Matt Houston

I used to catch this show when I was a kid in the 80s and remembered it to be an entertaining crime drama - a story about the wealthy Matt Houston (Lee Horsley), who oversees his family's drilling enterprises while getting into action as a private investigator. He pairs up with C.J. Parsons (Pamela Hensley) in his adventures.

Classic 80s nostalgia with decent acting, past-paced stories, and appealing plots. For the longest time, I couldn't remember the name of the TV show after it went off the air, thinking it might be Hart to Hart or Hunter. But, I was adamant that the lead male character had a mustache. Thanks to a little research on the internet, I've finally found the show's title, plot outline, and photos.

Grade A

This was one of the shows in the 80's that I really enjoyed watching. I do have two questions that I hope someone can answer.

This was another show that was doing well and they had to "retool" it by making basic changes. They had him putting his money in a trust and became a full time investigator. I think he left his ranch when caused Paul Brinnegar to be dropped. I have not seem too many show that were retooled that did any better. Why was that done?

The other question is does anyone know why Pamela Hemsley quit acting after this show? She was one of the actresses that I enjoyed watching in various parts.

A wealthy Texan named Matt Houston (Lee Horsley) who also happens to be from Houston lives in Los Angeles where he has a penthouse office, helicopter and fleet of cars. He keeps an eye on various divisions of his company and rather improbably works as private investigator too with the aid of his paid staff including his girl Friday C.J. Parsons, a Harvard educated lawyer. Houston also worked closely with his friend LAPD Lieutenant Vince Novelli (John Aprea).

Early on in the series Houston investigated the deaths of rich friends in whodunits with an ironic tone. By the second season, the show having jettisoned numerous supporting actors from the first season, took on a more serious edge and Houston began to distance himself from his business interests while investigating darker criminal cases with the grudging co-operation of grouchy police lieutenant Michael Hoyt (Lincoln Kilpatrick).

By the third season Houston and C.J. are living together in a smaller apartment and operating a private investigation business as Houston has turned his financial assets over to his Uncle Roy (Buddy Ebsen). The attempt to align the lifestyle of the main characters with other detectives on TV did not improve the ratings.

Matt Houston was an accidental success on the ABC network that copied other detective shows and stayed on the air defying most expectations because the competing networks (CBS and NBC) had long-running series (Archie Bunker's Place and CHiPS respectively) in the same time-slot with declining viewer-ship that they would end up shelving.

After ABC moved its time-slot opposite Falcon Crest on CBS on Friday Nights at 10 pm Matt Houston rode off into the sunset in Spring 1985 having lost the ratings shootout over the course of its remaining two season.

A lot of people remember it as a show they only watched during commercial breaks on the other networks or when the other shows on the other channels were showing reruns especially during the summer.

This was the best show there ever was. I wish this was brought back or at least provide access to the videos. Lee Horsley is the best actor there is.

Typical 80s cheesy detective series with tons of action, lots of eye candy, but most of all fantastic chemistry between the leads. Their interactions made sometimes lame plots more interesting to watch. Sometimes stories unbelievably made Matt into some sort of superhero who could withstand almost injury. C.J. was a unique female figure in a male-dominated era: professional, sexy, intelligent, role-model type who could handle her risk-taking, charming, ladies-man BFF just fine. If producers had capitalized on their unique relationship some more, and not changed direction so often, it might have garnered more ratings in its day. Worth to watch selective episodes!