CITY OF ANGELS (1976) FORGOTTEN TELEVISION

CITY OF ANGELS (1976) – Wayne Rogers starred as 1930s private investigator Jake Axminster, a hardboiled detective plying his trade in corruption-filled Los Angeles, hence the ironic title. Sadly, this series was no more successful than the decade’s earlier attempts at launching a 1930s crime show – Banyon and Manhunter.

City of Angels lasted for just 13 1-hour episodes, with the first 3 installments being one long serialized epic. Elaine Joyce co-starred as Jake’s eccentric blonde secretary Marsha Finch, who also used his office to run an escort service by telephone.

Jake and Marsha shared all 13 episodes with crooked L.A. police detective Lt. Murray Quint (Clifton James), while Axminster’s lawyer, Michael Brimm (Philip Sterling) appeared in 10 episodes. Mystery novelist Max Allan Collins (The Road to Perdition) called City of Angels “the best private eye series ever.”

Stephen J. Cannell and Roy Huggins, of Rockford Files and Maverick fame, were the creative forces behind this example of forgotten television.   

THE EPISODES: 

THE NOVEMBER PLAN, PART ONE (Feb 3rd) – Private Detective Jake Axminster is hired by actress Mary Kingston (Meredith Baxter Birney), who has been framed for the murder of her lover George Donaldson (Rod McCary). The previous night at the mansion party of a tycoon named Delaney (Stephen Elliott) she and George witnessed the murder of reporter Alex Sebastian (Laurence Hugo).

        Delaney had his goons carry off the corpse and then eliminated George, framing his fellow witness Mary for the murder after she fled. While investigating, Jake learns that the high powered and big moneyed figures behind the slaying are involved in a massive conspiracy. Guest starring Laurence Luckinbill, Diane Ladd, G.D. Spradlin, Lloyd Nolan, Steve Kanaly and Martin Kove.   

THE NOVEMBER PLAN, PART TWO (Feb 10th) – Delaney uses his power to have corrupt police detective Murray Quint rough up Jake Axminster for daring to ask undiplomatic questions about the millionaire and for apparently representing Mary Kingston. It turns out the slain/ vanished reporter Alex Sebastian was on to a story involving Delaney with generals and big business figures in a November 13th coup against President Franklin Roosevelt. Dorothy Malone and Jack Kruschen guest star.

THE NOVEMBER PLAN, PART THREE (Feb 17th) – Jake and a general who refused to join in the upcoming coup manage to blow the conspiracy wide open, preventing the overthrow of the government. NOTE: This tale was a fictionalized version of the very real Businessman’s Plot against Franklin Roosevelt in 1933. After City of Angels was canceled, these first three episodes were edited into a movie titled The November Plan in 1977.   

THE PARTING SHOT (Feb 24th) – Axminster is hired by a wealthy man named Underhill (Art Lund) to follow his wife Velma (Corinne Camacho) and determine if she is having an affair. Complications arise when Underhill is shot, with Velma and her man as just two of the suspects. Also starring Donna Mills, Tim Thomerson, Stefan Gierasch, and Joshua Bryant.

A LONELY WAY TO DIE (Mar 2nd) – April Miller (Karen Ericson), an old flame of Jake’s, approaches him one night when she hit a parked car which had a dead red-haired woman behind the wheel. Jake drives her back to the site but the car and the woman are gone. April is later killed in a staged suicide, setting him on the trail of the killer, who might be California’s former governor. William Smith, Martine Beswick, Don Porter and Belinda Montgomery guest star. 

THE HOUSE ON ORANGE GROVE AVENUE (Mar 16th) – Two sisters (Susan Sullivan and Susan Howard) who have been suspected of a double homicide for several years, hire Jake Axminster to at long last clear their names by finding the real killers. Also starring Lara Parker, Jerry Hardin, Severn Darden, Billy Green Bush and Shug Fisher.

PALM SPRINGS ANSWER (Mar 23rd) – A worried mother hires our hero to find her missing daughter, a nightclub dancer. As Jake investigates, he learns the young lady’s disappearance involves gangsters, bribery and a massive real estate deal. Signe Hasso, Terry Kiser, Rockne Tarkington, George Gaynes, Christine Jones and Heather Lowe are among the guest cast.

THE LOSERS (Apr 6th) – Axminster is hired by a businessman (Broderick Crawford) to follow his mistress (Marcia Strassman) to learn if she is cheating on him. When both his client AND the woman get murdered, deeper and deeper levels of deceit are unearthed. Guest starring Brett Halsey, Priscilla Pointer and David S. Cass, Sr.   

A SUDDEN SILENCE (Apr 13th) – A wealthy student (Darleen Carr) hires Jake to find out why mysterious men are shadowing her and her boyfriend. Our hero determines that the men are actually FBI agents and when the boyfriend shows up dead it means the agents may have killed him over communist party connections. Edward Winter, John S. Ragin and Joel Fabiani also star.   

THE CASTLE OF DREAMS (Apr 20th) – Axminster’s latest case involves a high-priced bordello called the Castle of Dreams, in which the professional ladies all pattern themselves after Hollywood starlets so their clients can fantasize they are with the actresses. Jake’s secretary Marsha goes missing and a studio chief is implicated. Guest starring Veronica Hamel, Gordon Jump, Jack Kruschen and James Luisi.

SAY GOODBYE TO YESTERDAY (May 4th) – An oil company executive hires Jake to find his missing wife. The investigation involves the detective with a Chinese brothel owner in Oregon, a nun, a nightclub singer and one of corrupt Lt. Quint’s long unsolved murder cases. Cassie Yates, Carole Mallory, Beulah Quo, Lynn Marta and Jack Colvin guest star.

THE BLOODSHOT EYE (May 11th) – Jake travels to a town in New Mexico when an insurance company hires him to determine if a man whose life insurance policy was paid out is really still alive. Marsha and Michael, Axminster’s lawyer, must help him out when he runs afoul of a crooked judge and sheriff. Guest starring Geoffrey Lewis, Robert Donner, Brion James and John McLiam. 

MATCH POINT (May 18th) – In this final episode of the series, our hero is hired to clear a tennis player suspected of a murder committed at an exclusive tennis club. Jake’s investigation winds up involving men from the current 1930s government of Germany. Dana Wynter, Renee Jarrett and Victor Holchak guest star. 

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