For the Shield or for the Cash: Trollheart Investigates TV Crime Drama

[Trollheart]

Title: The Vise
Year(s): 1955 - 1960
Nationality: American
Protagonist: Police Detective
Main character(s): Inspector Mark Saber
Seasons*: 5
Episodes (total)*: 156
Sample episode chosen: "The Penny Black"
Category: Crime
Style: Drama
Format: Solo
Location(s): London (originally America, no city stated)
Writer(s): Mark Grantham, Brian Clemens and others
Starring: Donald Gray
First episode: Unknown
Last episode: Unknown
Gimmick/Hook (if any): Saber has only one arm, and Gray is a real amputee. Take that, Ironside!
Spin-offs (if any): Saber of London

Weird one, this. Began life as a radio show (no surprise there) called ABC Mystery Theater, was copied basically by CBS, who didn't even bother to change the title. Both shows ran on the radio on the same day, and often in the same time slot. Oversaturation, and the determination by both to stick rigidly to murders and nothing else, bored audiences and both shows ended around 1953. ABC then rebooted the series for TV, and it ran for a year in 1954 before being again rebooted in 1955 and retitled The Vise, itself an incarnation of an earlier ABC anthology series. Whew!

Anyway, later on the series was again changed, moved to London and titled, you guessed it. Saber of London. You can't help wondering if this was in direct competition with BBC's Fabian of the Yard, which was running at this time, and if you look at the opening titles, they're so similar that I thought for a moment I was watching the latter show. Through all these changes the protagonist remained constant, though he was played by three different actors, between radio and TV. Mark Saber is the focus of the show, hence his name being eventually used for the title. Incidentally, if you want to know why the original title, apparently the show portrayed "people caught in the vise of fate due to their own misdeeds." Well, now you do.

Seems the role of Saber has changed by now, from a police inspector to a private detective. If this was the BBC I would say typical: they've managed to make a murder case out of one of the most boring subjects imaginable, stamp collecting. But it's ostensibly American, though played very much as a British series. Oh, and it looks like there are only two suspects in the murder, so I assume the butler did it. Sorry. But of course he did. Oh look: an early role for Gordon Jackson, known to UK viewers from the series Upstairs, Downstairs and later on The Professionals. Interesting to see him with hair.

[Trollheart]

Title: Highway Patrol
Year(s): 1955- 1959
Nationality: American
Protagonist: Police officer
Main character(s): Dan Matthews
Seasons*: 4
Episodes (total)*: 156
Sample episode chosen: "Lie Detector"
Category: Crime
Style: Drama
Format: Solo
Location(s): Unknown American city
Writer(s): Unsure; Frederick Ziv?
Starring: Broderick Crawford
Future stars who had cameos or guest slots: Leonard Nimoy, Clint Eastwood, Robert Conrad, Larry Hagman
First episode: "Prison Break"
Last episode:
Gimmick/Hook (if any): Looks like there were a lot of car/bike chases, plus the episodes were rewrites of actual crime reports.
Spin-offs (if any):

Òf course, I'm not American, but it kind of staggers me when the claim is made that this was, according to our friends Tim Marsh and Earle F. Marsh, "One of  the most syndicated shows in television history." I mean, I never heard of it, and even I have heard of Dragnet and other shows I've never seen. Apparently as above, this show used real-life crime reports across the country from which to draw its storylines (basically re-enacting the crimes; not sure you could call them storylines really) and though the state in which the Highway Patrol operated was never confirmed, it's pretty obviously California. The protagonist, and about the only recurring character bar the narrator, didn't even have a title, not even Chief. They knew him, perhaps in a tip forward of the hat to The Dukes of Hazzard, simply as boss, and he spent most of his time leaning, it says, on the door of his squad car barking orders and instructions into a bullhorn, many of which would include the code "ten-four!" something perhaps not that well known to the general TV audiences at that time, at least until the rise of CB radio, and also possibly the reason why the show was retitled Ten-Four in later reruns.

