Friday, December 10, 2004

Remembering "Booker" (Who Else Does?)

TV writer and producer Lee Goldberg asks, "Who Was The Best TV P.I.?"

My comment:

I'll go with the strict construction, which eliminates Spenser as he was in books before TV. That leaves me with Joe Mannix and Jim Rockford, but I'd also like to mention a second Cannell creation, Dennis Booker (played by Richard Grieco). I can best describe Booker as a rock n' roll rebel P.I. The show was an interesting blend of cultures as Booker left the Jump Street cops to be mainly employed by staid Japanese corporation Teshima.

"Booker" (which aired for two seasons on FOX) also used a stoked theme song from Billy Idol, "Hot in the City".

The best episode? "Someone Stole Lucille." Booker is tasked with retrieving B.B. King's legendary guitar, which has been insured by Teshima. Along the way, he strives to babysit a corporate spy from Teshima's home office (Gedde Watanabe) and keep a date with the lovely Skylar Samperton (Tawny Kitaen). IMdb reveals the episode first aired December 10, 1989.

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