Greatest 1970s TV Private Detective?

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In a decade that was chock full of TV detectives, which shamus kept you entertained week in and week out? Just for fun, let’s hear your memories of nights (or days) spent watching those plaid-jacketed knights of southern California (usually) solving murders, helping out an old flame or friend in trouble, or just taking a case for free! Favorite episodes? Let’s hear about 'em!

Now, I’m not going to include police officers in this thread or poll, so while I love Hawaii Five-O’s Steve McGarrett, Lt. Columbo, Starsky & Hutch, etc., they are not “Private” detectives, but rather police detectives. So please stick with P.I.s from the 1970s only…
 
Jim Rockford had a lot of things going for him. He was a regular guy without a sexy secretary or fancy office or any gimmicks. He was very close to his dad. He got beaten up frequently and wasn’t what you’d call brave. He kept his gun in his cookie jar and rarely used it. As often as not he didn’t get paid and was in serious debt. Some of his friends were real jerks, but he stayed loyal to them. He was clever and could think on his feet. And he seemed like a happy guy, capable of deriving joy from a day spent fishing or a good, cheap taco. and he could drive like nobody’s business.

My favorite show!
 
i was born in 1976, but have seen most of those shows in reruns and i have to say that i was addicted to “The Rockford Files” in college. of course, if we include all decades…magnum wins hands down. tom selleck is so cool. (i am heterosexual by the way…lol)
 
What would you classify Quincy (Jack Clugman) Even though he was a coroner, he did solve some crimes from the morgue.
 
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seeker63:
Jim Rockford had a lot of things going for him. He was a regular guy without a sexy secretary or fancy office or any gimmicks. He was very close to his dad. He got beaten up frequently and wasn’t what you’d call brave. He kept his gun in his cookie jar and rarely used it. As often as not he didn’t get paid and was in serious debt. Some of his friends were real jerks, but he stayed loyal to them. He was clever and could think on his feet. And he seemed like a happy guy, capable of deriving joy from a day spent fishing or a good, cheap taco. and he could drive like nobody’s business.

My favorite show!
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Great post!
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Edwin1961:
What would you classify Quincy (Jack Klugman) Even though he was a coroner, he did solve some crimes from the morgue.
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I love Quincy (just got the DVDs last month 👍 ) But I wanted to keep it as strictly private eyes. Believe me, I wanted to add those great seventies TV cops like Columbo and Kojak, but to me it’s apples and oranges.

I grew up in the 1980s and Magnum was my favorite show. Period. I could be counted on to be locked in every Thursday night at 8pm and at 9pm was Simon & Simon. Liked them, too. But IMO the private eye/cop genres really made a great comeback in the 1970s. There were so many to choose from. I wish that Mannix (Hey! He got 2 votes!) would find some syndication time, as I haven’t seen it in twenty years. He is kind of the unsung hero in terms of bringing back the P.I. genre, which kind of went belly up in the mid- to -late- 1960s. During that time, spies were all the rage and detectives were kind of played out.

I’d also be interested in hearing from the poster who voted Harry-O. That show started the same time as Rockford but never caught on, but man what a great show it was! Harry was very similar to Jim Rockford, maybe there just wasn’t enough room in primetime for two weary and rumpled P.I.s.
 
Maxwell Smart - “Get Smart”

Alternatively:

Scooby Doo and Shaggy - “Scooby Doo, Where Are You?”

Eamon
 
And I forgot to add all the great lines in “Rockford.” The show was also on the money in skewering Southern Californian trends of the 70s. There was an episode called “Quickie Nirvana” about a dippy chick who went from one spiritual discipline to another, fruitlessly searching for the answer.

In this episode she belonged to some meditation-type cult and was shocked when Jim exposed the cult guru as a crook, a charlatan, and a tomcat. when she confronter this guru, he slapped her. She turned, crestfallen, to Jim, who just shrugged and said, “THAT was the sound of one hand clapping”

I should add I also dug Mannix, Steve McGarrett, Columbo, and many others. and though he was an 80s shamus, I loved Magnum too. After all, he had Higgins! I miss those shows!
 
I really like Perot. I don’t know who played him. Does anybody know who played Perot? I hope my spelling is correct on the name.
 
On my way:
I really like Perot. I don’t know who played him. Does anybody know who played Perot? I hope my spelling is correct on the name.
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David Suchet played Hecule Poirot in the 1980s, I believe. Didn’t Peter Ustinov also portray him?
 
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Edwin1961:
What would you classify Quincy (Jack Clugman) Even though he was a coroner, he did solve some crimes from the morgue.
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You read my mind.
I loved Quincy!
 
Joe Friday on Dragnet, though it ran before and after the seventies.
His deadpan delivery and the bad acting always cracks me up.
I have a set of 10 videos with 2 episodes on each tape that I watch frequently for fun.
My favorites are the 1950’s episodes that include the commercials for Chesterfield cigarettes. “More doctors recommend Chesterfield than any other brand.”
I’m so serious!!
 
I watched most of those shows in the 70’s when I was a kid. When I’ve tried watching the reruns now, they seem so dated. The huge cars, the huge ties, the huge hair (oh, the hair :eek: ). Not to mention the butterfly collars, polyester leisure suits and bell bottoms. Ugh.

I can’t remember which show it was, but on one of the episodes one of the characters had a phone in his car. At the time, I thought that was sooooo cool. :cool:
 
My favorite was/is Peter Falk as “Columbo”, but since we have to stick with private investigators for this poll, I’ll vote for:

George Peppard as “Banacek”.

Suave, sophisticated, and Polish. Plus 10% of the dollar value of whatever he recovered!
 
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seeker63:
And I forgot to add all the great lines in “Rockford.” The show was also on the money in skewering Southern Californian trends of the 70s. There was an episode called “Quickie Nirvana” about a dippy chick who went from one spiritual discipline to another, fruitlessly searching for the answer.

In this episode she belonged to some meditation-type cult and was shocked when Jim exposed the cult guru as a crook, a charlatan, and a tomcat. when she confronter this guru, he slapped her. She turned, crestfallen, to Jim, who just shrugged and said, “THAT was the sound of one hand clapping”
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I remember her – Sky Aquarius – Rockford asked for her by that name at some cult or other, but they’d never heard of her. After describing her, they recognized her:

Communies: Oh, you mean “Gopi”!
Rockford: Gopi…!?
Communies: Yeah. She doesn’t live here any more. Things didn’t work out in spite of her beautiful name…

:rotfl:
tee
 
BTW, while I voted for Rockford, a close second has to be:

Carl Kolchak, The Night Stalker

tee
 
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