''Richie Brockelman, Private Eye'' is an American

detective A detective is an investigator, usually a member of a law enforcement agency. They often collect information to solve crimes by talking to witnesses and informants, collecting physical evidence, or searching records in databases. This leads th ...

drama that aired on

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...

for five episodes in March and April 1978, with

Dennis Dugan Dennis Barton Dugan (born September 5, 1946) is an American director, actor, writer, artist and comedian. He is known for his partnership with comedic actor Adam Sandler, for whom he directed the films ''Happy Gilmore'', '' Big Daddy'', ''The Be ...

in the starring role. ''

The Rockford Files ''The Rockford Files'' is an American detective drama television series starring James Garner that aired on the NBC network from September 13, 1974 to January 10, 1980, and remains in syndication. Garner portrays Los Angeles private investigator ...

'' was used to launch the series via character crossover in a 2-hour episode at the end of the 1977-78 season.

Premise

The hour-long series focused on Richie Brockelman, a 22-year-old, college-educated private investigator with his own agency in

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' ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

. Dugan was actually thirty-one when cast in the role. Brockleman's main method in solving his cases was thinking he could talk his way in or out of any situation he was in. Usually there was a woman involved in the plot that was in some kind of distress, but in the end, he solves the case though he does not get the girl. Initially filmed as a pilot for a TV series in 1976 titled "Richie Brockelman: The Missing 24 Hours," it was not picked up by NBC. Stephen J. Cannell reworked the character into a two-hour episode of ''

'' titled "The House On Willis Avenue" as the last new episode of the 1977-78 season. Rockford and Brockelman join forces to solve the murder of a veteran PI who taught both of them the ropes. It was followed by a limited run of ''Richie Brockelman, Private Eye''. Brockelman later appeared in "Never Send a Boy King to Do a Man's Job", another two-part episode of ''The Rockford Files''. The theme song, "School's Out," was written by Mike Post, Pete Carpenter, Herb Pederson and Stephen Geyer. An extended version of the song from

Mike Post Mike Post (born Leland Michael Postil, September 29, 1944) is an American composer, best known for his TV theme music for various shows, including ''Law & Order''; '' Law & Order: Special Victims Unit''; ''The A-Team''; ''NYPD Blue''; ''Renegade ...

's ''Television Theme Songs'' appeared on iTunes and amazon.com for download. The song's performers were credited as Stephen Geyer & Herb Peterson and Mike Post & Pete Carpenter.

Cast

as Richie Brockelman * Robert Hogan as Sgt. Ted Coopersmith *

Barbara Bosson Barbara Bosson (born November 1, 1939) is a retired American actress. Her most notable role came in the television series ''Hill Street Blues'' (1981–1987), for which she was consecutively nominated for five Primetime Emmy Awards. Biography ...

as Sharon Deterson *

Norman Fell Norman Fell (born Norman Noah Feld; March 24, 1924 – December 14, 1998) was an American actor of film and television, most famous for his role as landlord Mr. Roper on the sitcom ''Three's Company'' and its spin-off, ''The Ropers'', and his fi ...

as Mr. Brockelman (Pilot) * John Randolph as Mr. Brockelman (Series)

Cancellation

After its launch from ''The Rockford Files'', ''Richie Brockelman, Private Eye'' performed well for NBC. However, in the end, the ratings were not strong enough for NBC to order a full season of new episodes for the 1978-79 season. NBC was looking for hit shows at the time and ''Richie Brockelman'' needed to be scheduled as a follow-up after a strong lead-in, which the network did not have at the time. The series was broadcast in England on ITV Anglia television during the summer of 1978. A second two-hour ''The Rockford Files'' episode was produced that aired in the spring of 1979 which ended the show. When ''The Rockford Files'' went into

syndication Syndication may refer to: * Broadcast syndication, where individual stations buy programs outside the network system * Print syndication, where individual newspapers or magazines license news articles, columns, or comic strips * Web syndication, ...

in the 1980s, the five episodes of "Richie Brockelman" were included as part of the package. Two of the episodes were later re-edited for syndication as a 90-minute Universal TV movie in the 1980s called ''The Diary of Richie Brockelman''.

Episodes

Pilot (1976)

Season 1 (1978)

Appearances on ''The Rockford Files''

The character of "Richie Brockelman" appeared on two episodes of ''The Rockford Files''; both episodes were two hours long: * "The House on Willis Avenue" ( season four, episodes 21 & 22; original airdate February 24, 1978). When a fellow private investigator is killed on the

Ventura Freeway The Ventura Freeway is a freeway in southern California, United States, running from the Santa Barbara/Ventura county line to Pasadena in Los Angeles County. It is the principal east-west route (designated north-south) through Ventura County a ...

, Jim Rockford and Richie Brockelman team up to find out if it really was an accident. This episode first introduced the Richie Brockelman character and was used as a spin-off episode for the series. In this episode, it is established that Richie Brockleman is 22 years old. * "Never Send a Boy King to Do a Man's Job" ( season five, episodes 20 & 21; original airdate March 3, 1979).

Harold Gould Harold Vernon Goldstein (December 10, 1923 – September 11, 2010), better known as Harold Gould, was an American character actor. He appeared as Martin Morgenstern on the sitcom ''Rhoda'' (1974–78) and Miles Webber on the sitcom ''The Golden ...

plays the part of Mr. Brockelman, Richie's father. The elder Brockelman gets cheated out of his business and Richie enlists Rockford to help him run a con on the men who cheated his father.

References

External links

* * {{Steven Bochco 1978 American television series debuts 1978 American television series endings 1970s American crime drama television series English-language television shows NBC original programming Television series by Stephen J. Cannell Productions Television series by Universal Television American television spin-offs Television shows set in Los Angeles The Rockford Files