Richie Brockelman, Private Eye

Premise

The hour-long series focused on Richie Brockelman, a 22-year-old, college-educated private investigator with his own agency in Los Angeles, California. Dugan was actually thirty-one when cast in the role. Brockleman's main method in solving his cases was B.S., thinking he could talk his way in or out of any situation he was in. Usually there was a woman involved in the plot that was in some kind of distress, but in the end, he solves the case though he does not get the girl.

Initially filmed as a pilot for a TV series in 1976 entitled "Richie Brockelman: The Missing 24 Hours," it was not picked up by NBC. Stephen J. Cannell reworked the character into a two-hour episode of The Rockford Files entitled "The House On Willis Avenue" as the last new episode of the 1977-78 season. Rockford and Brockelman join forces to solve the murder of a veteran PI who taught both of them the ropes. It was followed by a limited run of Richie Brockelman, Private Eye. Brockelman later appeared in "Never Send a Boy King to Do a Man's Job", another two-part episode of The Rockford Files.

The theme song, "School's Out," was written by Mike Post, Pete Carpenter, Herb Pederson and Stephen Geyer. An extended version of the song from Mike Post's Television Theme Songs appeared on iTunes and amazon.com for download. The song's performers were credited as Stephen Geyer & Herb Peterson and Mike Post & Pete Carpenter.

Cast

Dennis Dugan as Richie Brockelman

Robert Hogan as Sgt. Ted Coopersmith

Barbara Bosson as Sharon Deterson

Norman Fell as Mr. Brockelman (Pilot)

John Randolph as Mr. Brockelman (Series)

Demise

After its launch from The Rockford Files, Richie Brockelman, Private Eye performed well for NBC. However, in the end, the ratings were not strong enough for NBC to order a full season of new episodes for the 1978-79 season. NBC was looking for hit shows at the time and Richie Brockelman needed to be scheduled as a follow-up after a strong lead-in, which the network did not have at the time.

The series was broadcast in England on ITV Anglia television during the summer of 1978. A second two-hour The Rockford Files episode was produced that aired in the spring of 1979 which ended the show.

When The Rockford Files went into syndication in the 1980s, the five episodes of “Richie Brockelman” were included as part of the package. Two of the episodes were later re-edited for syndication as a 90-minute Universal TV movie in the 1980s called The Diary of Richie Brockelman.

Episodes

*** Later re-edited into a single 90-minute TV-movie.

Appearances on The Rockford Files

"The House on Willis Avenue" (2-hour episode; February 24, 1978)

When a fellow P.I. is killed on the Ventura freeway, Jim Rockford and Richie Brockelman team up to find out if it really was an accident. Show introduced the Richie Brockelman character and used as the spin-off episode for the series. In this episode it is established that Richie Brockleman is 22 years old.

"Never Send a Boy King to Do a Man's Job" (2-hour episode; March 3, 1979)

Harold Gould plays the part of Mr. Brockelman. The elder Brockelman gets cheated out of his business and his son Richie goes to Rockford to help him run a con (a "sting") on the men who cheated his father.

Home video

Neither the original made-for-TV movie nor the limited series are available on DVD. Brockelman's appearances on The Rockford Files can be found on the Season Four and Season Five sets, respectively.