Crazy Like a Fox

This show was perfect for its time. It mixed some good action and mystery elements with a lot of great humor. Jack Warden plays an old detective type guy who is just really funny.

"Crazy Like a Fox" combined wit, adventure and good old fashioned common sense that always triumphs over established education. Jack Warden is ideal as "the bull in the china shop" investigator who has no awareness of proper social protocol and frankly does not care. His son,Harrison, played by John Rubenstein is the exasperated and at first unwilling partner to his father. But once he becomes th reluctant assistant, he is always fiercely loyal and is determined to always compensate for his father's madcap blunders and see the case through. Harry might be gauche and deliberately unpolished but in more than one episode , he empowers those around him,who are struggling and are at life's crossroads and gives them hope and an incentive to succeed. The family dynamic always is beautiful to behold and loving and nobody in the family is ever made to look foolish or ineffectual. And the best part is that the nuclear family is normal and free of dysfunction. There is the additional joy in the absence of profanity and some of the frantic chase scenes remind me of humorous escapades from 1960s Disney feature films. It is a great series which my wife and I see again and again with renewed enjoyment every time.

CRAZY LIKE A FOX 3 STARS

This show has a great cast and good storylines, but little plot in between, otherwise it is a nice happening, and the theme song is very good.

I loved Jack Warden in this series. Sometimes instead of dialog, he would make a sort of grunting sound that would convey doubt or skepticism. It said so much more than words could. I would love to see this again for Warden's character. It made the series interesting and worth watching. He was so much smarter than his educated son. Also I loved when he would do something crazy like stealing a truck saying "What could go wrong?" Something always went wrong. He was attractive to women too. I would have dated him. Did anyone else love this show like I did? My other favorite of his is the character Tiresias in the Woody Allen film, Mighty Aphrodite. It was great hearing him make his pronouncements in everyman mode.

In San Francisco, Harry Fox, Sr. (Jack Warden) is a streetwise private eye. His son Harrison Fox (John Rubinstein) is a straight-laced lawyer trying to have a respectable practice. Harrison is married to Cindy (Penny Peyser) with young son Josh. Despite his reluctance, Harrison keeps getting involved in cases with his father.

It may not be a big deal to some but I really like the peppy opening theme song. It may not be one of the icons but it's one of the better ones. As for the pairing, I like the chemistry and Jack Warden is great. If there is anything missing, it may be a third on the team. It is sometimes Cindy but her role as stay at home mom is limiting. I often wanted Harry to have a secretary. For one great episode, Carol Kane is that secretary. It's a little too much to hope for a great to take that role. Certainly, Cindy could have taken the job. It would also be a great way to connect Harrison with Harry's cases which is often an issue on the show. The cases would have to fall into both of their laps. It may help even more if father and son are forced to work out of the same office. They wouldn't have to do the story gymnastics to get both of them into the cases. The show could have lasted much longer but some jumping around the schedule in its second season accelerated its drop. It's two seasons and a movie.