look like interesting story leads. One such instance involves the in-progress online survey hosted by cable-TV’s Sleuth Channel. Ostensibly, the goal here is to accumulate public input as to which film and TV detectives have been most memorable. But, of course, this is hardly a new idea (in fact, TV Guide produced its own such list only a few months ago.) And Sleuth execs can’t honestly expect to get an accurate representation of public opinion via a Web-based survey. No, the real reason Sleuth has mounted this poll is merely to generate early buzz about its “first original production,” a 90-minute show called America’s Top Sleuths, which is slated to debut in the fall.All that said, however, the Sleuth crew has put together a generally decent list of nominees:
• Detective Sergeant Joe Friday from Dragnet
• Lieutenant Columbo from Columbo
• Lieutenant Theo Kojak from Kojak
• Jim Rockford from The Rockford Files
• Lieutenant Tony Baretta from Baretta
• Dr. R. Quincy from Quincy, M.E.
• Thomas Magnum from Magnum P.I.
• Jessica Fletcher from Murder, She Wrote
• James “Sonny” Crockett & Ricardo “Rico” Tubbs from Miami Vice
• Irwin M. “Fletch” Fletcher from the Fletch movies
• Detective Lenny Brisco from Law & Order
• Sam Spade from The Maltese Falcon
• Harry Callahan from the Dirty Harry movies
• Martin Riggs & Roger Murtaugh from the Lethal Weapon films
• Sherlock Holmes from various movies and TV series
• Remington Steele from Remington Steele
• Detective Andy Sipowicz from NYPD Blue
• Fox Mulder & Dana Scully from The X-Files
• Clarice Starling from The Silence of the Lambs
• Marge Gunderson from Fargo
• Maddie Hayes & David Addison from Moonlighting
• Lieutenant Frank Drebin from Police Squad
• Gil Grissom from C.S.I.
• John Shaft from the Shaft movies and TV series
• Sabrina Duncan, Jill Munroe, & Kelly Garrett from Charlie’s Angels
Had I been consulted, I would undoubtedly have added some names to this rundown, not the least among them being Harry Orwell from Harry O, Nero Wolfe and Archie Goodwin from films and television, Mike Hammer from Mickey Spillane’s Mike Hammer, Detective Chief Inspector Endeavour Morse from Inspector Morse, J.J. “Jake” Gittes from Chinatown, and Nick and Nora Charles from both films and television. I might even have salted the mix with Pete Ryan and Frank McBride from Switch, Moses Wine from The Big Fix, Paladin from Have Gun, Will Travel, Spenser from Spenser: For Hire, Thomas Banacek from Banacek, Mike Longstreet from Longstreet, and, because I think this tally needs a bit more female representation, Claire McCarron from the underappreciated Leg Work and Honey West from--you guessed it--Honey West. Oh, and what about Philip Marlowe, who’s appeared in both TV series and films? How in the hell could Sleuth have put together this poll without including Raymond Chandler’s flawed knight errant? The only reason I’m not suggesting Travis McGee here as well, is that the character hasn’t been represented on screen either often enough or well enough (although I did have high--and ultimately dashed--hopes for a 1983 teleflick of The Empty Copper Sea, starring Sam Elliott). Same goes for Lew Archer, who was denied his own surname in Paul Newman’s Harper (1966), the best-yet
interpretation of one of Ross Macdonald’s private detective yarns, and wasn’t done justice either by Peter Graves (in the 1974 TV movie The Underground Man) or Brian Keith (who starred in the short-lived 1975 series Archer).Of course, installing any of these characters on Sleuth’s ballot would require booting off one or more existing nominees, if the total number is to remain at 25. OK, fine. Start by getting rid of Baretta (who didn’t wear well with me, week to week, although I liked Baretta’s theme song, by Dave Grusin). Then pitch Police Squad’s buffoonish Drebin from the bus, and, right behind him, Fletch (who was much better in Gregory Mcdonald’s series of novels than he ever was in the two Chevy Chase films). Joe Friday always came off as too damn wooden (heck, the guy didn’t even know how to run without looking like he had a stick up his butt!), so out he goes, too. And don’t get me started on Jessica Fletcher, who never measured up to another, more eccentric (but considerably less heralded) pair of TV novelist-detectives, the irrepressible Ernesta and Gwendolyn Snoop from The Snoop Sisters.
Even making all of my changes, however, doesn’t alter the fact of who deserves to win Sleuth’s survey: Los Angeles private investigator Jim Rockford, created by Roy Huggins and played by one of the smoothest-appearing actors in the biz, James Garner. With the exception of Sherlock Holmes, who was so ably portrayed by British actor Jeremy Brett in a decade-long (1984-1994) series of telefilms from Granada Television, and Spade, who has since become synonymous with Humphrey Bogart’s performance in The Maltese Falcon (1941), the nominees who were born in books haven’t fared as well on television or in films as those whose careers began on the screen. And Rockford is by the far the best of that latter bunch. He was resourceful when necessary, understandably self-protective (no rash heroics for Jimbo), and while he fit the profile of American P.I.s being successful with the opposite sex, Rockford never disrespected or took for granted the women with whom he kept company. In a medium that has sprouted copycat gumshoes by the closetful, Rockford was, and remains, an original.
After Rockford, my four other nominees from Sleuth’s line-up would have to be Columbo, Spade, Holmes, and Crockett and Tubbs--in that order. If I had a sixth choice, it would probably be Sipowitz (played by Dennis Franz), who grew from being a co-star on NYPD Blue to being the rock on which the whole show found its balance.
To vote in Sleuth’s poll, simply click here. This may be an example of a TV promotion masquerading as “news,” but that doesn’t mean there isn’t an element of fun involved.
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