Television has come up with some pretty shrewd detectives, people with the ability to solve the most complicated mysteries with the simplest clues.
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Here are just a few of TV’s brightest sleuths:
Perry Mason (Raymond Burr), “Perry Mason,” 1957-’74, CBS: A crusading lawyer who managed to get his clients off by solving the crime while exposing the true criminal on the witness stand.
Remington Steele (Pierce Brosnan), “Remington Steele,” 1982-’87, NBC: A mysterious character who was used by private eye Laura Holt (Stephanie Zimbalist) to give a male name to her agency, he nonetheless bumbled into solving the cases.
Peter Gunn (Craig Stevens), “Peter Gunn,” 1958-’61, NBC, ABC: A suave private eye who was one of the first ladies’ man-PIs on television. Usually couldn’t solve a crime without getting into a fistfight.
Dr. Quincy (Jack Klugman), “Quincy, M.E.,” 1976-’83, NBC: A Los Angeles medical examiner who wasn’t content with his job in the morgue – he wanted to find out what landed the bodies there in the first place.
David Addison and Maddie Hayes (Bruce Willis and Cybill Shepherd), “Moonlighting,” 1985-’89, ABC: Hayes was a former model who owned a struggling investigation agency operated by a wisecracking PI. The two became a team and solved cases through no fault of their own.
Jessica Fletcher (Angela Lansbury), “Murder, She Wrote,” 1984-’96, CBS: A mystery writer living in Cabot Cove, Maine, who became involved in real-life murder mysteries worldwide, even though she had no formal training as a detective. (The same premise can also be applied to Ben Matlock (Andy Griffith) in “Matlock,” and Dr. Mark Sloan (Dick Van Dyke) in “Diagnosis Murder.”)
Thomas Sullivan Magnum (Tom Selleck), “Magnum, P.I.,” 1980-’88, CBS: A hunky private detective who was the permanent houseguest at the Hawaiian estate of a famous writer while conducting business.
Honey West (Anne Francis), “Honey West,” 1965-’66, ABC: A sexy private eye who inherited the business from her father. She was skilled in judo and karate, and used James Bond-like gadgets such as a lipstick that contained a radio.
Scooby-Doo, 1969-’86, “Scooby-Doo, Where are You?” CBS, ABC: An animated, talking dog who was scared of his own shadow but usually aided his friends in solving mysteries after gaining some backbone from eating a “Scooby-Snack.”
Jim Rockford (James Garner), “The Rockford Files,” 1974-’80, NBC: An ex-convict turned private detective who ran his operations out of a house trailer in Malibu. He had an aversion to violence, but his wits and street-smarts usually saved him.
Lt. Columbo (Peter Falk), “Columbo,” 1971-’93, NBC, ABC: A rumpled police detective who disarmed suspects with his pesky manner (“Excuse me, just one more thing”) and wrinkled raincoat, both disguises for a crack investigator.