As you can see above, quite a few claims to later fame, including Leonard Nimoy and Clint Eastwood, and a further Star Trek link is that a struggling writer of westerns who would later be immortalised as the creator of that show wrote five episodes for this one. Whether Roddenberry and Nimoy ever met I don't know, but I'd say it's doubtful; in those days, writers wrote and sent in their scripts. They would hardly ever be present on the set. In terms of, to use a later popular phrase, keeping it real, Highway Patrol had two consultants on the staff, one a serving officer with the CHP (California Highway Patrol, as if you didn't know) and one a retired one, to make sure all the technical details were correct. I guess you have to admire that kind of attention to detail in a show that seems to have been mostly about, as above, car chases, but there are episodes to watch, so I'll confirm that shortly.

Highway Patrol seems to have had its dark side too. Broderick got so worn out with the filming schedule (two shows a week, would you believe?) that he turned to drinking and quit the show, snarling "We ran out of crimes" when asked for a reason for his departure and the end of the series. In America? Surely not. However this is where it turns dark. The creator, one Artie Ziff sorry Frederick Ziv forced Crawford to sign for one of his new shows, holding back his cut of Highway Patrol until he did so. That's some Hollywood hardball right there! Perhaps fittingly, the new show was axed after one season. What happened to Broderick Crawford? Sure let's check it out. Looks like he lasted another thirty years. But it always does to follow interesting links, and in an article about the man we find the lie, or partial truth, in the Wiki story: the hectic schedule didn't drive (sorry) him to drink, it perhaps exacerbated his already heavy problem with alcohol, which had resulted in him getting so many DUIs that he was in fact banned from driving, so despite his role as basically a police chief, he couldn't drive the car in the show, only for very short scenes, and someone else would have to take over if longer journeys were required.

In fact, it emerges that Crawford was so hard to deal with that Ziv was the only one willing to give him a job, and that Highway Patrol, despite its tough schedule, revitalised his career, which had hit a slump. Well, so it says, but the evidence isn't there for me; in fact, he had starring roles in movies both before and just after the series, so I don't know. It appears that in addition to being a hard drinker he was one of those Americans who eats three hamburgers for breakfast or something - ate a lot anyway - and put on a lot of weight, all of which no doubt contributed to the multiple strokes that ended his life in 1986.

So what's it like? Well, the usual stentorian voiceover about who the "Highway Patrol" are (without naming any state) and then it's pretty clear this isn't going to be light-hearted, as a thief (looking rather like someone who has strayed off the path to a western movie, with his long kerchief mask) pistol-whips an old lady. I mean, it's the 1950s, so you don't see it, but he raises the gun and she goes down, and it's pretty obvious what has happened. I must say, I find it rather amazing that the narrator tells us that she managed to identify the man. His face was almost completely covered, and she must be dazed from the attack. Maybe she recognised his voice? Oh no, I see: she recognised his hat and coat; he was a guest in the motel. Still a bit thin. What was so special about the hat and coat?

Good to see that they're not sensationalising the lie detector here as some shows did back then, as if it was some all-seeing oracle that could determine a man's guilt or innocence. Matthews tells him that the results are not admissible in court, which even back then they were not, and still are not. It's a useful tool, but it won't do a cop's job for him. The nephew, when they return to the motel to re-question the old lady, is very adversarial and defensive, almost throwing an alibi at them before they've even asked for one. Very suspicious. You'd have to wonder, though, why they're relying solely on her identification of the guy. If he had a gun, have they not dusted it for fingerprints? Where is the gun? Do they have it? I know DNA was not even discovered at this time, but fingerprinting was part of normal police SOP. Even when a witness comes forward with a book of matches the alleged attacker - or someone dressed like him anyway - gave him, nobody thinks to dust it to see whose fingerprints are on it?

