Pulaski

ITV had Dempsey and Makepeace and BBC2 were getting fine ratings with the Bruce Willis/Cybill Shepherd comedy-drama Moonlighting.

Now if only the two can be combined and you enter the world of Pulaski. A show within a show that mixes comedy with gun toting action.

David Andrews plays drunk actor Larry Summers an American detective based in England. Aided by the actress playing his sidekick, he somehow ends up taking real life cases as people come to him asking for help.

The public liked it but the critics were far from impressed finding the humour forced and laboured. If the series had continued, maybe the kinks would had been ironed out.

It might have been better if Roy Clarke did not write all the episodes, a writer who likes to be formulaic as fans of The Last of the Summer Wine can testify to.

It appears that no one caught the U.S. cable network rerun of this fifteen or so years ago. I believe it was on Lifetime, and I wish they would run it again so this time everyone could record it. The basic premise is that an American actor, a womanizing drunk, sort of an updated Nick Charles, minus some of the upper crust class, plays Pulaski, the TV Detective, on British television. The only problem is that the actor is hung over or drunk most of the time when he's needed as Pulaski. David Andrews stars as actor Larry Summers, who plays an ex-priest of the highest character and concern for his fellow man, who has given up the cloth to become a first rate private eye. In the detective show about the detective show, a fan of Pulaski turns up every week with some outrageously difficult case, and Summers explains he is only an actor and wants nothing to do with the problem, and then through twists and circumstance, he nonetheless not only gets knee deep in the case, but, relying on the role he has every week, actually solves the case. This is made possible especially because his greatest fans are the crooks and culprits themselves, who absolutely believe Summers/Pulaski is the greatest and bravest, the smartest and wisest. A few shows into the only season it appeared (1987) they added a recurring British Inspector who played the straight man for Pulaski and his drunken investigations, and the show really gained with this additional character. A running gag was a huge Magnum, just like Dirty Harry's, that criminals were convinced Summers was an expert with, a dead on shot, and he uses this prop from the TV show to extricate himself and Briggsey (his weekly female sidekick and companion) and the Inspector out of several jams. The friends we invited over loved the show, and we all thought we were watching a new cult classic that was right up there with The Avengers. Apparently, we were the only people in America watching, and its a shame this witty British series stalled out somewhere over the Atlantic. Just like Amelia Earhart, no one seems to know what ever happened to Pulaski.

This was one of the best shows A&E imported from across the water back in the 80's (along with the BBC version of Last of the Mohicans, Brat Farrar, and Day of the Triffids). Aired in '87, and although it ran to only eight episodes, it got great reviews from TV critics. Sadly A&E only ran it once in prime time, then stuck it in the early Sunday morning slot a few years later. Since it was a short BBC series, and not an adaptation, it's unlikely to be released as has been the case with Roy Clarks other, more popular works. Hell, they're still struggling to release most of Last of the Summer Wine (which started in '73)......