Matt Houston debuted in the Fall of 1982. I found out sometime later that Aaron Spelling had been pressing Gene Barry to revive his classic character of millionaire L. A. Captain of Homicide Amos Burke as early as 1980 (Barry eventually gave in, and a lackluster reboot of Burke's Law aired for two half-seasons in 1994 and 1995). Apparently, Spelling and his old friend, movie producer Larry Gordon (who'd written at least one episode of the original Burke's Law) retooled the concept, and came up with this series about a Texas oil millionaire who becomes an L. A. private detective, starring Lee Horsley (who previously played Archie Goodwin in a short-lived Nero Wolfe series a year and a half earlier) as Houston, with Pamela Hensley as his lawyer/sidekick/girl Friday C. J. Parsons and John Aprea as Lt. Vince Novelli, his surprisingly patient friend on the LAPD.
And for the first season, they seemed to be going for an updated version of Burke's Law, with outrageous murders and the all-star cast of familiar TV and movie faces as only Aaron Spelling could bring. If you ever wanted to see Natalie 'Lovey Howell' Schafer blown to bits by a rigged 'test your strength' bell at a carnival, with the likes of Ron 'Horshack' Palillo and Bo Hopkins as suspects, this is for you! Or maybe you've always wanted to see Troy Donahue blown away by David Cassidy's killer robot, with Jessica Walter, Norman Fell and Monte Markham along for the ride? That's in the first season as well. 'Skipper' Alan Hale done in by a snake hidden in his jacket? Check! And those are a few of the stories in the promising first season, which deftly combined murder mystery and humor.
So what happened to make them abandon this concept for subsequent seasons? I'm guessing two things...one, the ratings weren't good enough for Spelling, and two, he read all the reviews comparing Horsley to Tom Selleck (in both style and looks). So for the second season, Spelling jettisoned the all-star cast idea and turned Houston into more of an L. A. version of Magnum, but totally forgetting that what made Magnum, P. I. so appealing was the combination of action and humor (which they had ALREADY DONE in the first season of Matt Houston!). Horsley and Hemsley had undeniable appeal and great looks to boot and went from playing charming characters to dead serious characters. In keeping with the new serious Matt Houston, that meant that friendly Lt. Novelli was out and gruff Lt. Hoyt (Lincoln Kilpatrick) was in.
Those changes didn't work, so for the third and final season, they gave Houston some help in the form of Uncle Roy, portrayed by none other than Buddy Ebsen, and one has to sense that Ebsen had to have a chuckle about being brought in to help a younger hero, as when he was starring as Barnaby Jones, the producers there brought in a younger actor (Mark Shera) to take some of the load off Ebsen. Result? Bringing in the reinforcements didn't help, though one episode reunited Ebsen with his former Beverly Hillbillies co-star Max Baer, Jr.
So this year marks the 40th Anniversary of Matt Houston, and I can't help but wonder just what would've happen had they not abandoned the original concept and turned it into just another generic action show. Would it have been considered an '80's classic instead of just another curio? Who knows? But the first season at least is worth a look. 5 stars out of 10.
