hunk.

Magnum PI ran for eight years (1980-1988) on CBS. The popularity of the show, and the macho yet cuddly Selleck earns it 4th place on this list.

Writer Alan Vanneman agrees that this show does not age well (unlike Selleck, who is still very handsome by the way). Read his article ‘Tight Pants in Paradise” for his critique of the show, including some very interesting information about how the original story idea evolved into the Magnum PI we are familiar with today.

[bholas]

3. Peter Gunn

When you hear the name “Peter Gunn” you probably think of the famous song that has been covered by everyone from Quincy Jones to the Cramps; however, the Henry Mancini hit that won an Emmy and two Grammys was actually the theme for a TV show by the same name.

The title character, played by Craig Stevens, is a slightly different take on the hard-boiled detective. Peter Gunn is “a sophisticated hipster, a dapper dresser who loved cool jazz” (Wikipedia). His girlfriend is a singer at his favorite hangout, a local jazz club called Mother’s.

Jazz music pervades every episode, accentuating the action and famous jazz musicians also make cameo appearances. Peter Gunn only ran for three years but long enough to influence TV show soundtracks, inspiring studios to move away from the uninspired generic music used at the time.

Peter Gunn also inspired the cleaned-up and dressed-up detectives of TV’s future, characters who would look comfortable in a tuxedo and who preferred martinis to bourbon out of a paper bag. Jonathan Hart and Remington Steele are good examples.

The visual style, famous song, and influence of the show all lead to its place here on this list.

[bholas]

2. David Addison and Madeline “Maddie” Hayes

According to thrillingdetective.com, Remington Steele’s producer “left after one season, to create Moonlighting, which was remarkably similar”. I disagree about the similarities between the two shows aside from sparks flying between a male and female who engage in fast and flirty dialogue. Another similarity: both shows also introduce male actors who become extremely successful in film franchises in the future (James Bond, Die Hard).

Remington Steele had Doris Roberts (later famous for her role as the mom in Everybody Love’s Raymond) but Moonlighting’s supporting cast sends the show into the TV classics stratosphere. Miss Agnes DiPesto (Allyce Beasley) is delightful as the rhyming receptionist and Bert Viola (Curtis Armstrong) is brilliant as the accounting temp who becomes a full-time investigator and DiPesto’s boyfriend. These two actors are the ideal opposites of the perfect (and perfectly icy) Cybill Shepherd and cool Bruce Willis.

[bholas]

1. Jim Rockford

James Garner plays Jim Rockford, main character in The Rockford Files. The show first aired in 1974 and continues to be popular worldwide (debuting in Hungary as recently as 2004, according to imdb.com). The Rockford Files ran for 6 years on NBC and “is in constant syndication to the present day” (Wikipedia). James Scott Rockford (“Jim”, “Jimmy”, “Jimbo”) becomes a private investigator after receiving a pardon five years into a stint at San Quentin (he has been wrongfully convicted for armed robbery).
Rockford has a past and he’s seen better days, much like Philip Marlowe, Sam Spade, and other classic hard-boiled characters in fiction. Yet Rockford is a very unique detective – he doesn’t really fit in to the hard-boiled detective category. If anything he seems more like Humphrey Bogart’s classic depiction of film noir characters. Like Bogart’s Rick (Casablanca), Steve (To Have and Have Not), and Bogart’s version of Marlowe (The Big Sleep) and Spade (The Maltese Falcon), James Garner’s character always tries to talk himself out of situations first before he fights. Also unlike the traditional hard-boiled detective: he doesn’t usually carry a gun, he avoids danger when possible, and his fees are quite high. (Despite he $200 a day fee, his sporadic employment only allows for a beat up trailer for a home office, cheap plaid suits, and an answering machine for a secretary.)

The supporting cast improves a TV show that is already blessed with a talented actor in an interesting, well-developed role and a team of fantastic writers. Mysterynet.com credits The Rockford Files with “some of the most unforgettable supporting characters in television history.” Jim’s dad, a slew of ex-cons from Jim’s prison days, and other colourful characters bring unsolved cases, along with depth and comic relief to the shows. Angel (played by Stuart Margolin) is most memorable, but Isaac Hayes also makes an appearance as Gandolph Fitch, and Rita Moreno plays ********** Rita Capkovic. Please go to mysterynet.com’s article “The Rockford Files: Not Your Regular Hero” for more information about the show.