77 Sunset Strip

I thoroughly agree with everybody who loves 77 SUNSET STRIP, the detective show that was hip and jazzy long before shows like Miami VICE and 24 came along! I used to live in NYC, so like you, I'd been longing to see this and/or the other Warner Bros. 1950s/'60s detective shows back on TV. But when my family and I moved to Pennsylvania last fall, we were in for a swell surprise: on Saturday nights, the GoodLife TV Network -- usually a religious channel, of all things -- shows all these series under the umbrella title "The Private Eyes"! At 8 PM the evening kicks off with BOURBON STREET BEAT (my fave next to 77 SUNSET STRIP -- the New Orleans-set series was greatly underrated, IMO), then 77 SUNSET STRIP at 9 PM, HAWAIIAN EYE at 10 PM (young Robert Conrad and Connie Stevens -- yum!), then the night winds up with SURFSIDE SIX at 11 PM (formulaic but fun, even if it's got the weakest theme song of this quartet :-). The GoodLife TV Network is on the Service Electric cable system in our area, so if you or a friend have access to this, set the timer on your VCR for Saturday night! (And if you liked the '50s/'60s Warner Bros. Westerns, too, you can see them on Sunday night!) UPDATE FOR 2006: As of this writing, The GoodLife Channel has since been renamed American Life TV, the block of detective shows is now shown twice on Monday nights, and the revolving lineup now includes the late, great David Janssen's detective series HARRY O (some weeks they show BOURBON STREET BEAT, some weeks they show SURFSIDE SIX, but the detective show lineup always includes 77 SUNSET STRIP and HARRY O).

With the advent of the DVR, this show - which I loved as a kid - has once again become a staple of my TV viewing. To my mind, it has aged well and still stands up after all these years.

The show had good stories and tried to have something for everyone - it's TV after all - and not take itself too seriously. Kookie was there for the kids and, along with Roscoe, brought colorful comic relief. In one episode, Spencer arrives in Hong Kong and passes a rickshaw-hop (Byrnes in mufti) running a comb through his hair. It was a fun show! And the West Coast jazz they played at Dino's was very hip and still sounds great.

But at the heart of the show were Bailey and Spencer and the cases they solved. And these remain on a par with the best of episodic TV. The two characters work, the scripts are fairly thoughtful and bring in good characters. Zimbalist and Smith were spot on. Terrific TV.

The transition for large screen to small was still unlearned when "77" was released. Playhouse 90, Live From Carnegie Hall and network sponsored orchestras were still in vogue - serious TV with a performing arts feel. Note the cinema feel to this series. It was filmed, not video taped.

I enjoyed this show as a child as it was intelligent mystery/drama. It was done before secret agents. It required the private investigators to be resourceful. They were alway honest. Just the stuff a boy scout like me needed to round out his masculinity. Stuart Bailey was the smart guy. Older and no-nonsense. Jeff Spencer was the cute guy. And Kookie, well, the only thing good about Kookie were the cars he drove.

Good stuff.

Although at the time it was on the air 77 Sunset Strip was primarily known as the vehicle that launched Edd Byrnes into short lived teen idol stardom. Looking back however 77 Sunset Strip set a pattern of Warner Brothers television detectives, it spun so many copycat shows.

At 77 Sunset Boulevard was quartered the private detective firm of Bailey and Spencer. Stu Bailey and Jeff Spencer were played by Efrem Zimbalist, Jr. and Roger Smith. These two guys did not take their detectives cues from rumpled private eyes like Sam Spade and Philip Marlowe. With their stylish clothes and hipster rat pack style dialog, Zimbalist and Smith were the new style private eyes for the Fifties.

These guys were good, but what really made the show a success was the presence of Edd Byrnes playing one Gerald Lloyd Kookson, III AKA Kookie. Second to Elvis Presley, Byrnes was the first teen idol I was cognizant of in my youth. He talked as hip as Zimbalist and Smith and he had the most carefully groomed hair on television. Kookie was never without his comb and in fact he and the comb spawned a hit record of the time, Kookie, Kookie, Lend Me Your Comb. In fact his character name became a slang term for strange, still used among folks in my age bracket. Byrnes was a parking lot attendant and he was always getting vehicles for the stars.

Eventually the guys actually made Kookie a detective in the firm and a new teen idol Robert Logan was hired as J.R. Logan however never took off the way Kookie did.

There is one constant in show business. If something succeeds, copy it to death. Warner Brothers put out Surfside Six, Hawaiian Eye, Bourbon Street Beat and a few others as did other producers trying to imitate them. During the late Eisenhower and Kennedy years, television was inundated with hip private eyes. None of them had the success of the original. Zimbalist and Smith guest starred on some of these other shows and they in turn had visiting detectives as well. In fact Richard Long who co-starred in Bourbon Street Beat after that show was canceled, Long and his character Rex Randolph moved from New Orleans to Los Angeles to get taken into the Bailey-Spencer firm.

After five seasons ABC canceled 77 Sunset Strip. Roger Smith was developing the health problems that forced him to leave acting and CBS picked up the show and promptly fired everyone else, except Zimbalist. From the hip Stu Bailey, Zimbalist became Stu the cynic. He was now an international secret agent and man of mystery.

The first five shows were appropriately entitled Five. It was possibly the first mini-series ever. Some 25 guest stars appeared in a five part show that was not bad in and of itself, but it certainly shocked those who expected what they were used to. 77 Sunset Strip didn't last long after that and Efrem Zimbalist, Jr. joined The FBI next season.

Still as a pioneering show of sorts, 77 Sunset Strip has an honored place in TV Land memories.

By the way, the end of that Kookie song had Byrnes telling some girl she was the 'ginchiest'. To this day I don't know what that means.

Several episodes of 77 Sunset Strip and Hawiian Eye were shown late at night/early morning on channel 9 in Australia several years ago, and they was fantastic. It appeared briefly on cable TV but is this is only geared for the post 1970 generation they did not last long and were taken off. Gee cable is rubbish. I use to watch 77 Sunset Strip and its clones regularly in the late 50's & 60's. 77 Sunset Strip still stands up today even though or because it is black and white. I cannot understand why Warners don't release these old shows on double sided DVD's and sell them as boxed sets at a reasonable price like several companies have done with old black & white movies. 77 Sunset Strip & its pilot "Girl on the Run" would fit onto 10 or 11 double sided DVD's. There would be some money it for Warners, and if they wait too long people like me won't be around to buy and appreciate these shows. Also what about CHEYENNE, Surfside Six, Bronco, Adventures in Pardise, Sugarfoot etc. Maybe the independents could bring out the old westerns and cop & private eye shows right back to the beginning of the 50's.