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Official Detective

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For the radio series, see Official Detective (radio series).
Official Detective
GenreAnthology
Written byMort Briskin
Don Martin
Directed byPaul Guilfoyle
Lee Sholem
Presented byEverett Sloane
Theme music composerJack Shaindlin
ComposerE.C. Norton
Country of originUnited States
Original languageEnglish
No. of seasons1
No. of episodes40
Production
ProducerMort Briskin
Camera setupSingle-camera
Running time25 mins.
Production companiesDesilu Productions
National Telefilm Associates
Original release
NetworkSyndication
Release1957 (1957) –
March 19, 1958 (1958-03-19)

Official Detective is an American anthology television series which aired in syndication from 1957 to March 19, 1958. The series was hosted by veteran film actor Everett Sloane.[1]

Overview

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The production of the first pilot was announced in December 1956.[2] The story dealt with the slaying of a woman where the main challenge is to identify the body.[3]

Mort Briskin was the producer,[4] and Lee Sholem was the director.[5] The episodes of Official Detective are archived at the UCLA Film and Television Archive in Los Angeles.[6] Episodes were produced for NTA at Desilu.[7]

Desilu employed professional detectives as technical advisers to ensure that procedures depicted in the program accurately represented real-life police work. Scripts were adapted from articles published in Official Detective magazine, and officials at the magazine reviewed the scripts' content for accuracy.[8]

Critical response

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Critic Jack Gould, writing in The New York Times, described the program as "another routine crime series", adding, "The major horror of the first episode was the senseless slaughter of half-hour by a very ancient blunt instrument."[9]

A review in the trade publication Billboard called the program "another of this year's more solid entries into the syndication field".[10] The review called the premiere episode's approach "a little too pedestrian".[10] Although it said that some dialog was corny, it added that the show "has enough muscle to have planted a firm foot on the ground."

References

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  1. ^ McNeil, Alex (1996). Total Television (4th ed.). New York: Penguin Books. ISBN 0-14-024916-8.
  2. ^ "Desilu sets pilot for NTA". The Billboard. 1 December 1956. Retrieved 20 April 2020.
  3. ^ "Official Detective (Synd.)". The Billboard. 30 September 1957. Retrieved 20 April 2020.
  4. ^ Terrace, Vincent (October 21, 2022). From Radio to Television: Programs That Made the Transition, 1929-2021. McFarland. p. 163. ISBN 978-1-4766-4693-0. Retrieved February 9, 2024.
  5. ^ "27 Lined Up For 'Official'". Billboard. July 15, 1957. p. 6. Retrieved February 9, 2024.
  6. ^ UCLA Library Catalog. UCLA Library. Retrieved 2009-08-22.
  7. ^ "Everett Sloane To Play Lead Detective Role". The Richmond News Leader. August 10, 1957. p. 33. Retrieved February 9, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
  8. ^ "Caught Flatfooted". TV Guide. 6 (13): 10–11. March 19, 1958. Retrieved October 31, 2021.
  9. ^ "TV: Frank Sinatra Show: Singer Excels in His Own Numbers, but Other Sketches Are Less Rewarding". The New York Times. October 19, 1957. p. 39. Retrieved February 8, 2024.
  10. ^ a b "Official Detective (Synd.)". Billboard. September 30, 1957. p. 12. Retrieved February 9, 2024.
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