# TV Shows with Private Investigators **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 6, 2009, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-with-private-investigators/484707 "2009-02-06T15:27:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Don\_Draper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Don\_Draper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_Draper)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2009, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-with-private-investigators/484707/21 "2009-02-06T18:59:14Z")
Angel Harry-O (mid-70s ‘Rockford Files’ type show.) Charlie’s Angels the Bloodhound Gang (a usual segment on “3-2-1 Contact”) Parters In Crime (I think that was the title - it was a short-lived late 80s detective series starring Lynda Carter & Loni Anderson - and I’m very ashamed of myself that I remember it.) Mike Hammer, PI ('nother mid-80s show, the star got busted with coke, leading to lots of entertainment news headlines like “Hammer Got Nailed” or “Hammer Hits the Slammer.”) The Masterpiece Theater / Mystery series features numerous private investigators, among them Agatha Christie’s Hercule Poirot (played terrifically by David Suchet.) ---
**Author:** ![h.sapiens](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e0b2c6/32.png) [@h.sapiens](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/h.sapiens)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2009, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-with-private-investigators/484707/22 "2009-02-06T18:59:36Z")
77 Sunset Strip may have been the first hour-long PI series. Longstreet was about a blind insurance investigator (not quite a PI, but kind of). There was a series in the 80’s about Mike Hammer. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2009, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-with-private-investigators/484707/23 "2009-02-06T19:03:26Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > Heck, Jessica Fletcher doesn’t go _looking_ for murders to solve, they just happen all around her. No, in actuality, she’s a serial killer that is very very good at framing others.:p:D ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2009, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-with-private-investigators/484707/24 "2009-02-06T19:05:19Z")
The **Jamie Brockelman** cite may seem obscure–okay, it is–but he’s the first TV detective to know that sleuthing is less dames-and-gats and more follow-the-money. ---
**Author:** ![Raguleader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/258eb7/32.png) [@Raguleader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raguleader)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2009, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-with-private-investigators/484707/25 "2009-02-06T19:07:59Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > Heck, Jessica Fletcher doesn’t go _looking_ for murders to solve, they just happen all around her. As my dad liked to say: “Nobody ever notices that this little old lady shows up in town, and someone dies, every time.” The various Scooby Doo shows all of course centered around a team of private investigators, albeit one that supposedly concentrated on paranormal stuff. Second or third season of Bones has Hodgins and Angela hiring a private investigator to track down Angela’s long-lost husband. As an added service free of charge, the investigator does her damndest to convince Angela to go back to her husband, and failing in that pursuit, informs Hodgins of Angela’s loyalty to him and complete disinterest in the other guy. Babylon 5 has Micheal Garibaldi becoming a private investigator in the fourth season, and even when he was still the chief of security, he would pick up off-the-clock mysteries to solve because he’s an adventurous OCD kind of guy. A previous poster mentioned Veronica Mars. This show in fact had _three_ private investigators: Keith Mars, his daughter Veronica, and a sleazy guy across town who charged less than Keith did. The Animatrix short “Detective Story” had a private eye hired to track down Trinity. That one was totally sweet. Firefly arguably featured various folks you could call PIs, but they were usually billed as mercenaries or bounty hunters (if they were called anything that nice), And of course, Cowboy Bebop had the Cowboys, otherwise known as your friendly neighborhood bounty hunters. On that show, they often did detectivey things in the persuit of their marks. From what I’ve read, one of the bigger private eye firms, the Pinkerton Detective Agency, nowadays does things like hiring out security guards for business places or college campuses (the school I went to before I enlisted had guards employed by a firm that was owned by the same people who own the Pinkerton agency nowadays). Granted, they may only investigate unlocked office doors and lights on after business hours and that sort of thing. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Controvert](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dec6dc/32.png) [@The\_Controvert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Controvert)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2009, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-with-private-investigators/484707/26 "2009-02-06T20:41:53Z")
> [@Krokodil](#): > > You mean _Andy Barker, PI_? I forget what he did in _Controls the Universe_, but I don’t think he solved any mysteries. Gah, I think you’re right. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2009, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-with-private-investigators/484707/27 "2009-02-06T21:09:20Z")
> [@The New and Improved Superman](#): > > Charlie’s Angels Were they really private investigators? I always thought they were corporate spies. I may have been distracted by something, though. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2009, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-with-private-investigators/484707/28 "2009-02-06T21:21:07Z")
> [@Raguleader](#): > > From what I’ve read, one of the bigger private eye firms, the Pinkerton Detective Agency, nowadays does things like hiring out security guards for business places or college campuses (the school I went to before I enlisted had guards employed by a firm that was owned by the same people who own the Pinkerton agency nowadays). Granted, they may only investigate unlocked office doors and lights on after business hours and that sort of thing. This is true. I worked for Pinkerton for a very brief period. ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2009, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-with-private-investigators/484707/29 "2009-02-06T21:55:19Z")
There was the short-lived post-Seinfeld [The Michael Richards Show](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0247113/), which was basically Cosmo Kramer, PI. ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2009, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-with-private-investigators/484707/30 "2009-02-07T01:49:48Z")
In the movie I think Charlie’s Angels work for Townsend Investigations so that seems to make them PIs. ---
**Author:** ![WormTheRed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/bbe5ce/32.png) [@WormTheRed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WormTheRed)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2009, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-with-private-investigators/484707/31 "2009-02-07T02:01:33Z")
You can’t have a thread like this without mentioning “Jake and the Fatman”. With Jake just being a PI for the local DI. (or was he acutally hired as something else?) ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2009, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-with-private-investigators/484707/32 "2009-02-07T02:17:23Z")
> [@h.sapiens](#): > > 77 Sunset Strip may have been the first hour-long PI series. It was one of several Warner Brothers TV series featuring private eyes they had on in the late 50s-early 60s. Others included **Surfside Six** , **Hawaiian Eye** , and **Bourbon Street Beat**. Not an hour, but there was a Mike Hammer TV series in 1956. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2009, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-with-private-investigators/484707/33 "2009-02-07T02:26:37Z")
I’ve seen Rockford and Magnum listed, but no mention that Tom Selleck played the proto-Magnum (Lance White) in a couple of Rockford episodes. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2009, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-with-private-investigators/484707/34 "2009-02-07T02:59:45Z")
What about [Lucas Douglas,](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucas_Douglas#Lucas_Douglas) Greg House’s P.I. buddy, who has been getting dirt on various people for House? I know a lot of the female posters in the episode threads have a Jones for him. He’s rumored to be getting his own spinoff series. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2009, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-with-private-investigators/484707/35 "2009-02-07T04:21:30Z")
The first private eye show on television was called, wait for it, _Private Eye_. It debuted on September 1, 1949 with William Gargan as Martin Kaye. The title was changed to _Martin Kaye, Private Eye_. Lloyd Nolan took over the role in 1951. Lee Tracy replaced him in 1952. Mark Stevens replaced him in 1953 and the title was changed to _Martin Kaye, Detective_. It died in 1954 but came back as _The New Adventures of Martin Kaye_ in 1957. Who starred in it? Give yourself a kewpie doll if you said William Gargan. I got all this from _Murder in the Air: Television’s Great Mystery Series_ by Ric Meyers. IMDb says the title became _Martin Kaye_ for a while in 1953, presumably when Stevens took over, but I can’t confirm that. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-with-private-investigators/484707.md?page=1)