When TV GUIDE first announced "Matt Houston" it referred to it as a "comedy." Really. And in its first season "Matt Houston" was a lighthearted romp through tired detective stories. A rich Texan (played by Lee Horsley, the poor man's James Garner) divides his time between the ranch and fighting crime as a detective in LA.
Houston was a private eye with a difference. He was funny. His ranch was populated with characters like Paul Brinegar (the cook from "Rawhide"). His swank LA offices were filled with beautiful secretaries. His beautiful legal advisor was his equal in everything (Pamela Hensley, who also provided early episodes with enjoyable, tongue-in-cheek narration).
Oh, and while Houston played detective on wild-goose-chases, his business affairs were handled by bald, comedic, constantly put-upon Murray (George Wyner, who had co-starred with Horsley previously in a short-lived "Nero Wolfe" series).
Most interestingly, Houston had a computer called "Baby" that, while predating the Internet by a decade, could call up almost anything at command.
The pilot episode enforced the show's comedic elements by having two theme songs for Matt: one, a typically loud, exciting QM piece; the other an amusing song that might have been written for the great silent comics (the funny theme was background music and is sometimes played over early closing credits).
"Matt Houston" also originally fell into the 1980's "all-star" theme, a la "The Love Boat" or "Murder She Wrote." The first season is packed with big names. Some, like James Coco and Misty Rowe (from "Hee Haw") in "Recipe for Murder" played up the comedy. Others, like one big name in "The Good Doctor", appeared just long enough to spout a few lines before getting killed off. In one early episode ("Stop the Presses") you didn't know, going in, who was the murderer or who the victim (Bradford Dillman? Stuart Whitman? Murray Hamilton? Heather Locklear? Herb Edelman? Malcolm Jamal-Warner?)
The funny music, Hensley's enjoyable narration, guest stars who ranged from familiar television faces to washed up movie queens and Horsley's lighter-than-Garner performance highlight's the show's original comedy, indeed satirical, emphasis.
But along the way something happened to "Matt Houston." The funny music and Hensley's fun narration disappeared.
Even during the first season storylines became more serious and comedy was relegated to peripheral characters like George Wyner's Murray and the ranch's Brinegar. Then the ranch disappeared. And Wyner also vanished.
By the second season changes were fully implemented. Houston's pal in the police force (John Aprea) and his mother, who ran an Italian restaurant, were replaced by Lincoln Kilpatrick, playing a policeman with a love/hate relationship with Houston. Horsley's and Hensley's performances grew more serious.
By the third season, where television stalwart Buddy Ebsen was hauled in as Houston's never-before-mentioned CIA connected Uncle Roy, the stories were bitter. "Vanished" has Houston chasing a creep who murders children. "Caged" has C. J. (Hensley) cooped up in a detention center by a redneck sheriff who uses his inmates for prostitution.
The big-name guest stars disappear, replaced by up-and-coming actors who never upped or came (though the old spirit might have returned, but didn't, in an episode where Ebsen is reunited with former "Beverly Hillbillies" costar Max Baer, Jr.)
I'm not sure why the "Matt Houston," starting as a lighter-than-"Rockford" detective show packed with guest stars, gradually descended to grimmer-than-"Mannix" routine cop show; but the changes did not serve the show, nor Horsley and Hensley, well. Especially as they the kept the computer "Baby" which, in 1982, was the show's most unbelievable element. "Baby" belonged to the more freewheeling Matt who preferred detecting on the side.
The network that originally announced "Matt Houston" as a comedy let the show limp on through its third season's unsavory morass and then mercifully gave it the axe. Still, "Matt Houston" on its original state, with Houston an C. J. as comrades in a tongue-in-cheek style, fits into the 1980's romantic-comedy/detective hits like "Moonlighting", "Remington Steele" and "Scarecrow and Mrs. King." Only, somewhere it lost its sense of humor on the way.
It reminds me of the 1970s show "Switch," with Eddie Albert and Robert Wagner. Coming on the heels of "The Sting" it began as a charming, tricky show with a cute theme song. A grumpy former cop (Albert) and a con artist (Wagner) played con games to catch criminals who were otherwise uncatchable. It lost its sweet sense of humor and its con-game motif quick. Network interference? Writer failure? Who knows? Really. Who?
If you're like me and prefer the lighter side watch the first season of "Matt Houston," which starts out turning detective TV tropes on their head, and dump the rest.
