Anyone recall this 1950s/60s detective show set in New Orleans? I’ve just watched a few shows from the first season and it isn’t at all bad. It stars Richard Long and is much the same format as 77 Sunset Strip and Hawaiian Eye. Which is unsurprising because I found out that all these shows and Surfside Six also were parts of the same ABC franchise. I thought the 50s was way too early for such things and that franchises like Dick Wolf’s Law & Order spinoffs and his Chicago shows were a modern phenomenon. Seems there’s nothing new in TV!
I’ve seen years ago the 77 Sunset Strip shows and Hawaiian Eye but up till now I’d never heard of the other two. Now I’ll have to try and dig up Surfside Six!
I was aware of all but * Bourbon Street* when they ran, and discovered it a couple of years later. They were an important milestone in TV, the first time a movie studio produced original content for TV (they saw it as a competitor). Disney had already worked with ABC in exchange for an investment in Disneyland.
ABC was by far the weakest network back then, so it was not surprising they made a deal with Warner Bros for content. They also ran a bunch of westerns under the same type of deal: * Maverick, Cheyenne, Bronco,* and Sugarfoot.
There was a TV network about ten years ago called “Good Life,” which would later evolve into ‘YouToo.’ They dragged out a bunch of old shows from the 50s and 60s, including the WB formulaic PI series (77 Sunset Strip, Bourbon Street Beat, Hawaiian Eye, Surfside 6, Honey West, etc.) I saw the series for the first time then. I think it was probably my favorite of the lot, although the most short-lived, I think. And Richard Long was just too cool.
I was a huge fan of this quartet of Warner Bros shows in the 60s (never cared for Honey West). I wanted to BE Hawaiian Eye’s Cricket and drive her golf cart with the peppermint-striped canopy all over the island. However my One True Love was Efrem Zimbalist, Jr., Stuart Bailey of 77 Sunset Strip. I took one look at that actor when I was 11 and fell in love. Apparently Zimbalist was as classy, charming, and polished in real life as he was on TV. God rest his soul. (Heck are ANY of the leads of these shows still around?)
OOh! Honey West! Now *she *was a detective to look at!
Roger Smith from 77 Sunset Strip is still alive although he’s had Myasthenia gravis for years.
Robert Conrad from Hawaiian Eye is still alive.
Connie Stevens is still alive.