# Spenser for hire-Tv show? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** tv-shows-scripted\ **Created:** [August 13, 2022, 11:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spenser-for-hire-tv-show/969600 "2022-08-13T11:00:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![stosh1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@stosh1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stosh1)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2022, 11:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spenser-for-hire-tv-show/969600/1 "2022-08-13T11:00:46Z")
Hi there, I’m reading the Spenser books by Robert B. Parker and really like them. I never watched the TV show and I wonder if anyone knows what channel I could catch it on. Is it any good? ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2022, 11:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spenser-for-hire-tv-show/969600/2 "2022-08-13T11:10:46Z")
It was on for 3 seasons. You can buy the full 3 season set of dvds on Ebay for $35. They are listed as new. Or stream on Amazon Prime. That’s much,much more expensive $25 a season. Or $2 a episode. I didn’t find any free streaming options. I watched it semi-regularly. I thought Robert Urich was miscast. Spenser is a big, burly guy that lifts weights. Otherwise the acting and stories were good. I remember enjoying the series. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2022, 12:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spenser-for-hire-tv-show/969600/3 "2022-08-13T12:29:33Z")
How far are you in the books? I gave a pretty good effort earlier this year. Read maybe 10 of them, but got tired of them at some point. At first, they are fun, quick period pieces. But somewhere around The Widening Gyre I tired of Spenser and Susan just sitting around commenting on how wonderful the 2 of them were, and Spenser describing all of his meals. The cumulative effect of his moralizing about gender roles, racial references, and such got a little much for me. Don’t mean to yuck your yum - just curious about how your experience compares to mine. I remember enjoying the show as a kid. Hawk was cool! But I was just a kid, so don’t remember much. ---
**Author:** ![Southern\_Yankee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/southern_yankee/32/2800_2.png) [@Southern\_Yankee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Southern_Yankee)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2022, 12:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spenser-for-hire-tv-show/969600/4 "2022-08-13T12:31:59Z")
I have read all the books (continuing to the present with the new authors.) The books were all over the place, quality-wise, but I enjoy the characters enough to keep reading. As for the TV show, I felt Bob Urich did a good job as Spenser, and Avery Brooks was very good as Hawk. That being said, I wouldn’t personally pay money to watch them now. It’s worth a view if you can find them for free somewhere, but YMMV. ---
**Author:** ![stosh1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@stosh1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stosh1)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2022, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spenser-for-hire-tv-show/969600/5 "2022-08-13T13:05:19Z")
I read all the Jessie Stone books and two of these so far. I like the way this guy writes. The books are always better, but I never watched the TV show. I just wonder how bad they screwed it up. ---
**Author:** ![stosh1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@stosh1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stosh1)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2022, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spenser-for-hire-tv-show/969600/6 "2022-08-13T13:07:14Z")
Yeah, that’s about what I thought. I like the way he writes, but we shall see. ---
**Author:** ![Bill\_Door](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@Bill\_Door](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bill_Door)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2022, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spenser-for-hire-tv-show/969600/7 "2022-08-13T20:24:30Z")
What I found disturbing was that Spenser carefully observes and and describes Susan’s descent into anorexia, but never seems to notice it. In the early ones Susan will actually eat a meal, but by the end of the series Susan is the kind of woman who will carefully quarter a snow pea and put three fourths of it away for later. She’s practically a textbook anorectic, and Spenser thinks this is a good thing, or at least describes it in complimentary terms without realizing what it means. Not a lot of deductive reasoning from a detective. ---
**Author:** ![stosh1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@stosh1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stosh1)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2022, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spenser-for-hire-tv-show/969600/8 "2022-08-13T20:38:53Z")
I didn’t get that far yet, but it does sound rather strange. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2022, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spenser-for-hire-tv-show/969600/9 "2022-08-13T21:14:03Z")
I liked the show, to a point. I preferred Susan to Rita Fiore, played by Carolyn McCormick (years before L&O’s Dr. Olivet), I loved Avery Brook’s Hawk (better than the different actors they got for the telefilms). (Bystander: “Watch out! He’s got a gun!” Hawk brandishing .44 revolver: “But mahn’s BIGGHAH!” as only Avery Brooks could do justice.) But the quality was varied. Like the thread about “was the second season the worse season” thread, season 2 switched to Rita Fiore, and the newer, fuglier Mustang. Fun fact, I learned upon rewatching: the very first production episode had a familiar ring: it was Bullitt, but told with a happy ending. ---
