Switch

This was a pretty good detective show. I love the fact that this is one of those hour dramas that really didn't take itself seriously as most detective shows did. This show and "The Rockford Files" had a knack for poking fun at the detective genre. Also, Charlie Callas helped increase the fun factor, especially when Pete and Mac moved their office to the room above Malcolm's restaurant. This is definitely an underrated show.

Like the only other IMDb.com commentator on this show, I am surprised that Switch has disappeared into TV Neverland.

On the strength of the cast alone, with a fairly significant star (Robert Wagner), a likable and first-rate character actor (Eddie Albert) and a future TV star, Switch should get receive recognition. Yet no one pays attention. Strange.

Still, the show stands up on its own merits. It had an original premise (which has since been copied more than once), cleverly constructed stories, snappy dialogue, spot-on action, likable characters and first-rate acting. All-round excellent entertainment.

If you get the chance to watch this on a rerun, take a look. You won't regret it.

7.5/10

Hot on the heels of "The Sting" (movie) came this derivative little series that started out with great charm. It concerned a detective agency run by old pro Eddie Albert and uber-smooth Robert Wagner. Albert was an ex-policeman who was the only one ever able to bust Wagner's character, who was a professional con man. Also in the cast were Sharon Gless, relegated to the role of secretary but who was often involved; and comedian Charlie Callas (if you can sit through a Jerry Lewis movie see Callas in "The Big Mouth.") It started out with such class I wondered how it got on the air.

As I said, it started with charm. The pilot had a neat little flute-played theme song that could be turned into an early-jazz sort of piece (sort of like how "The Sting" so effectively used the music of Scott Joplin). But whatever happened, whether it just began ridiculous to try to pull off a big con in an hour every week, or someone thought it wasn't worth the effort for the ratings they were getting, in the second season it degenerated into a typical cop show. I suppose they're easier to write. If someone told me to write a story about a big con every week I wouldn't know what to do, either.

Robert Wagner oozes a smarmy charm. He's at the height of his powers. A better actor than he was in the early part of his career, and not as chunky as he was later on. He's a perfect con man, with his winning smile and manners.

Eddie Albert has played comedy and drama for decades. He exploded well in Hooterville and he's given the chance to bluster here. When Wagner sees a chance to take crooks down by a big con he knows what he's doing and Albert fights him at every stage, especially when it comes to laying out moolah.

Guest stars abound. A pre-Angel Jaclyn Smith (who would later star with Wagner in "Windmills of the Gods"); Joan Collins; John Dehner . . .

It reminds me of another charming show, "Matt Houston," which started out with lots of humor and a focus not only on Houston's PI office but also his ranch. But in the second season "Houston" became just another PI show and serious in tone, and sank like a rock.

"Switch" started out as a wonderful little show but after it became just another cop show it was hardly worth watching. Too bad. The teaming of Robert Wagner and Eddie Albert showed lots of promise. It seems a bit weird in retrospect but they were both well-known professionals and good at what they did, which was highlighted in the early episodes. And what they did to the theme song was disheartening. With "Switch" and "Matt Houston" it's surprising how quickly something clever and different, with a twist of humor, can become run-of-the-mill.

"For God's sake let us sit on the ground and tell sad stories of the death of kings." Shakespeare, Richard II.

This is another CBS series which started very strong. A lot of that was the cast. Robert Wagner, Eddie Albert & Sharon Gless are three extreme talents put together on this series. They were what held the later shows together.

The first scripts of this show were extremely intelligent. Wagner playing off Albert & Gless trying to stop the 2 of them from going at each others throats was very effective. The friction gave this show a strong start. The early shows had something special. Charlie Callas helped the early shows too but he strangely stopped appearing after the second season.

Later on in the series, a report about excessive violence on TV came out & CBS reacted by watering down the quality of the action & the parks between Wagner & Albert. Once this happened, the show abruptly lost ratings & got canceled. This was a very good series originally, but if you watch the first shows & then watch the last ones, you will see what I mean about the change.

Switch was an interesting little show, not great, not bad, fairly decent in fact. The premise was retired cop Eddie Albert teams up with retired con man/former adversary Robert Wagner as private eyes with a pre-Cagney and Lacey Sharon Gless as their secretary. Albert and Wagner had an excellent laid back chemistry and some the cases showed some originality and had a pretty high entertainment value. Two interesting notes about the show is I have never seen an article about Sharon Gless or the rest of the cast that even mentions the show and it seems to be completely forgotten in reruns, articles about television or the cast, etc. despite the high visibility of the cast. Second the first two seasons had a very light hearted approach but the last two were considerably darker in tone and far more violent. All in all a decent show that seems to have disappeared down the memory hole. NB Almost a quarter of a century after it first aired and a decade after IMD arrived this it the first comment on it to appear on IMD!