Okay so the "witness" and the nephew are, to use the language of the time, in cahoots together. No wonder he stepped forward. It's not that often people go out of their way to involve themselves with the police. I wonder why there's the constant sound of an aircraft in the outdoors scenes? It's not as if they're doing any aerial shots. Maybe they're filming near an aerodrome? Hey! Why has Mister Witness got the mask on? He's coming at the aunt from behind (ooer!) and he clubs her before she even knows he's there. Then he removes the mask. Who was it for? Idiot. That's one tough old lady though! Pistol-whipped twice at her age and she's still alive!

Meh, from what I read I expected something more exciting. No real car chases - hardly see cars at all - and no shots of Crawford barking into anything or leaning on anything. In fact, if anything I found him very laid-back. Maybe I just picked a bad episode, but that seemed a little cerebral and boring to me, making me surprised it was such a popular show. Definitely seen better.

[Trollheart]

Title: Meet McGraw
Year(s): 1957 - 1958
Nationality: American
Protagonist: Ex-con possibly
Main character(s): McGaw ("Just McGraw")
Seasons*: 1
Episodes (total)*: 33
Sample episode chosen: Unknown
Category: Crime
Style: Drama
Format: Solo
Location(s): America somewhere
Writer(s): E. Jack Neuman
Starring: Frank Lovejoy
Future stars who had cameos or guest slots:
First episode: ?
Last episode: ?
Gimmick/Hook (if any): McGraw was not licenced as any sort of law enforcement official or even a private eye, and carried no gun
Spin-offs (if any): None

By all accounts, a case of an actor wasted on a poor show, Meet McGraw was nevertheless the first time, so far as I can see (authors and husband/wife teams aside) that someone outside of what we may call the sanctioned legal profession (cops, judges, lawyers, private eyes etc) features in one of these shows. Well, Boston Blackie, yes, and yer man the photographer, but two major differences: one, both of those were in some way linked to the police force, either liaising with them or working with them, whereas McGraw is entirely a law unto himself. Two: generally speaking, both of those other shows came across quite light-hearted, whereas this appears not to be. Like a one-man A-Team, it would appear, he offers help to those who need it and can't go through the regular channels, or who have not been helped by the police. He has no first name, saying at the beginning of every episode "This is McGraw. Just McGraw. It's enough of a name for a man like McGraw." Just don't call him Quick Draw, eh? Sorry.

The idea of the show being a waste of Lovejoy's talents was posed by The New York Times in 1957, who said he "deserved a better show". The Miami Herald agreed, saying that "Meet McGraw was weak in story lines but still a rewarding series thanks to Lovejoy's acting abilities and good dialogue." and describing Lovejoy as "a man of considerable talent and intelligence, completely devoid of pretension." The show itself did not suffer from bad ratings but from the caprices of sponsorship: Proctor and Gamble, who had attached their name to the show, simply dropped it when it no longer suited their needs. Lovejoy remarked about ratings in general that "I'd be a hero on Monday and a bum on Wednesday."

It's very melodramatic, more like something out of the forties than the tail-end of the fifties; I can almost hear yer wan sigh "You're saying this only to make me leave." Very jazzy, everyone smoking, woman wrapped in furs: talk about cliches. What isn't necessarily a cliche is that McGraw turns her down when he realises who she wants him to protect her from. Well, given that he doesn't carry a gun and the jealous ex-husband seems to be some sort of big wheel in the underworld, I guess I don't blame him. It's hardly the "nice guy" image the writeup painted for him though, is it? Also he's supposed to be tough, and even her barb that she thought he was, and therefore indicating she believes now that he is not, doesn't move him. Usually that kind of accusation of cowardice, especially from a woman to a man, and doubly especially from a beautiful woman, gets only one kind of response. But he lets her leave, refusing the job.

