Great music, clipped noir dialogue right out of Dashiell Hammett, solid plots (mostly), black actors when no one was using any, and non PC police (shoot first)--the series deserves a modern audience to appreciate early quality TV. What's nice for me is seeing this show on a 65 inch TV and running the sound through a home theater sound system with top JBL speakers. Just sit back and enjoy that Mancini sound track. Yes the sets are minimal but some great actors getting started--James Coburn, Norman Fell, Ted Knight, Gavin MacLeod--just to name a few. Now thanks to Hulu you can stream Gunn right into your home.

I was aware of this show when it first aired but, since I was a baby boomer, it wasn't on my allowed watch list, being an "adult TV series" in the late 50's. Finally got interested in it while listening to Mancini's music album of the same name. To say that this show was ahead of its time and a forerunner of future series is to do it a disservice. Peter Gunn was groundbreaking in the use of jazz to create the proper mood of the action on screen, and in the way it slyly spanked the censors through witty writing and heavy emotional and physical situations. It brings back memories of the old Mae West and W.C. Fields comedies in the way they battered the blue-pencils of censorship while looking oh so innocent on screen. I recall one scene where Pete is convincing a landlady to let him into the room of someone he is investigating. She asks him, "So, are you a cop?" Pete replies, "Not exactly." She says, "Oh, a private dick then?" And Pete says, "Just private." If that doesn't tickle your fancy to go watch this series from start to finish, you are missing out on one of the great treats that life has to offer. God Bless You, Blake Edwards.

TV actors, at least in the old days when they were placed in a separate class from movie actors, often seemed to be clones of their movie brethren. Some were singular in their associations. Nehemiah Persoff seemed to be the Edward G. Robinson of television, getting similar roles and acting them in a very similar manner. Carolyn Jones was the Bette Davis of TV, even to the point of playing a set of sisters one of whom is a murderer on Burke's Law. Other's had company in their pursuits. The western stars were all either John Wayne or Gary Cooper, with an occasional Jimmy Stewart or Henry Fonda thrown in, (including the real thing on "The Deputy"). There were a whole selection of Clark Gables, including John Russell, Rory Calhoun, Richard Egan , Robert Lowery and others. There were plenty of Brandos, including Burt Reynolds, George Maharis and John Saxon. There were enough Rock Hudsons to fill a theater, with John Gavin, Tom Tryon and Gardner McKay coming immediately to mind. The blonde versions I call the "Redfords", a group of thoughtful , well educated types of which Robert Redford was one along with James Franciscus, Richard Chamberlain and William Shatner. They had varying degrees of success with Redford emerging as the head of the class. Perhaps the most successful strain, however were the Cary Grants. Grant made an ideal model for the suave detective hero, able to be charming or tough as the occasion demanded. Craig Stevens was hired to play Peter Gunn specifically because of a strong resemblance to Grant. His tightlipped performance was not really very charming but it's surely how Cary would have played that character. Latern-jawed John Vivyan played a role that Grant had actually essayed in the movies, Mr. Lucky. He was competent at best. The heroes of the Warner Brother's detective shows were largely based on Cary Grant. Ephram Zimbelist Jr.'s Stu Bailey was a grant-style role with a lot more charm than Peter Gunn. Richard Long's Rex Randolph on Bourbon Street Beat was much the same. Anthony Eisley's Tracy Steele was a less convincing version of the same character on Hawaiian Eye. But the best of the Grant clones was Gene Barry. He was male-model handsome, had good breeding and seductive whiskey voice. He was also TV's greatest reactors. He had a series of comic takes that was perfect for Amos Burke, who had to confront an unending series of eccentric subjects. Yet he could turn around and romance the ladies or get tough with the tough guys. And he was a good enough actor to hold up his end when the heavy dramatics intervened. One wonders what the originals of these clones must have thought as they watched the boob tube in it's infancy.

although i didn't get to see pete do his thing when the show originally aired from 1958-61 i have thoroughly enjoyed watching the released episodes on homevideo.peter gunn has the smoothest demeanor about the cases he works,but when he gets riled,look out.he can spar with the best of them.i'm sure it helps his image to be dating the pretty night club singer at the local scene called mothers.this way,it doesn't seem like he's just a hood bustin machine,but also a loverboy on the side.henry mancini does wonders for this show with its slick "crime jazz" that sets the tone at the beginning of each episode.i recommend anyone who is into police or detective stories to get into pete if they haven't already.