# TV mystery series starring a pair of detectives in which the genius detective is not the white male. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 19, 2014, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-mystery-series-starring-a-pair-of-detectives-in-which-the-genius-detective-is-not-the-white-male/684106 "2014-03-19T19:50:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2014, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-mystery-series-starring-a-pair-of-detectives-in-which-the-genius-detective-is-not-the-white-male/684106/41 "2014-03-20T17:44:51Z")
Velma was the smart one in _Scooby Doo_, although Fred wasn’t stupid. Kim Possible isn’t a detective, I guess. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2014, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-mystery-series-starring-a-pair-of-detectives-in-which-the-genius-detective-is-not-the-white-male/684106/42 "2014-03-20T19:42:37Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > I’m not looking simply for non-white genius detectives. I’m looking for pairs of detectives including a white male in which one is a genius, and that genius is not the white male. > > . Apparently my suggestions don’t count? ---
**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2014, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-mystery-series-starring-a-pair-of-detectives-in-which-the-genius-detective-is-not-the-white-male/684106/43 "2014-03-20T19:53:23Z")
How about _Alien Nation_? It’s been a while since I’ve seen it, but I seem to recall that George (the alien) was pretty smart, and the white male cop was more of an impulsive kind of guy (though he wasn’t stupid either). Does a white alien male with a spotted head count as “white”? ---
**Author:** ![Maastricht](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e57/32.png) [@Maastricht](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maastricht)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2014, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-mystery-series-starring-a-pair-of-detectives-in-which-the-genius-detective-is-not-the-white-male/684106/44 "2014-03-20T20:00:46Z")
The powerpuff girls. Their genius dad/maker is mostly outsmarted by either the three girls, or by the mayors secretary. ---
**Author:** ![crazyjoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f14d63/32.png) [@crazyjoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crazyjoe)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2014, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-mystery-series-starring-a-pair-of-detectives-in-which-the-genius-detective-is-not-the-white-male/684106/45 "2014-03-20T20:15:55Z")
> [@Simplicio](#): > > She “helped” her (white, male) father solve crimes, which usually involved her doing most of the solving. (her father wasn’t particularly incompetent, but Veronica was definitely the “genius” of the pair). Oh hell no. Her dad was fairly above “competent” and I always got the impression that any “aw-schucks” that he did was just to get people thinking he was able to be easily fooled. He was a skilled investigator and Veronica learned most of what she knew from him, and coupled it with technology and the younger perspective. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2014, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-mystery-series-starring-a-pair-of-detectives-in-which-the-genius-detective-is-not-the-white-male/684106/46 "2014-03-20T20:17:05Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > Apparently my suggestions don’t count? I didn’t have a problem with any of your suggestions, except that the Angie Dickinson character on Police Woman didn’t strike me as being a genius–she was simply the viewpoint character. Which isn’t to put her down. Lennie Briscoe and Spenser, just to name two, aren’t supposed to be geniuses either. > [@Maastricht](#): > > The powerpuff girls. Their genius dad/maker is mostly outsmarted by either the three girls, or by the mayors secretary. Not detectives. Not a pair. ---
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2014, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-mystery-series-starring-a-pair-of-detectives-in-which-the-genius-detective-is-not-the-white-male/684106/47 "2014-03-20T20:26:54Z")
> [@](#): > > TV!Tibbs is supposed to be a genius; he’s not exactly partners with TV!Gillespie What does the “TV!” mean here? ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2014, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-mystery-series-starring-a-pair-of-detectives-in-which-the-genius-detective-is-not-the-white-male/684106/48 "2014-03-20T20:36:28Z")
