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The Detectives (1959 TV series)

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6/10
TV

Composer(s)
  
Herschel Burke Gilbert

Final episode date
  
18 May 1962

Number of episodes
  
97

8/10
IMDb

Genre
  
Crime drama

First episode date
  
16 October 1959

Number of seasons
  
3

The Detectives (1959 TV series) httpsroberttayloractorfileswordpresscom2013

Also known as
  
''Robert Taylor's Detectives''

Written by
  
Lee BergBorden ChasePatricia ChaseCalvin Clements Sr.Norman T. HermanMichael MorrisLouis PelletierGene RoddenberryAlvin SapinsleyPalmer Thompson

Directed by
  
Lewis AllenRichard CarlsonThomas CarrAlvin GanzerMurray GoldenArthur HillerArnold LavenDon McDougallDon MedfordTed PostPaul Wendkos

Starring
  
Robert TaylorTige AndrewsRussell ThorsonMark Goddard

Network
  
American Broadcasting Company

Cast
  
Robert Taylor, Mark Goddard, Tige Andrews, Adam West, Ursula Thiess

Similar
  
The Law and Mr Jones, The Rifleman, Honey West, The Big Valley, The Mod Squad

The Detectives (also known as The Detectives Starring Robert Taylor and Robert Taylor's Detectives) is an American crime drama series which ran on ABC during its first two seasons (sponsored by Procter & Gamble), and on NBC during its third and final season. The series, starring motion picture star Robert Taylor, was produced by Four Star Television in association with Levy-Gardner-Laven Productions.

Contents

The detectives 1959 62 original first second season close


Synopsis

Taylor stars as Detective Captain Matt Holbrook, the tough, no-nonsense head of an elite police investigative unit in a major U.S. city. Ostensibly, each man in Holbrook's hand-picked squad of detectives came from a different division. Lt. Johnny Russo (Tige Andrews) was from burglary, Lt. Jim Conway (Lee Farr) came from Homicide and Lt. Otto Lindstrom (Russell Thorson) was from the Bunco Squad. In the series' second season, Farr left the series and was replaced by Mark Goddard as Detective Sgt. Chris Ballard. Future Batman star Adam West joined the cast during the third season as Sgt. Steve Nelson.

The series moved to NBC for its third season and was increased from thirty to sixty minutes. The series was also retitled to Robert Taylor's Detectives. A total of 97 episodes were produced before the series was canceled in 1962. The series was produced for Four Star by Levy-Gardner-Laven Productions, which produced other successful Four Star series, such as The Rifleman, and The Big Valley.

Interesting notes: A few years after The Detectives ended, Barbara Stanwyck, Robert Taylor's ex-wife, had her very own successful series also produced by Four Star/Levy-Gardner-Laven Productions, The Big Valley, which also aired on ABC.

Dell Comics issued a comic book rendition of Robert Taylor's "The Detectives" during the series run .

Future Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry was a contributing writer to the series .

Several cast members on The Detectives went on to major TV roles after the series ended:

  • Mark Goddard, who played Det.Chris Ballard, went on to star in the CBS sci-fi series Lost In Space.
  • Tige Andrews, who played Det.Johnny Russo, went on to play as Police Detective Captain Adam Greer in ABC's The Mod Squad. He also appeared in the original Star Trek as Klingon officer Kras in the episode "Friday's Child" .
  • Russell Thorson, who played Det.Otto Lindstrom, had a long list of film and T.V. credits before and after The Detectives, including the T.V. movie "Cocoon" - the original pilot episode of the CBS-TV series, Hawaii Five-O starring Jack Lord .
  • Adam West, who was added to the cast in The Detectives' final season as Det. Steve Nelson, went on to play the lead role in the ABC-TV series "Batman".
  • Robert Taylor, series star of The Detectives, who played Det.Capt.Matt Holbrook, went on to star in the successful syndicated TV series Death Valley Days, where he remained until his death in 1969. He had enjoyed a long and successful film career as a leading man in over 70 films- prior to starring on The Detectives.

    • Cast

  • Robert Taylor as Det. Capt. Matt Holbrook
  • Tige Andrews as Lt. John "Johnny" Russo
  • Russell Thorson as Lt. Otto Lindstrom (1959-1961)
  • Lee Farr as Lt. James "Jimmy" Conway (1959-1960)
  • Mark Goddard as Sgt. Chris Ballard (1960-1962)
  • Ursula Thiess as Lisa Bonay (1960-1961)
  • Adam West as Sgt. Steve Nelson (1961-1962)

    • Syndication & DVD release

    In syndication, the series was rebroadcast for a time under the name, Captain of Detectives. Rebroadcasts were shown in the early 2000s on cable's TV Land network. The Detectives, as of 2016, has yet to see a DVD release in the U.S., but has been released in Germany (in dubbed German language only) under the name "Kein Fall für FBI" [1]

    References

    The Detectives (1959 TV series) Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA