# Who's the Coolest TV Detective or Cop? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 14, 2010, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-coolest-tv-detective-or-cop/524867 "2010-01-14T01:38:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2010, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-coolest-tv-detective-or-cop/524867/81 "2010-01-14T22:00:24Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > As I discovered in [this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=547700), they’re remaking the series. [Previous thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=532330). ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2010, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-coolest-tv-detective-or-cop/524867/82 "2010-01-14T22:01:20Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > David Boreanez, obviously. What an incredibly silly question. Nah, he doesn’t look wimpy enough. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2010, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-coolest-tv-detective-or-cop/524867/83 "2010-01-14T22:08:43Z")
> [@Lute Skywatcher](#): > > [Previous thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=532330). Now I’m embarrassed. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![ShadowFacts](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shadowfacts/32/2934_2.png) [@ShadowFacts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShadowFacts)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2010, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-coolest-tv-detective-or-cop/524867/84 "2010-01-14T22:13:06Z")
No love for Michael Weston of Burn Notice? He’s the coolest of the current crop for sure! ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2010, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-coolest-tv-detective-or-cop/524867/85 "2010-01-14T22:21:15Z")
> [@Lute Skywatcher](#): > > [Previous thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=532330). That was discussing the possibility of a movie, but it’s actually being redone as a [new series](http://www.hitfix.com/articles/2010-1-10-nbc-touts-development-slate-beyond-rockford-files-prime-suspect-remakes) for NBC. David Shore (_House_) is executive producer, and it seems like he might know what he’s doing. ---
**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:** [January 14, 2010, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-coolest-tv-detective-or-cop/524867/86 "2010-01-14T22:24:03Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > Nah, he doesn’t look wimpy enough. Jessica Alba, then. I can even arrange for her to do the role in a bikini, though frankly I don’t see the point. ---
**Author:** ![Peanut\_Gallery](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/838e76/32.png) [@Peanut\_Gallery](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peanut_Gallery)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2010, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-coolest-tv-detective-or-cop/524867/87 "2010-01-15T00:48:32Z")
Batman, duh. Who was cooler than Adam West in tights? I like Archie from Nero Wolfe, Agent Cooper from Twin Peaks, and Charlie Crews from Life, who I thought was very reminiscent of Cooper. I’ve been watching The Shield for the first time lately, and by Season 3, Dutch Wagenbach is growing on me, but it’s hard to call him “cool”. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2010, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-coolest-tv-detective-or-cop/524867/88 "2010-01-15T00:51:01Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > Jessica Alba, then. I can even arrange for her to do the role in a bikini, though frankly I don’t see the point. Perhaps you don’t have a grasp of the character. Angel is a cretinous, greasy, sociopathic grubby little back stabbing swine, a fellow Rockford met in prison. Quite talented in helping Rockford in running the counter scam to trick the bad guys, thus often necessary to have around. ---
**Author:** ![Starving\_Artist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Starving\_Artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starving_Artist)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2010, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-coolest-tv-detective-or-cop/524867/89 "2010-01-15T01:05:06Z")
[Angel](http://www.filmdope.com/Gallery/ActorsM/tve11080-19740327-296.jpg) from _The Rockford Files_. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2010, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-coolest-tv-detective-or-cop/524867/90 "2010-01-15T01:05:43Z")
Jim Rockford would be my first choice even if Paul Drake were eligible for this thread. Anyone who says different doesn’t understand what _cool_ is. > [@carnivorousplant](#): > > Nah, he doesn’t look wimpy enough. > [@carnivorousplant](#): > > Perhaps you don’t have a grasp of the character. Angel is a cretinous, greasy, sociopathic grubby little back stabbing swine, a fellow Rockford met in prison. Quite talented in helping Rockford in running the counter scam to trick the bad guys, thus often necessary to have around. I think you may be missing [the](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0162065/) [whooshes](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0204993/). ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2010, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-coolest-tv-detective-or-cop/524867/91 "2010-01-15T01:16:58Z")
> [@KneadToKnow](#): > > I think you may be missing [the](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0162065/) [whooshes](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0204993/). Ah. Thanks. Skald is going on my list. You and Artist are coming off ---
**Author:** ![AtomicDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ac91a4/32.png) [@AtomicDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AtomicDog)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2010, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-coolest-tv-detective-or-cop/524867/92 "2010-01-19T14:28:47Z")
You always knew when trouble was about to hit Rockford. He would look around, and Angel would be gone. ---
**Author:** ![In\_Winnipeg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/a8b319/32.png) [@In\_Winnipeg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/In_Winnipeg)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2010, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-coolest-tv-detective-or-cop/524867/93 "2010-01-19T16:49:48Z")
Yep, Rockford for sure. Mind you, Mike Hammer would have taken it, had he not have been played by Stacy Keach. ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2010, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-coolest-tv-detective-or-cop/524867/94 "2010-01-19T17:24:06Z")
I was a big fan of _Spenser for Hire_, both Spenser and Hawk, who was always ice-cool in his ex-hitman gig (this was before he [inherited a space station](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benjamin_Sisko)). The actor who played the super-cool Hawk had a mannerism when presented with some especially unpalatable situation – he’d just curl his lip a little and make a sort of indeterminate animalistic vowel sound that communicated both world-weary disgust and a savage dismissal of danger. But I think overall I have to go with Jim Rockford. Example: Rockford is in a cab being chased by a carload of armed mobsters. He has the cab driver pull over at the edge of a city park and tells him to “drive around.” Then he runs in his “I don’t really like running” way across the park. The mobsters leap out of their car and pursue on foot. At the other side of the park, the cab drives up and Rockford, now winded, casually gets into it, and waves to the exhausted mobsters, whose own car is now hundreds of yards behind them. No shooting, no fighting, as little exercise as he can get away with, and yet he completely fooled them cold. And he didn’t neglect the pleasantries, either. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Danika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/dfb087/32.png) [@Danika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Danika)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2010, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-coolest-tv-detective-or-cop/524867/95 "2010-01-19T18:02:35Z")
Tom Barnaby in Midsomer Murders. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2010, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-coolest-tv-detective-or-cop/524867/96 "2010-01-19T18:11:17Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > Then he runs in his “I don’t really like running” way across the park. Nitpick: More his “Mickey Mantle has better knees than I do” way. ---
**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:** [January 19, 2010, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-coolest-tv-detective-or-cop/524867/97 "2010-01-19T19:35:44Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > Ah. > Thanks. > > Skald is going on my list. You and Artist are coming off CP, I have told you before: you tell people they are going on your list AFTER your minions have captured them and placed them in the pit of jackals. Otherwise you’re just giving them time to gear up. ---
**Author:** ![akira5822](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/53a042/32.png) [@akira5822](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/akira5822)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2010, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-coolest-tv-detective-or-cop/524867/98 "2010-01-19T20:12:59Z")
Charlie Crews [http://www.imdb.com/character/ch0028830/](http://www.imdb.com/character/ch0028830/) ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2010, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-coolest-tv-detective-or-cop/524867/99 "2010-01-20T04:13:31Z")
> [@Super\_Kapowzler](#): > > Thomas Magnum, Private Investigator, Heisman winner from USNA, SEAL, MACSOG. 308 GT Ferarri, beaches, sun, chicks. Plus, shouldn’t he get bonus points for the in-spite-of-it stuff? I mean, sure, Banacek looked cool explaining how an impossible crime went down – but he was decked out in slacks and a turtleneck, fresh from getting the key info from Christine Belford. And even Jim Rockford could reliably work one heck of a sportscoat right after chatting up Gretchen Corbett. Magnum PI – who in between bickering with the paunchy little guy who runs his house would get the inside scoop from a dude named Orville – did it all in a floral-print shirt and shorty-shorts but _ **still** _ had women all over the country swooning for him. And that’s, like, _ **beyond** _ cool. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2010, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-coolest-tv-detective-or-cop/524867/100 "2010-01-20T04:20:39Z")
Brown sportcoats and a Firebird beats Hawaiian shirts and a Ferrari. Hell, Erin Gray found a Nehru jacket in Rockford’s closet and went out with him anyway. Top that, Magnum! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-coolest-tv-detective-or-cop/524867.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-coolest-tv-detective-or-cop/524867.md?page=6)