Okay, now he has his chance to be that nice guy, when a sweet old lady comes in looking confused, and he brings her to the desk to ask after her sister. But while there her handbag is robbed. She faints, he does not go after the thief - here, this is looking a bit like a setup isn't it? But then, it's not like it was his wallet that was robbed, so I don't understand yet. But yeah, when he turns around the lady has vanished. And then he finds his own wallet is in fact gone. Ah, you gotta love the parlance: "What kinda racket is this?" I see what they mean though about good writing in terms of the actual dialogue, and Lovejoy exhibits a certain Bob Hope character in the way he delivers his lines, almost, but not quite, breaking the fourth wall. Very little in the way of incidental/background music, and to be honest, it suffers for it; it's like there's something missing, which might be why Lovejoy has to fill the silences with quips and cracks.

I would however have to question his decisions. He's turned this woman down because of who her husband is, and now he's sitting in a car kissing her? I mean, is he not afraid of this Louis the Legbreaker or whatever the damn hell his name is? If he's not, then why didn't he take the commission? He's already mentioned he's not rich, so he could certainly do with the money. Bad writing? Possibly. Misogyny, certainly, as the pretty lady turns out to be the one trying to frame McGraw, a typical cardboard femme fatale. Oh dear. Yeah, pretty terrible. He was wasted in this show.

[Mindy]

thanks for these reviews lol I would have never heard of them


interesting avy 

[Trollheart]

Thanks for reading and commenting! Very much appreciated. I have a bunch more written, up to 1960 now I think. I'll be posting more soon so keep reading!

Yeah, I was so sick of the shit going on in the world that I just wanted a fun avvy that let me express my whimsical side. Also, I've always loved Hello Kitty. Even if she is the poster cat for white supremacy! 

[Trollheart]

Title: M Squad
Year(s): 1957 - 1960
Nationality: American
First: First to use the word "squad" in its title, and I think also the first to refer to a specific police department, leaving aside the Highway Patrol. Also the first, I believe, to categorically root itself in a specific American state or city, this being Chicago (I know Dragnet was technically based in Los Angeles, but I don't think they said that did they?); first to use full narration by the character, in the film noir style of Mike Hammer et al.
Protagonist: Police officer
Main character(s): Det. Lt. Frank Ballinger
Seasons*: 3
Episodes (total)*: 117
Sample episode chosen: Season 1, episode 10 "Diamond Hard"
Category: Crime
Style: Drama
Format: Solo
Location(s): Chicago
Writer(s): Various
Starring: Lee Marvin, Paul Newlan
Future stars who had cameos or guest slots: Angie Dickinson, DeForest Kelley, Leonard Nimoy, James Coburn, Charles Bronson
First episode: "The Golden Look"
Last episode: "The Bad Apple"
Gimmick/Hook (if any): Much of the story is narrated by Ballinger in a hard-boiled PI/film noir style
Spin-offs (if any): None, but this was definitely parodied by Police Squad (In Color!)

The first cop show to star a bona fide legend, M Squad (one would assume the M stood for, as Alfred Hitchcock told us, murder?) seems to be the first cop show I've come across where the protagonists work in a specific section of the police force. M Squad was a special department tasked with providing aid to solve crimes such as murder and other violent crimes, organised crime and corruption, perhaps not quite the Line of Duty of its day, but certainly unique at the time. In most other, certainly American, cop programmes, the action would inevitably take place within the homicide or violent crimes unit, but M Squad seemed to be a semi-autonomous department that moved between offices of the Chicago PD, almost like a group of crime consultants? Not entirely sure of course, but that's the impression given by the synopsis on Wiki. Let's see if our friends Marsh and Brook can provide any more insight.

