''Jake and the Fatman'' is an American

crime drama Crime films, in the broadest sense, is a film genre inspired by and analogous to the crime fiction literary genre. Films of this genre generally involve various aspects of crime and its detection. Stylistically, the genre may overlap and combine ...

television series starring

William Conrad William Conrad (born John William Cann Jr., September 27, 1920 – February 11, 1994) was an American actor, producer, and director whose entertainment career spanned five decades in radio, film, and television, peaking in popularity when he s ...

as prosecutor J. L. (Jason Lochinvar) "Fatman" McCabe and

Joe Penny Joseph Edward Penny Jr. (born 24 June 1956) is an English-born American actor best known for his roles as Nick Ryder on the detective series ''Riptide'' from 1984 to 1986, and as Jake Styles in the CBS television series ''Jake and the Fatman'' ...

as investigator Jake Styles. The series ran on

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...

for five seasons from September 26, 1987, to May 6, 1992. '' Diagnosis: Murder'' was a spin-off of this series.

Plot

J. L. "Fatman" McCabe is a Hawaii-born, tough former

Honolulu Police Department The Honolulu Police Department (HPD) is the principal law enforcement agency of the City and County of Honolulu, Hawaii, headquartered in the Alapa'i Police Headquarters in Honolulu CDP. Officially recognized as a part of the government of the ...

officer turned

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

district attorney In the United States, a district attorney (DA), county attorney, state's attorney, prosecuting attorney, commonwealth's attorney, or state attorney is the chief prosecutor and/or chief law enforcement officer representing a U.S. state in a l ...

. He is teamed with a handsome, happy-go-lucky special investigator named Jake Styles. They often clash due to their different styles and personalities. "Fatman" travels hardly anywhere without Max, his pet

bulldog The Bulldog is a British breed of dog of mastiff type. It may also be known as the English Bulldog or British Bulldog. It is of medium size, a muscular, hefty dog with a wrinkled face and a distinctive pushed-in nose.Magnum, P.I. ''Magnum, P.I.'' is an American crime drama television series starring Tom Selleck as Thomas Magnum, a private investigator (P.I.) living on Oahu, Hawaii. The series ran from December 11, 1980 to May 8, 1988 during its first-run broadcast on ...

'', the show was moved to Hawaii. The second and third seasons and half of the fourth season were filmed in

Honolulu Honolulu (; ) is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, which is in the Pacific Ocean. It is an unincorporated county seat of the consolidated City and County of Honolulu, situated along the southeast coast of the island ...

. The show then returned to Los Angeles for the remainder of its run.

Cast

Main cast

as District Attorney J. L. "Fatman" McCabe *

as Detective Jake Styles * Alan Campbell as Assistant District Attorney Derek Mitchell

Recurring guest stars

Lu Leonard Lu Leonard (born Mary Lou Price; June 5, 1926 – May 14, 2004) was an American actress, the daughter of Hal Price. Career She began acting in 1953 as Theodosia in the ''Life of Riley'' television sitcom. Her first major appearance was as the ...

as Gertrude *

Jack Hogan Jack Hogan (born Richard Roland Benson Jr.; November 24, 1929) is an American retired actor. He is most notable for the role of PFC William G. Kirby on the 1960s television show ''Combat!'' Biography Born in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, Hogan ...

as Judge Smithwood *

Melody Anderson Melody Anderson (born December 3, 1955) is a Canadian retired actress, social worker and public speaker specializing in the impact of addiction on families. As an actress, her most high-profile role was playing Dale Arden in the 1980 adaptation ...

as Sergeant Neely Capshaw Guest stars on the series included

Alex Cord Alexander Viespi Jr. (May 3, 1933 – August 9, 2021), known professionally as Alex Cord, was an American actor, best known for his portrayal of Michael Coldsmith Briggs III, better known as Archangel, in 55 episodes of the television series '' ...

Robert Culp Robert Martin Culp (August 16, 1930 – March 24, 2010) was an American actor widely known for his work in television. Culp earned an international reputation for his role as Kelly Robinson on ''I Spy'' (1965–1968), the espionage television se ...

Denise Dowse Denise Yvonne Dowse (February 21, 1958 – August 13, 2022) was an American actress and director. She was best known for her roles as Mrs. Yvonne Teasley in the television series ''Beverly Hills, 90210'' (1991–2000), Judge Rebecca Damsen in ' ...

Scott Marlowe Scott Gregory Marlowe (born Ronald Richard DeLeo; June 24, 1932 – January 6, 2001)''Social Security Death Index, 1935-2014''. Social Security Administration was an American actor who had a starring role in the 1957 teen exploitation film '' ...

Leigh McCloskey Leigh Joseph McCloskey (born June 21, 1955) is an American actor, artist, author and philosopher. Throughout his acting career, McCloskey appeared in numerous television series and movies, including the popular American soap opera ''Dallas'' an ...

Ed Nelson Edwin Stafford Nelson (December 21, 1928 – August 9, 2014) was an American actor, best known for his role as Dr. Michael Rossi in the television series '' Peyton Place''. Nelson appeared in episodes of many TV programs, more than 50 mov ...

Leo Penn Leonard Francis Penn (August 27, 1921 – September 5, 1998) was an American actor and director and the father of musician Michael Penn and actors Sean Penn and Chris Penn. Early life Penn was born in Lawrence, Massachusetts, the son of Russ ...

, Stephen Quadros,

Robert Reed Robert Reed (born John Robert Rietz Jr.; October 19, 1932 – May 12, 1992) was an American actor. He played Kenneth Preston on the legal drama '' The Defenders'' from 1961 to 1965 alongside E. G. Marshall, and is best known for his role as the ...

