Mannix passing, and where have the P.I. shows gone?

I didn't want to derail the other thread, but I started thinking about my favorite private dick/vigilante/lone wolf cop show. Mannix, Cannon, Rockford, Equalizer, Magnum, Simons,...and then I couldn't come up with any newer ones.
Then it struck me that the defenders of the unjustly accused were all government agents. CSI, NCIS, Law and Order, and so on.

So- favorite private detective? (Rockford)

And, is it fashion or societal pressures that have eliminated the lone wolf?

I see flounder potential, so keep it away from patio material, please.

In reply to Streetwiseguy:

PI = Bad.

Government official = mostly bad.

Tormented soul turned super hero = good, but in a tormented and possibly bad way.

Or to put it another way, turn off the TV and go out to the shop. There is little worth watching anymore.

Edit: As to favorites, that would be a toss up between Magnum and the Simons.

It is a bit strange, the TV industry loves to stick with common theme's e.g. medical shows and crime / cop shows make up about 75% of network shows.

It might have to do with the fact that most can relate to crime / medical because of either a personal experience or the news. Experience with PI's is likely very uncommon.

Rockford was a good show, maybe mostly because of Garner. I always think of the show when I drive through the Malibu area. The concept of someone living in a trailer in a beach parking lot these days is beyond absurd though. Fun fact: the location in the later seasons was in Paridise Cove, which is now the location of what are likely the most expensive mobile home park in the country. Double wide for 1.5 million anyone?!?!

There is a lot of cool in this pic (this was the initial season location BTW)

Too tough for me to pick just one. My top three would be Magnum, Rockford and Simon&Simon in no particular order.

I liked them all, but Rockford was my favorite.

I think it has more to do with trends - for instance, in the late 1950s / early 1960s there were a zillion westerns on TV, but they all disappeared. Later on there were the Beverly Hillbillies, Petticoat Junction, Green Acres, the Waltons and other similar shows, and they all went away. Another example is the variety show - Carol Burnett, Dean Martin and many others, which also went away. Sooner or later the crime / CSI kind of shows will be replaced by something else.

Quincy M.E. sorta bridges the gap between Medical, PI, and governmental agents.

As for Magnum and Simon and Simon.. it's a toss up. Rip Tide was decent too

The 70's had a strong anti-authoritarian vibe to them. Think of the Dukes of Hazard how the heros were good ole boys and the baddies were Boss Hogg and his incompetent sheriff.

Or the spate of shows about truckers. I was a little kid in the era of BJ and the Bear. It made me want to be an OTR trucker. Thankfully I grew out of that phase.

Sterling Archer knows what's up.

Mannix had some cool cars and a Motorola car phone.

In reply to fasted58:

The Mannix Dart got found and restored a few years ago. As I recall, this was one of those cars that Barris took credit for, but really wasn't that involved with, a common thing with him.

In reply to NickD:

I just read the Hemmings article, and they credit Barris for the work. There's also Barris emblems on the fenders.

The Toronado Roadster is Barris

it looks kooky enough to be one

I don't watch enough TV to really say, given my only experience with commercials they show during the Simpsons and Family Guy, but it seems the few shows on, they are populated with hipsters.

What was the last detective show with a cool car, Miami Vice? That was a cop show, not a PI. Knight Rider maybe

Mannix did have the most baller rides.

The Death Fairy has been busy.

I always liked Spenser: For Hire, personally.

The only modern PI show I know of was Terriers, but it was only on for 1 season and may be hard to find. Bosch on Amazon Prime is good too, but he's a cop.

Elementary is a good PI show.

Not a real P.I. show but amusing none the less

eastpark wrote: In reply to NickD: I just read the Hemmings article, and they credit Barris for the work. There's also Barris emblems on the fenders.

Maybe it wasn't this one, but there are a lot of "Barris car's" that Barris really didn't do anything with. Dean Jeffries, who worked for Barris, said that Barris liked to take credit for stuff and would self-promote it as his. Jeffries created the Green Hornet and The Monkeemobile and Barris took sole credit for it. Jeffries was also the one who painted Little Bastard on James Dean's Porsche and Barris swore it was himself who did it

Yup, that's for sure. Barris gets a lot of credit for the Batmobile but Ford (Lincoln) did most of the heavy work.

Toebra wrote: What was the last detective show with a cool car, Miami Vice?

Nash Bridges?

Rick Simon's Dodge pu was basic but pretty cool.

Toebra wrote: What was the last detective show with a cool car, Miami Vice? That was a cop show, not a PI. Knight Rider maybe

Burn Notice has that Dodge Charger

I built a model of the car from this show:

Stingray

Crime Story was another good one with cool cars.

What was that one show in the 80's that was kind of like the motorcycle version of Knight Rider? Might have only been on for a year and was probably horrible, but the 10 year old version of me liked it..

I grew up watching Magnum P.I. so lots of fond memories of it. They had it on Netflix for a while, watched almost all the seasons. After it got pulled from Netflix I switched to Rockford Files. After coming from Magnum who almost never gets in trouble with the law to Rockford who almost always ends up in jail or getting knocked out, was an interesting contrast of characters.

It was also pretty interesting the subjects Rockford covered. Whereas Magnum was mostly whodunit style episodes, his more serious episodes tackled issues with Vietnam vets, and how they were dealing with the PTSD (though no one called it that back then)and integrating back into regular life. Rockford covered lots of legal stuff, that still has relevance today, like the episode on grand jury's and your rights pertaining to them, which are pretty much forfeit if you get called, it's pretty scary stuff that is still "legal" today. There was also the episode about legal data gathering on citizens without their knowledge, which is pretty much what google and facebook do now and no one bats an eye at.

I gotta say I find Rockford the better show of the two.

I think the newest P.I. show I watched and enjoyed was Veronica Mars. High school girl with a P.I. dad goes sleuthing in her off time. There's a long story arc going on with her trying to find out exactly what happened at a party she was drugged at, that runs throughout the series.

I miss P.I. shows.