Unfortunately, no. I do note this seems to be the first show whose theme was composed by a genuine music legend, the jazz musician Count Basie. Well he composed the theme for the second and third seasons, but still, very impressive. Despite the name, it appears Lee Marvin's character generally worked alone, and as I assume all the stories centred on him, I've characterised it as a solo effort. All I can do then is look to see if I can find an episode, and make my own judgement about the show. Straight into the action anyway, with a hold-up in progress. Hmm. I find the cool jazz music very much at odds with the serious nature of bank robbery now to be honest. Doesn't fit, for me. Okay once it begins I see now where the later spoof Police Squad (In Color!) parodied it. The narration from Marvin: "My name is Frank Ballinger, Detective Lieutenant of M Squad, a special detail of the Chicago Police" is turned into "My name is Frank Drebin, Detective Lieutenant,  Police Squad, a special detail of the Police" decades later. Even the first name is the same, and Leslie Nielsen carried off Marvin's laconic delivery very well.

This is the first time I've seen a cop spend time in a bar - something which would of course become very standard - and the second time we've been introduced to a bartender who is an ex-sportsman, in this case a boxer. Seems every athlete who gives up or has to give up his sport opens a bar. This is also the first show I've come across where a woman is being treated with some sort of regard and respect by the cop. When Marvin's character says he wants to help the girl, that she has never been in trouble before, his captain shrugs "So what?" He's not interested, but unless there is history between him and this Hazel, it seems Ballinger is genuinely fond of her and doesn't want to see her hurt. A far cry from the way women have been treated so far, so was this a change in attitudes, or just a blip on the radar of inbuilt sexism and misogyny in cop shows of the fifties and sixties? A big future star in this other than Marvin is Angie Dickinson, who would go on to star in her own cult cop show, Police Woman and - well baste my steaming puddings! If that isn't DeForest Kelley, Star Trek's Doctor McCoy at the bar warning Ballinger about jostling him, (Sergeant Miller? Yeah, Sgt. Miller) I'm a Dutchman!

I wonder if the name of the bad guy - Mazarin - is a nod back to the Sherlock Holmes story about the Mazarin Stone, also a diamond, and this guy is a jewel thief. Interesting. First cop show where the cop and his boss are kind of at loggerheads: captain wants to prosecute Hazel, Ballinger says no, he's shown as much more sympathetic than his boss. Also a decent closing monologue, which would feature more and more in these types of show. Pretty good all round.

[Trollheart]

Title: The New Adventures of Charlie Chan
Year(s): 1957 - 1958
Nationality: American/British
First: Non-Western protagonist in a cop show
Protagonist: Detective
Main character(s): Charlie Chan, Barry Chan ("Number One Son")
Seasons*: 1
Episodes (total)*: 38
Sample episode chosen: Season 1, episode 1: "Your Money or Your Wife"
Category: Crime
Style: Drama
Format: Solo mostly
Location(s): London
Writer(s): Various
Starring: J. Carrol Naish, James Hong
Future stars who had cameos or guest slots: Honor Blackman (The Avengers), Patrick Troughton (later Doctor Who)
First episode: "Your Money or Your Wife"
Last episode: "Three for One"
Gimmick/Hook (if any): First "Chinese" detective
Spin-offs (if any): The Sky Dragon, The Amazing Chan and the Chan Clan (animated) and The Return of Charlie Chan, plus a DC Comics tie-in comic book series, and the series itself was of course a spin-off from the over fifty Charlie Chan movies and over a dozen books.

In terms of the character, opinion is divided as to whether Charlie Chan is a racist figure or a spokesman for his people. Conceived as a push back against such evil Chinese figures as Fu Manchu, he stands as the very first Asian detective, but there are limits. In this series, he was played by a white actor (as indeed he was in many of the movies) and there was clear racism in the lead, as he fired James Hong for failing to learn a line and accused him of treating the part as a "school for Chinese actors." I suppose at least he didn't say chinks or slant-eyes.    The show should have had a ready-made audience, given the legacy of Charlie Chan and so many movies having been made starring him, but it was cancelled after just one season. Was there a reason for that? Well, try as we might, we find (or found) it hard to differentiate other Asians such as Chinese and Koreans from Japanese, and this was after all a mere 12 years after the end of World War II, and with the Cold War in full swing too, anyone not American or European was likely to be looked upon with suspicion and bigotry.

