The Detectives (1959 TV series)

The Detectives

Robert Taylor as Capt.Matt Holbrook and wife Ursula Thiess as Lisa Bonay in The Detectives
Also known as ''Robert Taylor's Detectives''
Genre Crime drama
Written by Lee Berg
Borden Chase
Patricia Chase
Calvin Clements Sr.
Norman T. Herman
Michael Morris
Louis Pelletier
Gene Roddenberry
Alvin Sapinsley
Palmer Thompson
Directed by Lewis Allen
Richard Carlson
Thomas Carr
Alvin Ganzer
Murray Golden
Arthur Hiller
Arnold Laven
Don McDougall
Don Medford
Ted Post
Paul Wendkos
Starring Robert Taylor
Tige Andrews
Russell Thorson
Mark Goddard
Composer(s) Herschel Burke Gilbert
Country of origin United States
Original language(s) English
No. of seasons 3
No. of episodes 97
Production
Producer(s) Levy-Gardner-Laven
Arthur H. Nadel
Cinematography Joseph F. Biroc
Wilfred M. Cline
Editor(s) Lyle Boyer
Marsh Hendry
Running time 25 minutes
(19591961)
50 minutes
(19611962)
Release
Original network ABC (19591961)
NBC (19611962)
Picture format Black-and-white
Audio format Monaural
Original release October 16, 1959 (1959-10-16) – May 18, 1962 (1962-05-18)

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.[1]

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.[2] 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 .[3][4][5]

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:

Cast

Guest stars

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"

References

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