Black Tie Affair

This series lasted briefly (under six episodes?) in the early nineties and it's no wonder. Though the storyline of a Sam Spade like private dick (Bradley Whitford) and his super-competent gal Friday, Cookie was well written and a lot of fun for fans of film noir there was little chance this show would last.

There was no laugh track and the jokes weren't delivered with the heavy handed style television audiences have come to expect. Perhaps viewers tuned in and had no idea what they were supposed to be watching. Who knows.

With a continuing storyline featuring Kate Capshaw as an older, Bacall/Stanwyck type mystery woman this show managed to pay homage to the hard boiled detective genre without lapsing too heavily into parody. Another treasure swallowed up before it had a chance to find its audience.