The show, surprisingly, although originally begun in the USA, transferred after five episodes to the UK under the auspices of ITC Entertainment, famous for, among other things, Gerry Anderson's pioneering science fiction show Space: 1999, and so Charlie Chan was based then in London. This possibly was not the biggest shift, as, perusing the various movies, I see that although he was meant to be a native of Hawaii, he visited and solved crimes in many countries, including Rio, Panama, Shanghai, Monte Carlo and Paris. Okay I have to ask the obvious question: how in the name of fuck is a man on crutches able to drive a car? When he exits the vehicle he needs them for both sides, so it's not like one of his legs is all right, and even if it was, would that enable him to drive? As it is, both his legs seem fucked so how can he press down on an accelerator, or a brake, even if the car is automatic, which I don't know, maybe they were back then? Is that real Chinese writing at the start or just something they made up? Don't ask me: I can't even order Chinese food, much less read their language!

Given that this is the same time period - same year, in fact - as M Squad, I find the sound quality pretty atrocious. Every time there's a pause in speech or effects there's this buzz like a hum of static that threatens to swamp the sound. Very poor. I'm not sure what the significance of the client being on crutches is (that was him in the opening scene) but I do wonder if his wife and the young artist are setting this up between them, which would then explain it. We'll see. If not, then I don't get it. Okay yes, it seems they were in cahoots, but now she's dead and he's pleading innocence to her murder. Yeah it's very hard to get any sort of sense of the show with all that extraneous noise going on. I guess if you like Charlie Chan you'll probably like it. Doesn't do a lot for me, but it must certainly stand as the first TV detective show not to feature a character from the west, at the very least.

[Trollheart]

Title: Richard Diamond, Private Detective (also known as Call Mr. D.)
Year(s): 1957 - 1960
Nationality: American
First:
Protagonist: Detective
Main character(s): Richard Diamond
Seasons*: 4
Episodes (total)*: 77
Sample episode chosen: Season 4, episode 25: "Running Scared"
Category: Crime
Style: Drama
Format: Solo
Location(s): New York and later San Francisco
Writer(s): Blake Edwards
Starring: David Janssen, Regis Toomey, Barbara Bain, Russ Conway
Future stars who had cameos or guest slots: Charles Bronson, DeForest Kelley, Mary Tyler Moore
First episode: "The Mickey Farmer Case"
Last episode: "The Mouse"
Gimmick/Hook (if any):
Spin-offs (if any):

Another starting life as a radio show, this is, I think, the first in which the main character is clearly portrayed as having been an ex-cop but now working as a PI. It also featured Barbara Bain, who would be known for her roles in Mission: Impossible and previously-mentioned Space: 1999, in both of which she starred alongside her future husband, Martin Landau. David Janssen, who played the lead role, would go on to worldwide fame as Dr. Richard Kimble, as the eponymous The Fugitive. This is the first cop show I've come across yet where the producers consciously "moderned-up" its approach, switching the location from season three onwards from dirty grimy New York City to the more affluent and sunny California, while also updating Diamond's image. In New York he had had a shabby, run-down office in the Marlowe tradition and been a hard-living, hard-bitten Private Eye. In perhaps a reflection of the more shall we say glamorous shows of the 1970s and on, his relocation to LA saw him live on and operate out of a ranch house. In the fourth season, however, as ratings began to drop, Diamond lost the ranch house and was given another grotty office, though he remained in Los Angeles.

I don't know if this series was the first to involve so many women, nor do I know if it was a case of basic Hollywood male chauvinism, but there seem to have been a lot more female characters in this, even if they were just eye or arm candy, girlfriends or "broads" for Diamond to dally with. I suppose you could make some sort of a weak case for it having been the first cop show to introduce and use more female roles, though you'd probably get shouted down by people who would say it was nothing more than stereotyping and exploitation. I doubt I'd disagree. Let's see what it was like then, shall we? I must say, a lot of these TV themes sound similar, and most of them sound like The Prisoner. Oh look: another disabled client. This one is in a wheelchair. This is season four, so Diamond is in LA, but they've taken his cool ranch house away, and there's more a sort of film noir feel to it now. Money is running out. That problem with the humming is back, and almost as strongly as it was in the Charlie Chan show.

