Madigan

No one has ever played a detective (the kind that bends the rules) as well as the great and often overlooked Richard Widmark. The six 90-minute episodes that comprise this series remain fresh in my memory despite the fact that I have not seen the show since its rebroadcasts on the CBS Late Movie in the U.S. during the mid-70s. Without Widmark, there may not have been a whole lot to distinguish the show from a lot of other cop dramas of the decade, but his performance always made it more than a cut above routine. I find these shows (especially "The Manhattan Beat" and "The London Beat" episodes) far superior to director Don Siegel's 1968 theatrical feature that inspired this short-lived NBC-TV series. Now if only these shows were available on video or even in syndication.