, Mitch Ryan,

David Soul David Soul (born David Richard Solberg; August 28, 1943) is an American-British actor and singer. He is known for his role as Detective Kenneth "Hutch" Hutchinson in the television series ''Starsky & Hutch'' from 1975 to 1979; Joshua Bolt on ' ...

and

Ray Sharkey Raymond Sharkey Jr. (November 14, 1952 – June 11, 1993) was an American stage, film and television actor. His most notable film role was Vincent Vacarri in the 1980 film ''The Idolmaker'', for which he won the Golden Globe Award for Best Ac ...

Production

Development

Conrad guest starred as an aging prosecutor in a two-part episode of '' Matlock'' during its first season on

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...

. Executive producers

Fred Silverman Fred Silverman (September 13, 1937 – January 30, 2020) was an American television executive and producer. He worked as an executive at all of the Big Three television networks, and was responsible for bringing to television such programs as '' ...

and

Dean Hargrove Dean Hargrove (born July 27, 1938 in Iola, Kansas) is an American television producer, writer, and director. His background includes graduating the St. John's Military School, Wichita State University, and attending the UCLA Film School as a gr ...

decided to use this character as a model for one of the main characters in a new show they were creating for CBS. Penny also guest starred in these episodes, but his character was not on the same side as Conrad's character in the storyline's legal case. Following the departure of Hargrove, executive producers

David Moessinger David (; , "beloved one") (traditional spelling), , ''Dāwūd''; grc-koi, Δαυΐδ, Dauíd; la, Davidus, David; gez , ዳዊት, ''Dawit''; xcl, Դաւիթ, ''Dawitʿ''; cu, Давíдъ, ''Davidŭ''; possibly meaning "beloved one". w ...

and

Jeri Taylor Jeri Taylor (born June 30, 1938) is a television scriptwriter and producer, who wrote many episodes of the '' Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: Voyager'' series. Early life She is an alumna of Indiana University, where she was a me ...

were brought on to run the series with Silverman. They also hired

J. Michael Straczynski Joseph Michael Straczynski (; born July 17, 1954) is an American filmmaker and comic book writer. He is the founder of Synthetic Worlds Ltd. and Studio JMS and is best known as the creator of the science fiction television series ''Babylon 5'' ( ...

as an executive story consultant. Taylor and Moessinger ran the show for two years before finally leaving in a dispute over control over the show. Straczynski has written that he was hired after pitching a story that let Conrad sit down for almost every scene, noting his own faux slogan for the show "Jake and the Fatman: He can't act, he can't walk, together they fight crime".

Controversy

Joe Penny lost a large amount of weight after the show moved to Hawaii, which led to many rumors about his health, including the possibility that he had

AIDS Human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is a spectrum of conditions caused by infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), a retrovirus. Following initial infection an individual m ...

. In actuality, he had suffered from a gastrointestinal virus and was having difficulty regaining the weight he lost. When the show moved back to Los Angeles, it was also suspected that it was on Penny's urging. This was also not true, as the move was CBS's decision.

Episodes

''Jake and the Fatman'' had a total of five seasons and 106 episodes that were broadcast on CBS between 1987 and 1992.

Home media

CBS DVD CBS Home Entertainment (formerly CBS Video Enterprises, Inc., MGM/CBS Home Video, CBS/Fox Video and CBS Video, currently branded as CBS DVD for DVD releases and CBS Blu-ray for Blu-ray releases) is a home entertainment company owned by Paramoun ...

(distributed by

Paramount Paramount (from the word ''paramount'' meaning "above all others") may refer to: Entertainment and music companies * Paramount Global, also known simply as Paramount, an American mass media company formerly known as ViacomCBS. The following busin ...

) released the first two seasons of ''Jake and the Fatman'' on DVD in Region 1 between 2008/2009. As of June 2015, these releases have been discontinued and are out of print.

Visual Entertainment Visual Entertainment Inc. (VEI) is a home video/television distribution company that is based in Toronto, Ontario. An independent label, it has released several well-known TV series on DVD, some through sub-licensing deals with other labels such ...

released Jake and the Fatman - The Complete Collection on June 23, 2017.'Jake and the Fatman - 'The Complete Series' DVD Set: Date, Cost, Package Art, More! Coming to North America from VEI in just two-and-a-half weeks!'
'Jake and the Fatman - The Complete Collection'
/ref> Jake and the Fatman - The Complete Collection is rated PG in New Zealand for Violence, coarse language & drug references

Spin-offs

The nineteenth episode of the fourth season of ''Jake and the Fatman'', "It Never Entered My Mind", featured

Dick Van Dyke Richard Wayne Van Dyke (born December 13, 1925) is an American actor, entertainer and comedian. His award-winning career has spanned seven decades in film, television, and stage. Van Dyke began his career as an entertainer on radio and telev ...

as Dr. Mark Sloan, a medical doctor who solves crimes. The success of that episode led initially to a series of three TV movies, and then a weekly television series '' Diagnosis: Murder'' that debuted on

on October 29, 1993.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Jake and the Fatman 1987 American television series debuts 1992 American television series endings 1980s American crime drama television series 1990s American crime drama television series 1980s American legal television series 1990s American legal television series CBS original programming Fictional portrayals of the Honolulu Police Department English-language television shows Television duos Television series by CBS Studios Television shows set in Los Angeles Television shows set in Hawaii Television shows filmed in Hawaii Television series about prosecutors