MIAMI UNDERCOVER

MIAMI UNDERCOVER (1961/syndicated). One season and 38 hour-hour episodes. 

In this lost crime series from the sixties, Lee Bowman (of The Lie) plays Jeff Thompson, a special investigator for the Hotel Association in Miami, where the show was filmed. Rocky Graziano (of Country Music Holiday) plays Rocky, who owns a nightclub -- Rocky's, of course -- and who apparently lives with Jeff. Another regular is Lt. O'Malley (Hugh Lawrence) of the Miami Beach Police Department, who has a pretty good relationship with Thompson. Michael Shayne, which debuted the previous year, also featured a private dick in Miami and lasted a little longer. 

There are only five episodes of the show available on the Internet, and it's too bad because Miami Undercover is an entertaining series. In "Miss Venus" the female partner in "Fair Lady" Enterprises is strangled, and the victim's sister works with Jeff to bring the killer to justice. In "School for Girls" Jeff and Rocky try to find out if it's a student or a teacher who's committing robberies at a girls' school. In "The Thrush" Larry King briefly plays a DJ who is murdered because he refuses to accept a bribe to play a record that is actually pretty decent. The singer is played by Jill Corey of Senior Prom and she gives a terrific dramatic performance. In "Bet Your Death" Suzanne Lloyd is excellent as a temptress who offers Jeff $10,000 for two days work selling bonds, but he knows something is fishy and uncovers a plot to assassinate a diplomat. In "Sunken Treasure" Nora Hayden of The Angry Red Planet is a duplicitous female who embroils an innocent young couple in a murderous scheme involving a phony treasure hunt in the Florida Keys. All of these entertaining episodes, with the exception of "Miss Venus," are also available in a DVD collection. 

Verdict: Interesting old series worth resuscitating. **3/4. 

BURKE'S LAW (1994 )

Gene Barry and Peter Barton

BURKE'S LAW (1994 CBS TV series). 

In this revival of the fun 1960's mystery series, Gene Barry is back as the wealthy Amos Burke, who drives around in a limo with a chauffeur, aide and cook named  Henry (now played by Danny Kamekona), and is now Chief of Police of Los Angeles. Widower Burke still goes to crime scenes with his detective son, Peter (Peter Barton), who never solves the crime the way his father does. Another cast member is Bever-Leigh [!] Banfield as all-in-one pathologist and crime scene investigator, Lily. At first Banfield didn't seem to have a clue as to how to play Lily, but eventually she settled in and became an asset to the series. A "guest star" on every episode was Dom DeLuise as the Burkes' friend, Vinnie, a restaurateur and jack of all trades who serves as comedy relief and is often quite amusing. 

Bever-Leigh Banfield

The tone of the revival is very similar to the original show, light-hearted in its approach but only occasionally veering into outright silliness. Barry and Barton are excellent in their roles and are quite good at exploring the loving father-son dynamics between the two men. Most of the episodes of the show were B+, but there were a few "A's" as well. "Who Killed the Host at the Roast" has a comedian electrocuted at his own comedy roast and features Milton Berle and an excellent Gavin McLeod. Amos turns down a proposal from Shirley Jones in "Who Killed the Gadget Man?" in which an infomercial specialist is murdered, and features an especially good guest-star turn from Vicki Lawrence. Robert Vaughn is great fun as an actor who plays vampires in "Who Killed the Movie Mogul?" and a handsome, womanizing lifeguard is murdered in his pool in "Who Killed the Lifeguard?" In "Who Killed Nick Hazard?" a private eye is murdered at a convention, and Anne Francis, who first appeared as Honey West on the original Burke's Law, essays the role of P.I. "Honey Best."

The revival lasted for two seasons for a total of 27 episodes, and was produced by Aaron Spelling. It is not a classic, but nevertheless it's a clever, well-acted and entertaining program that is recommended to fans of the original series. The new theme music seems pretty insipid at first, but it grows on you. The original show eventually metamorphosed into Amos Burke, Secret Agent, which lasted one interesting season. 

Verdict: No classic, perhaps, but a fun and smoothly scripted show. **3/4.