"Watching the detectives, 'Oh, he's so cute.'" Elvis Costello recorded that in 1977 but the song covered much of the appeal of television detectives to female viewers through the years. Whether it was Edd "Kookie" Byrnes from "77 Sunset Strip" in the 1950's or Chris Noth of "Law and Order" in the 1990's, the ladies loved these guys for their good looks and heroic deeds. Men liked these guys too for being so tough, cool, and usually winning the best looking babe on the show. These programs were exciting and easy to understand thus propelling them to high ratings.

In the early days of TV in the '50's, "Man Against Crime" was a popular show with P. I. Mike Barnett usually settling things with the bad guys via his fists. Also in that era were more cerebral detectives as in "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes" and "The Adventures of Ellery Queen." Those guys were more analytical and avoided the fisticuffs. They were more apt to challenge the viewer to put the pieces of a crime together and arrive at a solution. Then there were the serio- comic detective shows like "Boston Blackie" and "The Thin Man."

By the early 1960's, production values on these type shows improved and many were filmed in Hollywood. ABC had two popular entries in "77 Sunset Strip" and "Hawaiian Eye." Other notable 60's P. I.'s were "Mannix" with Mike Connors and "I Spy," which was a lighthearted entry that ran from 1966-1969 and is most notable for the success of Bill Cosby as the first Black performer to star in a TV dramatic series.

The 1970's and 80's brought yet another change in the presentation of detective stories. Now the story lines involved repeat characters from previous shows and seasons with the emphasis on people and situations. Good examples of this are "The Rockford Files" (1974-80). "Police Story" (1973-77) and "Hill Street Blues" (1981-87). "Columbo," "Magnum P. I.," and "Moonlighting" were also good as was "Murder, She Wrote."

My favorite? By far it is "The Rockford Files" with James Garner. Good stories and I love to watch those clunky 1970's cars taking turns on two wheels. The clothing styles of that time are funny too and it's nice to hear Rockford's phone ring in the introduction. It's a good old fashioned bell ring phone, a nice reminder of those times.