''Get Christie Love!'' 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 comb ...

TV series starring Teresa Graves as an undercover African-American female

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 ...

which originally aired on ABC from January 22, 1974, until April 5, 1975. The starring television role made Graves the second

African-American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ensl ...

female lead in a U.S. network drama, after

Diahann Carroll Diahann Carroll (; born Carol Diann Johnson; July 17, 1935 – October 4, 2019) was an American actress, singer, model, and activist. She rose to prominence in some of the earliest major film studio, major studio films to feature black cas ...

in '' Julia''. The series is based on Dorothy Uhnak's

crime In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definitions of", in C ...

thriller Thriller may refer to: * Thriller (genre), a broad genre of literature, film and television ** Thriller film, a film genre under the general thriller genre Comics * ''Thriller'' (DC Comics), a comic book series published 1983–84 by DC Comics i ...

novel ''The Ledger''.

Synopsis

Based on the novel ''The Ledger'', the main character "Christie Opara"—a white, New York City police detective—was dropped completely and "Christie Love" emerged. Det. Olga Ford of the NYPD served as the series' Technical Advisor. ''Get Christie Love!'' was originally broadcast in January 1974 as an ''

ABC Movie of the Week ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

'', inspired by the 1970s

hero A hero (feminine: heroine) is a real person or a main fictional character who, in the face of danger, combats adversity through feats of ingenuity, courage, or strength. Like other formerly gender-specific terms (like ''actor''), ''her ...

blaxploitation Blaxploitation is an ethnic subgenre of the exploitation film that emerged in the United States during the early 1970s. The term, a portmanteau of the words "black" and "exploitation", was coined in August 1972 by Junius Griffin, the president ...

films such as Tamara Dobson's '' Cleopatra Jones'' (1973), and Pam Grier's '' Coffy'' (1973) and '' Foxy Brown'' (1974). The title character had a

catchphrase A catchphrase (alternatively spelled catch phrase) is a phrase or expression recognized by its repeated utterance. Such phrases often originate in popular culture and in the arts, and typically spread through word of mouth and a variety of mass ...

; upon apprehending a criminal, Love would declare, "You're under arrest, Sugah!" The film proved a success, and consequently spawned a short-lived

television series A television show – or simply TV show – is any content produced for viewing on a television set which can be broadcast via over-the-air, satellite, or cable, excluding breaking news, advertisements, or trailers that are typically placed be ...

on the ABC network. 22 episodes were shown from September 11, 1974 – April 5, 1975, featuring

Charles Cioffi Charles M. Cioffi (born October 31, 1935) is an American film and television actor best known as Lt. Matt Reardon in '' Get Christie Love!'' opposite co-star Teresa Graves. Born in New York City, he attended Michigan State University, where h ...

as Love's supervisor Lt. Matt Reardon, who was later replaced by Jack Kelly as Capt. Arthur Ryan. Financed on a meager budget and heavily sanitized to conform to Graves' religious morals (she had become a

Jehovah's Witness Jehovah's Witnesses is a millenarian restorationist Christian denomination with nontrinitarian beliefs distinct from mainstream Christianity. The group reports a worldwide membership of approximately 8.7 million adherents involved in ...

since the making of the pilot, and eventually retired from the entertainment industry to focus on her faith), the series was cancelled after one year. One episode featured many of Graves' former ''Laugh-In'' co-stars such as Judy Carne, Jo Anne Worley, and Arte Johnson in particular playing a mad bomber. Another notable guest star was

Jaclyn Smith Jacquelyn Ellen "Jaclyn" Smith (born October 26, 1945) is an American actress and businesswoman. She is best known for her role as Kelly Garrett in the television series ''Charlie's Angels'' (1976–1981), and was the only original female lead ...

, who appeared in an episode entitled "A Fashion Heist."

Cast

Charles Cioffi played Christie Love's boss for the first 12 episodes of the series (his character was featured from the season premiere until "The Longest Fall") and Jack Kelly took over for the last 10 (beginning with the episode "The Deadly Sport"). The storyline in the pilot that had Christie having a secret affair with her police captain (played by Harry Guardino) was dropped for the regular series. * Teresa Graves as Christie Love *

as Lieutenant Matt Reardon (12 episodes) * Jack Kelly as Captain Arthur Ryan (10 episodes) *

Michael Pataki Michael Pataki (January 16, 1938 – April 15, 2010) was an American actor. Early life Pataki was born in Youngstown, Ohio. His parents were Hungarians. He was the youngest of three children - one older brother and one older sister. He atte ...

