Peter Gunn



A Private Eye TV show from 1958 that ran for three years. A half hour Private Detective show that updated the Hardboiled Detective ideals of the 1930's with 1950's notions of jazz cool. Featured the crime solving skills of the title character, who got equal portions of help and hindrance from Lieutenant Jacoby. He hung out in a nightclub where his girlfriend was the singer, and the owner often provide tips and clues to the crime.

Well executed, but mostly forgotten today ... except for the fact that Henry Mancini's theme music is legendary, and still popular today.


 * Action Prologue: The episode's crime to be solved would take place before the opening credits.
 * Breakaway Pop Hit: No, really. The theme music hit #1 on the Billboard chart. For ten weeks, and the show's soundtrack LP received the first Album of the Year award when the Grammy Awards began. (To be fair, it was the late 1950's.)
 * Channel Hop: The show aired for two seasons on NBC before jumping to ABC for its third and final season.
 * The Charmer: Pete himself.
 * Chiaroscuro: Unsurprisingly, as it was shot in black and white and rather Noir in style.
 * Detective Drama
 * Dramatic Half Hour
 * Film Noir
 * Friend on the Force: In Lieutenant Jacoby.
 * Glamorous Wartime Singer: Minus the war, but this is Pete's girlfriend, Edie Hart.
 * Good Guy Bar: Nightclub, really. But same difference.
 * Instrumental Theme Tune: With piano by John Williams.
 * The Movie: Gunn (1967). There was also a made-for-TV movie made in 1989 as a pilot for a prospective Revival series that didn't get picked up.
 * Music of Note: The series was notable for its music.
 * Reaches the point of Crowning Music of Awesome for the title theme, which has become one of the iconic themes of all time, up there with Mancini's other famous work The Pink Panther.
 * Private Detective: The titular Peter Gunn.