I notice when the bullets start flying, Diamond ducks, protecting his own ass and leaving his client exposed! How very gentlemanly of you, not to say brave! I would have expected at least that he would have thrown himself across her, to keep her safe, but no: crouching down behind the door of the car. A real modern innovation for the time is Diamond's carphone; I doubt anyone had one of those in the late 1950s, or if they did, you could probably count the number of people on your fingers. Very Charlie's Angels sexism in "Sam", the enigmatic, sexy receptionist Diamond employs, whose face is never seen but has a breathy, sexy voice. Hey, at least he doesn't call her "doll" or "baby" I guess. Oh dear. Once again the woman in need of protection, the frightened dame running scared, is the killer. How cliched.

[Trollheart]

Title: The Thin Man
Year(s): 1957 - 1959
Nationality: American
First:
Protagonist: Private detective
Main character(s): Nick and Nora Clark
Seasons*: 2
Episodes (total)*: 72
Sample episode chosen: None available
Category: Mystery
Style: Comedy drama
Format: Duo
Location(s): New York
Writer(s): Ben Starr
Starring: Peter Lawford, Phyllis Kirk
Future stars who had cameos or guest slots:
First episode: "The Dollar Doodle"
Last episode: "Paradise Discovered"
Gimmick/Hook (if any):
Spin-offs (if any):

You would imagine anything based on one of Dashiell Hammett's novels would be dark, gritty and realistic, but I see the word "comedy" used and there's reference to a terrier that thinks it's a bloodhound, so maybe not. The second, then, of the husband-and-wife team who just solve crimes in their spare time because, well, why not, this featured Nick Clark, a retired NYPD officer who has (anyone?) become a private detective and maintains his links to the force through his pal Lt. Harry Evans. Can't find out too much about it, other than that it featured occasionally an ex-con woman acquaintance of Nick's whose presence bugged his wife and led to potential for jealous scenes, and that, for some reason, Forbidden Planet's Robby the Robot was in one episode. Well the humour is in evidence right away when they walk in with their dog and the wife says "You have one exactly like him in the window." At least she doesn't ask how much it is.

Unfortunately, that's all she wrote, folks. Thought I had a full episode but when I looked again it was from another series, The THIRD Man, and while that may or may not feature later on, it's not the one I'm looking for. So all I can say is that in the brief, three-minute clip I was able to get, I could see the basic sort of acerbic humour they're talking about in the writeups, but how it fared as a detective show I can't say. Seemed to be some decent writing though.

[Trollheart]

Title: Man with a Camera
Year(s): 1958 - 1960
Nationality: American
First: and indeed only time Bronson took the lead in a television show
Protagonist: Cameraman/Private Eye
Main character(s): Mike Kovac
Seasons*: 2
Episodes (total)*: 29
Sample episode chosen:
Category: Crime
Style: Drama
Format: Solo
Location(s): Various
Writer(s): James Edmiston, Paul David, Wilton Schiller
Starring: Charles Bronson, James Flavin, Ludwig Stossel
Future stars who had cameos or guest slots: Angie Dickinson, Harry Dean Stanton
First episode: "Second Avenue Assassin"
Last episode: "Kangaroo Court"
Gimmick/Hook (if any): In addition to his big 50s camera, Kovac uses sort of spy gadgets, like a small camera in his tie and other hidden ones. He also, like Richard Diamond, has a phone in his car.
Spin-offs (if any):

