Tv Shows

Tony Baretta (Robert Blake) is a street-smart, maverick undercover cop with the N.Y.P.D., who won't hesitate for a second to toss the rule book out the window if it stands between him and taking some bad guy off the street. His unconventional methods often land him in hot water with his boss (Lieutenant Shiller (Dana Elcar), later Lieutenant Hal Brubaker (Edward Grover)), but as long as Baretta was getting the job done, there wasn't much they could do. Ex-cop Billy Truman (Tom Ewell) and Rooster (Michael D. Roberts) were Baretta's main men on the street, and Fred was his pet cockatoo.

The third television adaptation of the adventures of super sleuth Ellery Queen, this time set during the 1940s. Queen (Jim Hutton) was a mystery writer who assisted his father, Inspector Richard Queen (David Wayne), who was with the New York Police Department, in solving murders. Sergeant Thomas Velie (Tom Reese) was Inspector Queen's assistant and Simon Brimmer (John Hillerman), a rival detective. Queen's methods were arcane and intellectual rather than action oriented, and he always astounded his father by arriving at a correct solution by purely deductive reasoning. In this version, just before he revealed his solution to the crime, Queen always turned to the camera and asked the television audience if they had figured out the identity of the killer yet, they had all the clues, because he was about to reveal the correct killer as we met the entire slew of suspects in one room for the ending.

Cases, based on real FBI files, were handled by Inspector Lewis Erskine and several coworkers over the years. Erskine reported to Arthur Ward, assistant to the director of the FBI.

Former high school English teacher and famed mystery writer Jessica Fletcher (Dame Angela Lansbury) has a gift for solving mysteries. You see, it seems murder follows her around, whether it be to the houses of her seemingly endless number of friends, nieces, and nephews, or right in her hometown of Cabot Cove, Maine. Jessica is sometimes assisted by her friend Dr. Seth Hazlitt (William Windom) or the local Sheriff, Amos Tupper (Tom Bosley) and Tupper's successor, Mort Metzger (Ron Masak), a former New York City cop. Sometimes, later in the series, Jessica would only serve as narrator. In later seasons, Jessica moved to Manhattan to teach criminology at Manhattan University.

Ironside is confined to a wheel chair (an attempted assassination left him paralyzed). With his former assistants Brown and Whitfield (later Belding) and former delinquent (and later lawyer) Mark, he combats crime for the San Francisco police from his mobile office (a van) while leaving a pot of chili cooking back at headquarters.

Vinnie Terranova (Ken Wahl) does time in a New Jersey penitentiary to set up his undercover role as an Agent for the O.C.B. (Organized Crime Bureau) of the United States. His roots in a traditional Italian city neighborhood form the underlying dramatic base throughout the series, bringing him into conflict with his conservative mother Carlotta (Elsa Raven) and other family members while acting undercover as a syndicate enforcer. The segments, which ran several shows each, included in-depth and empathetic characterizations of the players on both sides of the law. Scenarios include the underbelly of the recording industry, protection rackets, international arms dealing, foiling white supremacist plotters, uncovering a government conspiracy to set up a compliant new head of state in a third-world country, and Vinnie's final reconciliation with his Italian mother and her new husband, the purely legendary Mafia figure Don Rudy Aiuppo (George Petrie).

Quincy and Sam are working as Coroners. Inspecting dead people they often see facts that don't match the theories of the police how or if really they were murdered.

A pair of plainclothes homicide detectives, Lieutenant Mike Stone and Inspector Steve Keller, cruise the streets of San Francisco, California solving a variety of crimes, usually involving murder. Stone is the street-smart twenty-year veteran cop, and Keller is the college-educated rookie. Much of the series' success was due to the friendly by-play and relationship between the two leads.

James Garner stars as the offbeat Jim Rockford, an ex-con-turned-private-investigator who would rather fish than fight but whose instinct on closed cases is more golden than his classic Pontiac Firebird. From his mobile home in Malibu, this wisecracking private eye takes you on the cases of the lost and the dispossessed, chasing down seemingly long-dead clues in the sun-baked streets and seamy alleys of Los Angeles.

When you first saw him, Lieutenant Columbo looked like a bum that just came off the street. He had a bumbling demeanor, was overly polite and seemed to chomp on the same short cigar on a daily basis. However, beneath all that comical exterior was probably the most dogged investigator in the Los Angeles Police Department. Columbo was often called on to investigate high profile murders that involved the rich and famous. The culprits were often amused by him, and just as they thought they were going to get away with murder, Columbo would find a way to trap them or find enough evidence to make them confess.

Deputy Police Chief Brenda Leigh Johnson, formerly Atlanta police officer and CIA-trained interrogator, is given the opportunity to run her own division of elite officers of the Los Angeles Police Department. Her unusual procedure for obtaining confessions, blatant disregard for politics, and southern accent make her a marked woman. However, with all the bluster and bravado, she still maintains her title, The Closer.

The weekly adventures of Frank Cannon, an overweight, balding ex-cop with a deep voice and expensive tastes in culinary pleasures, who becomes a high-priced private investigator. Since Cannon's girth didn't allow for many fist-fights and gun battles (although there were many), the series substituted car chases and high production values in their place.

Dr. Mark Sloan is a doctor at Community General Hospital, and he is a consultant for the police department. His son Steve Sloan is a detective for the department. He and his father, along with emergency room resident Dr. Jesse Travis and Dr. Amanda Bentley, who is the pathologist at the hospital help to solve some very strange murder cases in Diagnosis Murder.

Television police drama starring two female cops as partners. Their contrasting personalities (one is tough and the other sensitive) strengthen them as a team, allowing each a different perspective on both personal and professional situations.

Bill Gillespie is a police chief in a small town in the American South, and later becomes sheriff of the county. As Bill tries to solve crimes and catch criminals, aided by his capable investigator Virgil Tibbs and police lieutenant Bubba Skinner, he must navigate tricky small-town politics. Racial tensions often run high in the South and this theme is frequently explored. Bill's personal life is often portrayed in this TV drama, as well.

Filmed in a film noir atmosphere and featuring Henry Mancini music that could tell you the action with your eyes closed, Peter Gunn worked in style. Known as Pete to his friends and simply as Gunn to his enemies, he did his job in a calm cool way. He got his tips and cautions from Lieutenant Jacoby, a coffee drinking pal from the police. Also providing tips was "Mother" of her self-titled nightclub. Working at the nightclub as a singer was Edie Hart, his girlfriend.

"The story you are about to see is true", "Just the facts, ma'am", "We were working the day watch" - phrases which became so popular as to inspire much parody - set the realistic tone of this early police drama. The show emphasized careful police work and the interweaving of policemen's professional and personal lives.

Perry Mason is an attorney who specializes in defending seemingly indefensible cases. With the aid of his secretary Della Street and investigator Paul Drake, he often finds that by digging deeply into the facts, startling facts can be revealed. Often relying on his outstanding courtroom skills, he often tricks or traps people into unwittingly admitting their guilt.