Tenspeed and Brown Shoe


Tenspeed and Brown Shoe is an American detective/comedy series originally broadcast by the ABC network between January and June 1980. The series was created and executive produced by Stephen J. Cannell. Most of the show's creative staff were veterans of the private detective series The Rockford Files, which concluded its run about two weeks before Tenspeed and Brown Shoe debuted.

Plot

The one-hour program revolved around two detectives who had their own detective agency in Los Angeles. E. L. "Tenspeed" Turner was a hustler who worked as a detective to satisfy his parole requirements. His partner Lionel "Brownshoe" Whitney was an archetypal accountant, complete with button-down collars and a nagging fiancee, who had always wanted to be a 1940s-style Bogart P.I. A running joke was his penchant for reading a series of hard-boiled crime novels, subtitled "A Mark Savage Mystery", written by Stephen J. Cannell, with Goldblum reading some passages in voice-over. He was sharper than he seemed, although a little naïve and more reasonable than his career path demanded, and had picked up karate to black-belt standard.

Cast

This was the first series to come from Stephen J. Cannell Productions as an independent company and is also the only one not to carry the famed Cannell logo on any episodes, having "A Stephen J. Cannell Production" appearing in-credit.
The show had broad similarities to the later television series Simon & Simon and Moonlighting, in that it was a lightly dramatic program with many comedic moments about two dissimilar detectives who attempt to solve cases together. Cannell recycled the basic idea of Tenspeed and Brown Shoe in watered-down form as the successful Hardcastle and McCormick.

Episodes

Reception

The show was heavily promoted by ABC at the time it premiered in late January 1980. The series attracted a substantial audience for its first few episodes, but viewership dropped off substantially after that, and the series was not renewed for the 1980–81 season.

Home media

On March 9, 2010, Mill Creek Entertainment released Tenspeed and Brown Shoe on DVD in Region 1 for the first time. Because CBS, who held ownership of the pilot, refused to come to an agreement on its use, MCI revealed in January 2010 that it would not be included on the DVD. However, the full-length pilot is included in the German DVD release.

Awards

Cross-overs

Ben Vereen later reprised his role as Tenspeed on five episodes of J.J. Starbuck, another Cannell production: