Monsieur et Madame détective

I also watched and loved this show when I was five. The dog's name was Asta. The show was based on Dashiell Hammett's novel, The Thin Man. A series of movies based on the book came out between 1934 and 1947, with William Powell and Myrna Loy.

Get TV just started running episodes of The Thin Man and at first I found I couldn't watch more than a few minutes before moving on to something else.

Eventually I got around to watch an entire episode and was fascinated. Not only are the prints crystal clear and without blemish, but the cars, clothes and guest stars are fascinating.

Then I became unable to take my eyes off spooky Phyllis Kirk with her Moe Howard bangs, crazy eyes and painted over Mommie Dearest Mouth. I remembered her from an appropriately creepy episode of The Twilight Zone'

After that came great pleasure from her reedy, yet husky voice and the wardrobe by Helen Rose.

Add in Peter Lawford and loving close-ups of both, and the thin plots and story lines become secondary.

The dialog is pretty witty for 50s TV, far better than the dumbed down lines in a great many TV shows of the 60s.

Flawed but a lot of fun. I think I'd buy the series if it ever comes to DVD to go along with another 50s favorite: Perry Mason.

This show was one of my favorites as a kid growing up in suburban Maryland. I was lucky enough to get home from elementary school just in time to catch the reruns every afternoon along with OH SUSANNAH with the Team of Gale Storm & Zasu Pitts...The Thin Man Came on afterward and it made a great double bill each afternoon. Mr. & Mrs. North with Richard Denning was also in the mix. Phyllis Kirk and Gale Storm were two of the prettiest women in the world to me at the time (Gale Storm singing "Tropical Heatwave" was a source of many wonderful dreams as a child...wink, wink, nudge, nudge...), even allowing for the below the knee fashions of the time. Phyllis was tall and oh so sexy in her short hair do's and long, lanky legs with those marvelous high heels. Peter Lawford was so suave, that I always wanted to be Nick Charles whenever I had the opportunity, like at "Teen Club" with the ladies, between classes with the ladies, etc. I was too young to know about the the Rat Pack, but of all of those guys, Lawford was the coolest, to me. His understated manner, and matter of fact conversational delivery of his lines were far ahead of his time, and made him one of my favorite actors of the time, and this show, the one I'd most like to see brought back on a DVD. of course, that one episode of OH SUSANNAH with Gale singing " 'Heatwave" would be nice, too!

After Dear Phoebe left the air after one season, Joseph P. Kennedy was behind a second television show for his son-in-law Peter Lawford. The famous Thin Man series was adapted to a half hour television format and Lawford played Nick with Phyllis Kirk as Nora. Of course Asta was around as well. No children however for the Charles as were introduced in the six film series for MGM.

Lawford and Kirk were really up against it. William Powell had just retired and Myrna Loy was still active. People remembered the most famous screen couple ever created. Additionally and this is my own personal opinion, mysteries are no good in a half hour format, you need at least an hour to develop plot and alternative suspects.

Still The Thin Man on television was entertaining and got by on the charm of its leads.

I was a child when "The Thin Man" was on television but for some reason, I remember it very clearly. I think I was completely captivated by the sheer sophistication of Nick and Nora Charles and the fact that they lived in an apartment in New York City. Growing up in a house and not in New York City, this was fascinating to me.

What I remember most is how beautiful Phyllis Kirk was and what glorious clothes she wore. Kirk and Lawford seemed a most glamorous couple, and I have a feeling their relationship colored my own ideas about an ideal marriage - rich and childless.

I purchased the series, and I have to say I still love it even though the stories aren't much. What I did pick up on right away is that Hart to Hart is an exact ripoff, right down to the car in the beginning, the lovey-dovey relationship, and the sophistication. Hart to Hart really doesn't copy the Hammett Thin Man series.

This show was an attempt by MGM to get into TV and capitalize on one of their properties, and it didn't make it. Many years later, I had a chance to see the wonderful movies on which the series was based. You really can't compare the shows to the films.