Man Against Crime, one of the first television programs about private eyes, ran on CBS, the DuMont Television Network and NBC from October 7, 1949 to August 26, 1956. The show was created by Lawrence Klee and Paul Alter and was broadcast live until 1952. It was also directed by Paul Alter. The series was one of the few television programs ever to have been simulcast on more than one network: the program aired on both NBC and DuMont during the 1953-1954 television season.
Meet McGraw is an American dramatic television series starring Frank Lovejoy in the role of the hard-hitting detective McGraw, a man specifically given no first name in the program. Forty-one half-hour episodes aired on NBC during the 1957-1958 season, sponsored by Procter & Gamble. The series was produced by the Desilu Studios, most of whose productions were broadcast by CBS. The theme song for the series is "One For My Baby" by Harold Arlen and Johnny Mercer.
Meet McGraw preceded The Bob Cummings Show on Tuesday evenings on NBC. It aired at 9:00pm ET/PT opposite John Lupton’s Western series, Broken Arrow on ABC and Bud Collyer's To Tell the Truth quiz show on CBS.
After its cancellation, Meet McGraw was repeated as The Adventures of McGraw on ABC in 1958-1959, but not in prime time. A number of episodes of the series, including "Mohave" and "Lady in Limbo," are available on DVD.
Richard Diamond, Private Detective is an American detective drama which aired on radio from 1949 to 1953, and on television from 1957 to 1960.
Nick Charles was a private detective who married the wealthy Nora and decided to settle down and leave the good life. Unfortunately for the couple, Nick's past frequently caught up with him and got the couple involved in mystery after mystery. The series was based on the popular MGM series of movies of the 1930's starring William Powell and Myrna Loy. Peter Lawford and Phyllis Kirk starred as the televison versions of Nick and Nora which ran on NBC for two seasons from 1957-59.
Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer is the title used for two syndicated television series that followed the adventures of fictional private detective Mike Hammer. The gritty, crime fighting detective—created by American crime author Mickey Spillane—has also inspired several feature films and made-for-TV movies.
Peter Gunn is an American private eye television series. 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.
Markham is a CBS drama television series starring Ray Milland, which aired during the 1958-1959 and 1959-1960 seasons following Gunsmoke on Saturday nights, under the sponsorship of the Joseph Schlitz Brewing Company.
Milland played private investigator and attorney Roy Markham. In that Markham had been a successful lawyer, he had the leisure to take detective cases based on his own interest. His fees could vary from the very considerable to his wealthier and corporate clients to nothing for those who desperately needed his services but had few financial means. Markham's cases could take him almost anywhere in the world, although he was based in New York City. In the early episodes of this program, Markham had an assistant, John Riggs, but the Riggs character was written out after only a few programs had aired, leaving Markham to solve crimes solo.
Dayton Lummis appeared as Howard Fulton in the 1959 episode entitled "The Father". Elen Willard made her acting debut as Deidre Waugh in the 1960 segment "The Bad Spell".
Prior to Markham, Milland played the lead role from 1953-1954 in a CBS sitcom, Meet Mr. McNutley, the story of a college professor at fictitious Lynnhaven College, an all-girls institution. For the second season, 1954–1955, the program was renamed The Ray Milland Show.
Johnny Staccato is an American private detective series which ran for 27 episodes on NBC from September 10, 1959 through March 24, 1960.
Checkmate is an American detective television series starring Anthony George, Sebastian Cabot, and Doug McClure. The show aired on CBS Television from 1960 to 1962 for a total of 70 episodes and was produced by Jack Benny's production company, "JaMco Productions" in co-operation with Revue Studios. Guest stars included Charles Laughton, Peter Lorre, and Lee Marvin, among many other commensurately prominent performers.
Mannix is an American television detective series that ran from 1967 through 1975 on CBS. Created by Richard Levinson and William Link and developed by executive producer Bruce Geller, the title character, Joe Mannix, is a private investigator. He is played by Mike Connors. Mannix was the last series produced by Desilu Productions.
The Outsider was the story of David Ross, a go-it-alone private investigator who's always where the action is. Darren McGavin played Ross, a man living in an off-beat, always-dangerous world. The series aired for one season on NBC and was a precursor of sorts to The Rockford Files in that it featured a loner private detective who had previously done time in prison for a crime he didn't commit and who never quite fit into a rapidly changing environment.
My Friend Tony is an American crime drama that aired on NBC in 1969. The pilot originally aired as "My Pal Tony" on The Danny Thomas Hour on March 4, 1968.
Cannon is a CBS detective television series produced by Quinn Martin which aired from March 26, 1971 to March 3, 1976. The primary protagonist is the title character, private detective Frank Cannon, played by William Conrad. He also appeared on two episodes of Barnaby Jones.
Cannon is the first Quinn Martin-produced series to be aired on a network other than ABC. A "revival" television film, The Return of Frank Cannon, was aired on November 1, 1980. In total, there were 124 episodes.
Search is an American science fiction series that aired on Wednesday nights on NBC at 10 pm ET, from September 1972 to August 1973. It ran for 23 episodes, not including the two-hour pilot film originally titled Probe. When picked up for series production, the title had to be changed because Probe was the name of an existing PBS series. In the UK the series aired on BBC 1 under the title Search Control.
The show was created by Leslie Stevens, and produced by Leslie Stevens, Robert Justman, John Strong and Tony Spinner. The high concept was described as "science fiction in today's world" and the episodes featured many high-tech elements which are considered common in current science fiction shows.
The adventures of 1930's Los Angeles private eye Miles Banyon.
Cool Million is an American crime drama series that aired on NBC as an element in its "wheel series" The NBC Wednesday Mystery Movie during its 1972-73 schedule.
Faraday & Company is an American crime drama series that aired in the 1973-1974 season. It starred Dan Dailey as Frank Faraday, a private investigator falsely accused of murdering his partner who returns to Los Angeles after 28 years of imprisonment, and James Naughton as Steve, his son who is also a private investigator.
Shaft is a series of TV movies that aired along with Hawkins during 1973-74 television season on The New CBS Tuesday Night Movies. The series was based on three films beginning with Shaft, and starring Richard Roundtree as private detective John Shaft.
Because it was aired on over-the-air television, CBS felt that the character needed to be toned down. Now instead of working against the police, he worked with them. The series rotated with Hawkins starring James Stewart as a country lawyer who investigates his cases, similarly to his earlier film Anatomy of a Murder. Contemporary analysts suggested that since the two shows appealed to vastly different audience bases, alternating them only served to confuse fans of both series, giving neither one the time to build up a large viewership.
Tenafly is a crime-drama series that was part of the NBC Mystery Movie wheel for the 1973-74 season. It was created by Richard Levinson and William Link, the creators of popular mystery television shows such as Columbo and Murder, She Wrote. It was the one of the first television series that season to star an African-American character as the main protagonist. Due to low ratings, Tenafly only lasted one season.
Cranky but likable L.A. PI Jim Rockford pulls no punches (but takes plenty of them). An ex-con sent to the slammer for a crime he didn't commit, Rockford takes on cases others don't want, aided by his tough old man, his lawyer girlfriend and some shady associates from his past.