as Sergeant Pete Gallagher, Christie's partner * Dennis Rucker as Lieutenant Steve Belmont * Andy Romano as Lieutenant Joe Caruso (Romano played a different character in the pilot for the series). This list is for the ''

'' of January 22, 1974, which served as the pilot for the series: * Harry Guardino as Captain Casey Reardon * Louise Sorel as Helena Varga * Paul Stevens as Enzo Cortino *

Ron Rifkin Ron Rifkin (born Saul M. Rifkin; October 31, 1939) is an American actor best known for his roles as Arvin Sloane on the spy drama ''Alias'', Saul Holden on the drama '' Brothers & Sisters'', and District Attorney Ellis Loew in ''L.A. Confidenti ...

as Normand * Lynne Holmes as Celia Jackson * Lee Paul as Max Loomis * Titos Vandis as Spiliolis * Tracey Roberts as Gwen Fenley *

William Hansen William Hansen may refer to: Politics * William C. Hansen (1891–1983), American educator and politician * William D. Hansen, American businessman and politician * William O. Hansen (1860–1930), American politician * Bill Hansen (born 1931), ...

as Dr. Shepard * Andy Romano as Sergeant Seymour Greenberg * Davis Roberts as Myron Jones * Bill Henderson as Sergeant Stoner Martin * Deborah Dozier as Amy * Darlene Conley as Virginia

Episodes

Television film pilot (1974)

Season 1 (1974–75)

Syndication/reception

The series has aired in the U.S. on the cable network

TV Land TV Land is an American pay television channel owned by Paramount Global through its networks division. Originally a spinoff of Nick at Nite consisting exclusively of classic television shows, the channel now airs a combination of recent and cl ...

in 1997 and on Centric (now known as BET Her) in 2014 as part of the show's 40th anniversary. The show gave the first black woman to serve in a State Police force in the United States, Louise Smith, critical motivation to continue with her chosen career when she faced significant discrimination both in the barracks and on the streets.

Cultural references

* In a scene in

Quentin Tarantino Quentin Jerome Tarantino (; born March 27, 1963) is an American film director, writer, producer, and actor. His films are characterized by stylized violence, extended dialogue, profanity, dark humor, non-linear storylines, cameos, ensembl ...

's film, '' Reservoir Dogs'' (1992), the characters Mr. Pink (

Steve Buscemi Steven Vincent Buscemi ( ,As stated in interviews by Buscemi himself, some may insist that his pronunciation of his own name is "wrong" because it does not match the original Italian pronunciation as well. It is not uncommon for people to pronou ...

), Mr. White ( Harvey Keitel), Mr. Orange ( Tim Roth), and "Nice Guy" Eddie Cabot ( Chris Penn), engage in a brief discussion regarding ''Get Christie Love!''. * In the 2002

Austin Powers ''Austin Powers'' is a series of American spy action comedy films: '' Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery'' (1997), '' Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me'' (1999) and '' Austin Powers in Goldmember'' (2002). The films were produced ...

movie '' Austin Powers in Goldmember'', the character Foxxy Cleopatra (portrayed by

Beyoncé Beyoncé Giselle Knowles-Carter ( ; born September 4, 1981) is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. Beyoncé's boundary-pushing artistry and vocals have made her the most influential female musician of the 21st century, according to ...

) uses the famous phrase, "You're under arrest, Sugah!"

Reboot

In 2017, producers Courtney Kemp and Vin Diesel became attached to a reboot of the series for ABC, entitled ''Get Christie Love'' (without the exclamation point), a co-production between Lionsgate Television and

Universal Television Universal Television LLC (abbreviated as UTV) is an American television production company that is a subsidiary of Universal Studio Group, a division of Comcast's NBCUniversal. It serves as the network television production arm of NBC; a prede ...

, which focused on an African American female CIA agent who leads an elite ops unit. However, ABC later announced that it had decided not to pick the pilot up to series.

References

External links

* *
Get Christie Love!
' at The Classic TV Archive * * * '

{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060412143426/http://www.eonline.com/Features/Topten/Tvchicks/5.html , date=2006-04-12 '' Blaxploitation films American police detective films 1970s crime thriller films Films based on American novels Films based on crime novels ABC Movie of the Week 1974 television films 1974 films The Wolper Organization films Television series by The Wolper Organization Television series by Universal Television Television films as pilots 1974 American television series debuts 1975 American television series endings Fictional portrayals of the Los Angeles Police Department Films directed by William Graham (director) 1970s English-language films 1970s American films