Ticket 2 Ride

Spenser For Hire ran for three seasons (1985–1988) on ABC with a total of 66 episodes, and of four made-for-TV movies (1993–1995). It was based on the books of Robert B. Parker.

Some of the creative people came from Quinn Martin Productions, like John Wilder and Virgil W. Vogel. The show was filmed on location in Boston.

Narration was provided by Spenser, who gave historical perspective, a bit of philosophy and background in each episode. Spenser seemed to be living on the edge of being out of business. Like other TV detectives, he’s righteous and isn’t driven by money. Works in a cruddy, upstairs walk up. Spencer drives a classic Mustang Fastback, though it’s seen better days. He drives like he’s survived multiple car chases before. In the pilot, he crashes it and a bad guy shoots it full of holes. By the next episode, the car looked in good shape.

In typical fashion, Spenser has a friend with the police, Lt. Quirk, played by veteran actor, Richard Jaeckel. Sgt. Belson is a messy, donut-eating cop who spars with Spenser. Susan Silverman is Spenser’s beautiful girlfriend, played by Barbara Stock. Stock was replaced by Carolyn McCormick for a season as Spenser’s love interest. McCormick’s character was an assistant district attorney, who was replaced by Stock’s return. To round out the cast, Avery Brooks is Hawk, a mystery man, an enforcer with a shady past with but who helps Spenser out of jams.

Spenser For Hire is Magnum P.I. without the sun and fun, the wealthy benefactor, the more upbeat stories, and the humor. The pilot of Spenser leaned a bit too heavy on TV detective cliches, but it developed legs as the first season progressed. Instead of poking fun at the detective genre, Spenser leans into it.

Robert Urich was Burt Reynolds-lite to a lot of people: handsome, athletic, mild-mannered, self-deprecating humor. He starred in numerous television series, with Vega$ and Spenser For Hire being his most successful. He is credited with starring in 15 television series in his career. Although the series contained very little humor, the Spenser character was imbued with charm and a lighthearted attitude that sometimes didn’t connect well with the other characters. Ulrich was good as Spenser, like he was as Dan Tanna on the Vegas Strip.

Susan Silverman and Spenser have a very complicated relationship. There’s love between them, and hot, romantic chemistry, but there are also differences between them. In fact, all of the relationships in the series have a complicated undercurrent.

Spenser frequently runs afoul of the local mob. In the first episode he wastes two carloads of punks, overcoming their superior firepower with deadly shooting. His relationship with the police feels a bit too cozy for believability. He a former cop, but that matter should come with complications, not hugs and kisses.

Spenser was never a top rated show, but it didn’t pull low ratings until its third season when it was moved to face off against Family Ties and Murder She Wrote, and placed in the bottom group of shows. The network blamed the high cost of location filming as a major factor in cancellation. Moving it up against Alex P. Keaton and Jessica Fletcher was indeed murder.

One tiny piece of good news. Avery Brooks was spun off in his own series, A Man Called Hawk, which lasted 13 episodes.

I liked this show, even if it struggled to define itself. By the third season, ABC had given up on it and fed it to Family Ties and Murder She Wrote. Both Spenser and Urich deserved better.