It was on three seasons but only one was watchable. Three stars. Where I'd have given a high rating to the pilot alone. What a waste.
Houston was a private eye with a difference. He was funny. His ranch was populated with characters like Paul Brinegar (the cook from "Rawhide"). His swank LA offices were filled with beautiful secretaries. His beautiful legal advisor was his equal in everything (Pamela Hensley, who also provided early episodes with enjoyable, tongue-in-cheek narration).
Oh, and while Houston played detective on wild-goose-chases, his business affairs were handled by bald, comedic, constantly put-upon Murray (George Wyner, who had co-starred with Horsley previously in a short-lived "Nero Wolfe" series).
Most interestingly, Houston had a computer called "Baby" that, while predating the Internet by a decade, could call up almost anything at command.
The pilot episode enforced the show's comedic elements by having two theme songs for Matt: one, a typically loud, exciting QM piece; the other an amusing song that might have been written for the great silent comics (the funny theme was background music and is sometimes played over early closing credits).
"Matt Houston" also originally fell into the 1980's "all-star" theme, a la "The Love Boat" or "Murder She Wrote." The first season is packed with big names. Some, like James Coco and Misty Rowe (from "Hee Haw") in "Recipe for Murder" played up the comedy. Others, like one big name in "The Good Doctor", appeared just long enough to spout a few lines before getting killed off. In one early episode ("Stop the Presses") you didn't know, going in, who was the murderer or who the victim (Bradford Dillman? Stuart Whitman? Murray Hamilton? Heather Locklear? Herb Edelman? Malcolm Jamal-Warner?)
The funny music, Hensley's enjoyable narration, guest stars who ranged from familiar television faces to washed up movie queens and Horsley's lighter-than-Garner performance highlight's the show's original comedy, indeed satirical, emphasis.
But along the way something happened to "Matt Houston." The funny music and Hensley's fun narration disappeared.
Even during the first season storylines became more serious and comedy was relegated to peripheral characters like George Wyner's Murray and the ranch's Brinegar. Then the ranch disappeared. And Wyner also vanished.
By the second season changes were fully implemented. Houston's pal in the police force (John Aprea) and his mother, who ran an Italian restaurant, were replaced by Lincoln Kilpatrick, playing a policeman with a love/hate relationship with Houston. Horsley's and Hensley's performances grew more serious.
By the third season, where television stalwart Buddy Ebsen was hauled in as Houston's never-before-mentioned CIA connected Uncle Roy, the stories were bitter. "Vanished" has Houston chasing a creep who murders children. "Caged" has C. J. (Hensley) cooped up in a detention center by a redneck sheriff who uses his inmates for prostitution.
The big-name guest stars disappear, replaced by up-and-coming actors who never upped or came (though the old spirit might have returned, but didn't, in an episode where Ebsen is reunited with former "Beverly Hillbillies" costar Max Baer, Jr.)
I'm not sure why the "Matt Houston," starting as a lighter-than-"Rockford" detective show packed with guest stars, gradually descended to grimmer-than-"Mannix" routine cop show; but the changes did not serve the show, nor Horsley and Hensley, well. Especially as they the kept the computer "Baby" which, in 1982, was the show's most unbelievable element. "Baby" belonged to the more freewheeling Matt who preferred detecting on the side.
The network that originally announced "Matt Houston" as a comedy let the show limp on through its third season's unsavory morass and then mercifully gave it the axe. Still, "Matt Houston" on its original state, with Houston an C. J. as comrades in a tongue-in-cheek style, fits into the 1980's romantic-comedy/detective hits like "Moonlighting", "Remington Steele" and "Scarecrow and Mrs. King." Only, somewhere it lost its sense of humor on the way.
It reminds me of the 1970s show "Switch," with Eddie Albert and Robert Wagner. Coming on the heels of "The Sting" it began as a charming, tricky show with a cute theme song. A grumpy former cop (Albert) and a con artist (Wagner) played con games to catch criminals who were otherwise uncatchable. It lost its sweet sense of humor and its con-game motif quick. Network interference? Writer failure? Who knows? Really. Who?
If you're like me and prefer the lighter side watch the first season of "Matt Houston," which starts out turning detective TV tropes on their head, and dump the rest.
It was on three seasons but only one was watchable. Three stars. Where I'd have given a high rating to the pilot alone. What a waste.