HAWKINS (1973-1974) – Before Matlock, there was Hawkins! The iconic Jimmy Stewart starred as Billy Jim Hawkins, an aw-shucks country lawyer who was really shrewd and calculating behind his stammering, Good Ol’ Boy facade.
Billy Jim wound up acting as a detective for his clients as much as their lawyer as he solved mysteries to prove his clients’ innocence. Hawkins was part of a CBS attempt to establish their own set of rotating 90-minute detective shows in the tradition of Columbo, McMillan and Wife, Banacek, The Snoop Sisters, and so many others on competing networks.
Hawkins rotated with Shaft, which starred Richard Roundtree reprising his big screen role as private detective John Shaft (but a John Shaft who couldn’t be as violent or profane as he was in the movies, of course).
Strother Martin co-starred with Stewart as his private investigator cousin R.J. Hawkins. The pair, despite being based in West Virginia, were hired by big-name, big money clients from around the country. AND despite the fact that not all lawyers are credentialed to practice law in all other states. This was made for TV lawyerin’, bubba!
THE EPISODES: Continue reading
GRIFF (1973-1974) – The one and only Lorne Greene starred as Wade “Griff” Griffin, a former police captain who becomes a private investigator. Ben Murphy played Mike Murdoch, who was McCormick to Greene’s Hardcastle. 
To me and presumably any other trivia buffs Griff is must-see tv. The guest stars and behind the scenes figures were a virtual Who’s Who of American television’s past and present. Before I get to that, let’s look at the fate of the program’s TWO pilot movies. 
The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes was a 1971-1973 British television series about London by Gaslight detectives from both the Victorian and Edwardian Ages. 
Episode: FIVE HUNDRED CARATS (February 5th, 1973) 
For the first time in this series we have a story set outside Great Britain, which I found to be a welcome change of pace. Leo Lipinzki (Barry Keegan) works as a Detective Inspector for the Cape Police, but technically the already wealthy and powerful De Beers Diamond Corporation is who he really answers to. 
THE FEATHER AND FATHER GANG (1976-1977) – Happy Father’s Day, gentlemen! Back on Mother’s Day I reviewed 
In the tradition of Perry Mason and Matlock, Feather’s clients were always victims of frame jobs or bad circumstances, so her incorrigible father Harry inevitably resorted to extra-legal methods of clearing them. Papa Danton recruited some of his old conmen pals to help him in his efforts and dubbed the joint venture “the Feather and Father Gang.” 
MOMMA THE DETECTIVE (1981) – Happy Mother’s Day to the ladies who brought all of us into this world! Every single one of us alive today was given birth to by a woman, and to help mark their special day here’s my review of a made for tv production about a sleuthing mother in New York City. 
Rolle starred as “Momma” Sykes, a freelance cleaning woman and cook who works for several well-to-do clients in a New York high rise. 
Momma Sykes’ son Alvin Sykes (Kene Holliday) is a detective with the New York City Police Department and he happens to be the one assigned to this particular case. His gentle exasperation as Momma persistently pursues her own parallel investigation to his sets the tone for what apparently would have been his “Bert Convy in The Snoop Sisters” role if this had gone to series. 
Episode: THE SECRET OF THE MAGNIFIQUE (February 19th, 1973) 
Synopsis: The enigmatic but well to do Mr J.T. Laxworthy (Bernard Hepton) recruits two men fresh out of prison – the handsome and smooth conman Sydney Wing (Christopher Neame) and the brawny safe-cracker & thief called Anderson (Neil McCarthy). 
THE RIVALS OF SHERLOCK HOLMES (1971-1973) – The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes was not just a collection of stories by mystery writers who were contemporaries of Arthur Conan Doyle but also a television series which adapted such mysteries. Just as Holmes’ tales were set during the Victorian and Edwardian Eras so, too, were the stories of these detectives. The series lasted two seasons of 13 episodes each and presented the best non-Holmes London-by-Gaslight Detectives. 
Episode One: A MESSAGE FROM THE DEEP SEA (September 20th, 1971)
The episode introduces us to Dr John Evelyn Thorndyke (John Neville), a forensic physician/ Police Surgeon of the era, as he is teaching a classroom of students. (Kind of a Quincy opening feel.) He is assisted by Dr Jervis (James Cossins), Thorndyke’s version of Dr Watson. 
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