> [@Frylock](#): > > What does the “TV!” mean here? _In the Heat of the Night,_ a mediocre, dull, and toothless television series from the 1990s, was based on _In the Heat of the Night_, an outstanding, engrossing, and provocative movie of the 1960s. Movie!Tibbs is smart, angry, righteous, magnetic, and about fifteen other laudatory adjectives I don’t feel like typing right now, and was played by Sidney Poitier, whom everyone knows to be a demigod. TV!Tibbs was boring and feckless, had had his balls snipped off so Carol O’Connor’s character could get all the cool mystery solving mojo, and was played by some Etruscan whose name I am blocking out via hysterical amnesia. Oh, and I didn’t mean to write “TV!Tibbs is supposed to be a genius.” I meant “TV!Tibbs is **not** supposed to be a genius.” Fricking typo fairies. ETA: Although, looking at the OP, I see that the way you cut & pasted what I’d written changed the meaning. I don’t mean to accuse you of doing so deliberately, though; I’m sure it was an accident and that I’ve done worse. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2014, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-mystery-series-starring-a-pair-of-detectives-in-which-the-genius-detective-is-not-the-white-male/684106/49 "2014-03-20T20:46:34Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > I didn’t have a problem with any of your suggestions, except that the Angie Dickinson character on Police Woman didn’t strike me as being a genius–she was simply the viewpoint character. Which isn’t to put her down. Lennie Briscoe and Spenser, just to name two, aren’t supposed to be geniuses either. > . True, but \*I Spy! \*was groundbreaking. Not only did it have a Black man as a major character, he was definitely the smarter of the two. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2014, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-mystery-series-starring-a-pair-of-detectives-in-which-the-genius-detective-is-not-the-white-male/684106/50 "2014-03-20T20:49:06Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > True, but \*I Spy! \*was groundbreaking. Not only did it have a Black man as a major character, he was definitely the smarter of the two. 😕 I said I didn’t have a problem with it. ---
**Author:** ![j666](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de0a6/32.png) [@j666](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j666)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2014, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-mystery-series-starring-a-pair-of-detectives-in-which-the-genius-detective-is-not-the-white-male/684106/51 "2014-03-20T21:59:59Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > Movie!Tibbs is smart, angry, righteous, magnetic, and about fifteen other laudatory adjectives I don’t feel like typing right now, and was played by Sidney Poitier, whom everyone knows to be a demigod. Terse. “They call me Mr. Tibbs”. There are so many ways that line could have been lost or overplayed, but Poitier got it just right. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2014, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-mystery-series-starring-a-pair-of-detectives-in-which-the-genius-detective-is-not-the-white-male/684106/52 "2014-03-21T23:48:02Z")
**Blue’s Clues**? I mean, we _knew_ Steve wasn’t the brains in that outfit. (Neither was Joe) ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2014, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-mystery-series-starring-a-pair-of-detectives-in-which-the-genius-detective-is-not-the-white-male/684106/53 "2014-03-22T00:49:46Z")
Would [Moonlighting](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0088571/?ref_=nv_sr_3) count? Cybil Shepherd and Bruce Willis as a model and a private eye (respectively) who co-owned a detective agency. ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2014, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-mystery-series-starring-a-pair-of-detectives-in-which-the-genius-detective-is-not-the-white-male/684106/54 "2014-03-22T01:39:42Z")
> [@crazyjoe](#): > > Oh hell no. > > Her dad was fairly above “competent” and I always got the impression that any “aw-schucks” that he did was just to get people thinking he was able to be easily fooled. He was a skilled investigator and Veronica learned most of what she knew from him, and coupled it with technology and the younger perspective. The OP didn’t require that the other detective be incompetent, just that the non-white male one be the smarter of the two. And of the two, Veronica is definitely the “genius”, ( somewhat eye-rollingly so, in some cases). ---
**Author:** ![notfrommensa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f14d63/32.png) [@notfrommensa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/notfrommensa)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2014, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-mystery-series-starring-a-pair-of-detectives-in-which-the-genius-detective-is-not-the-white-male/684106/55 "2014-03-22T01:46:58Z")
Would the X-files count? I always considered Scully the more capable one. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-mystery-series-starring-a-pair-of-detectives-in-which-the-genius-detective-is-not-the-white-male/684106.md?page=2)