**Author:** ![stosh1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@stosh1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stosh1)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2022, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spenser-for-hire-tv-show/969600/10 "2022-08-13T22:33:45Z")
Yeah. I like the books, but I haven’t seen any of the TV shows yet. I’m not expecting much. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2022, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spenser-for-hire-tv-show/969600/11 "2022-08-13T22:39:03Z")
> [@stosh1](#): > > I’m not expecting much. I think it’s better than that! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![stosh1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@stosh1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stosh1)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2022, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spenser-for-hire-tv-show/969600/12 "2022-08-13T23:59:30Z")
I hope so ! ---
**Author:** ![John\_W.Kennedy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_w.kennedy/32/1031_2.png) [@John\_W.Kennedy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_W.Kennedy)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2022, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spenser-for-hire-tv-show/969600/13 "2022-08-14T02:34:32Z")
I remember Parker writing an article for _TV Guide_ in which he said it wasn’t exactly what he had written, but it was really pretty good. ---
**Author:** ![dorvann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/df705f/32.png) [@dorvann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dorvann)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2022, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spenser-for-hire-tv-show/969600/14 "2022-08-14T02:45:38Z")
Avery Brooks is great. It is a shame he was never nominated for an Emmy for his work on _Star Trek: Deep Space Nine_. But then Patrick Stewart was never nominated for an Emmy for his work on Star Trek either. If I remember correctly no one ever got nominated for acting award at the Emmys for Star Trek. ---
**Author:** ![mordecaiB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mordecaib/32/7725_2.png) [@mordecaiB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mordecaiB)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2022, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spenser-for-hire-tv-show/969600/15 "2022-08-14T16:03:34Z")
> [@Bill\_Door](#): > > What I found disturbing was that Spenser carefully observes and and describes Susan’s descent into anorexia, but never seems to notice it. Yeah, their whole relationship was a mess. No way should they have been a couple. I think Susan needed to see her therapist more often. Apparently Parker’s real life marriage was the basis for the Spenser/Susan relationship. IIRC, they had a weird thing where they lived in the same house but in different parts of it, with a shared central area. I also didn’t like that almost all of Spenser’s friends were murderers/criminals and it didn’t bother him at all. Hawk, the mafia guy, and the Hispanic/Chicano guy were all basically hitmen. As for the tv show, I would give it a pass. It’s basically a G-rated version of the books. And, let’s face it, Robert Urich was a less than stellar actor. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2022, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spenser-for-hire-tv-show/969600/16 "2022-08-14T17:31:55Z")
At any rate, I loved the theme music. And yeah, Hawk’s at least a leg-breaker. Wonder what he sees in SpenSAH. And whoi the hell cares if your name has an S like the poet? BFD. 🙂 I still like the show, it was the books that soured to me. Pretty much you couldn’t tell them apart. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2022, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spenser-for-hire-tv-show/969600/17 "2022-08-14T17:48:18Z")
I never read the books, but from what I understand it wasn’t Urich’s look that was right, but more of the attitude. And his chemistry with Avery Brooks as Hawk was fantastic. (not that Avery Brooks isn’t generally fantastic anyway.) The show’s very watchable- Urich and Brooks are a huge part of that. ---
**Author:** ![Morgyn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morgyn/32/3041_2.png) [@Morgyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgyn)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2022, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spenser-for-hire-tv-show/969600/18 "2022-08-14T19:08:26Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > Spenser is a big, burly guy that lifts weights. Urich was 6’2"! ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2022, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spenser-for-hire-tv-show/969600/19 "2022-08-14T19:50:17Z")
> [@Morgyn](#): > > Urich was 6’2"! And Avery brooks is listed at 6’1"! He appears to be about 6’7" _That’s_ acting! ---
**Author:** ![planetcory](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/planetcory/32/1032_2.png) [@planetcory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/planetcory)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2022, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spenser-for-hire-tv-show/969600/20 "2022-08-14T22:15:03Z")
No idea how faithful or enjoyable it is, but there was also [a Netflix movie](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8629748/) a couple of years ago. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spenser-for-hire-tv-show/969600.md?page=2)