To some extent, perhaps similar to that crime reporter guy, but this is a different premise. Mike Kovac doesn't work for any newspaper; he's a freelance photographer who used to be a soldier in WW II and now hires himself out to anyone who needs a photographic record of an event, from insurance companies to the police department. He also, you'll be unsurprised to hear, does some sleuthing on the side, so I don't know, possibly the first character who isn't quite a PI but sort of is, when he needs to be, almost a part-time PI? Also the only time cinema tough guy Charles Bronson took the lead in a TV series. Must be one of those shows aimed at the blind (!) as the title and star are shouted out by the announcer! Bronson also narrates the opening of the episode. Have to be my expected pedantic self here: Kovac says "I must need a new set of brains." People only have one brain. Unless you're Steve Martin in that movie. There's no such thing as a set of brains. Meh, not really what I'd call a private eye really.

[Trollheart]

Title: Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer
Year(s): 1958 - 1959
Nationality: American
First:
Protagonist: Private detective
Main character(s): Mike Hammer
Seasons*: 2
Episodes (total)*: 76
Sample episode chosen: Season 1, episode 7 "Letter Edged in Blackmail"
Category: Crime
Style: Drama
Format: Solo
Location(s): New York
Writer(s): Mickey Spillane
Starring: Darren McGavin, Bart Burns
Future stars who had cameos or guest slots:
First episode: "The High Cost of Dying"
Last episode: "M is for Mother"
Gimmick/Hook (if any):
Spin-offs (if any): 1984 series of the same name (reboot)

Said to have been the most violent show on TV at the time, super graphic for the 1950s, this was I think the first detective show in which the writer of the novels was involved, though according to our friends Marsh and Brooks, Spillane didn't care about it and "just took the money and went home". Attempting to remain true, apparently, to the novels, the show featured, in addition to mega-violence (for the time), much sex and suggestively-clothed women, and had a high sexist slant. Another show that uses the voiceover narration of the main character to tell the story. Meh, if you've read the books you know what to expect.

[Trollheart]

Title: Police Station
Year(s): 1959
Nationality: American
First: First cop show to be set in a police station, sort of an early forerunner of Hill Street Blues
Protagonist: Police officers
Main character(s): Sergeant White, Detective Abramson, Detective Mitchell, Detective Green
Seasons*: 1
Episodes (total)*: 39
Sample episode chosen: Episode 4, title unknown
Category: Crime
Style: Drama
Format: Ensemble
Location(s): A police station duh
Writer(s): Sandy Howard
Starring: Baynes Barron, Larry Kerr, Henry Beckman, Roy Wright, Edward Platt, Ron Masak, Michael Vandever, Jack Mann
Future stars who had cameos or guest slots:
First episode: ?
Last episode: ?
Gimmick/Hook (if any): I suppose no real action, the first kind of real police procedural, unless you count Dragnet or Highway Patrol. But this is more down-to-earth and ordinary, and takes place all in the one setting.
Spin-offs (if any):

The first time the action takes place in the precinct, as it were. All the stories revolved around the eponymous (but never specifically located) police station. A good idea, I think, certainly for its time, but why did people hate it so much? Let's see if we can track down an episode and make our own judgement. Ah, here's one. I see it's one of those where the sponsor would shove their message down your throat before you could continue to watch the programme. Bastards. On the face of it, looks like a good idea. Several criminals are brought, one at a time, to the desk sergeant and the crime each has been arrested for related to him as he books them in. This then, presumably, creates a number of plotlines for the episode, though whether they dovetail or not I don't know. I would say likely not. The writers certainly seem to like the word "fool" a lot: three separate people have used it now. I can't really see how it was so unsuccessful though, unless it was just that by now audiences wanted cops shooting and driving fast cars and getting involved with dubious women - no real action, so perhaps too slow for your average viewer at the time. Kind of ahead of its time in my opinion. All the cases were, apparently, real, and the results are read out at the end. I love the way the court is "lenient" on the woman accused - and found guilty of - facilitating robberies: even though she turns state's evidence she still gets three to ten years!