Burke's Law

Infobox Television
show_name = Burke's Law


caption = "Burke's Law" 1963 series intro card
aka =
genre = Crime drama
creator = Frank D. Gilroy
Ivan Goff
Ernest Kinoy
writer =
director =
creat_director =
developer =
presenter =
starring = Gene Barry
voices =
narrated =
theme_music_composer = Herschel Burke Gilbert
opentheme =
endtheme =
composer =
country = USA
language = English
num_seasons = 3
num_episodes = 81
list_episodes =
executive_producer =
co_exec =
producer = Aaron Spelling
sup_producer =
asst_producer = Richard Newton
cons_producer =
co-producer =
editor =
story_editor =
location =
cinematography =
camera_setup =
runtime = 60 mins.
channel = ABC
picture_format =
audio_format =
first_run =
first_aired = September 20, 1963
last_aired = May 1, 1965
preceded_by =
followed_by =
related = "Honey West"

"Burke's Law" is a detective series which ran on ABC from 1963 to 1965 and was revived on CBS in the 1990s. The show starred Gene Barry as Amos Burke, millionaire Los Angeles Chief of Detectives, who was chauffeured around to solve crimes in his Rolls-Royce.

Characters

There were stylistic similarities to Barry's previous series, "Bat Masterson", in which he had played the debonair dandy Bat Masterson in the Old West. During the opening credits, as the title flashed onscreen, a woman's voice was heard seductively pronouncing the words "It's Burke's Law!" The title also reflected the character Burke's habit of dispensing wisdom to his underlings in a professorial manner, e.g. "Never ask a question unless you already know the answer. Burke's Law."

The title of each episode started with the words "Who Killed..." with the name or description of the victim (who died in the show's opening minutes) completing it.

In the original series, other characters were Detective Tim Tilson (Gary Conway), Detective Les Hart (Regis Toomey), Henry, Burke's chauffeur Leon Lontoc and Sergeant Ames (Eileen O'Neill). In several episodes Anne Francis appeared as female detective Honey West, which led to a short-lived spin-off series.

Music

The musical score for "Burke's Law" was largely the work of Herschel Burke Gilbert, whose middle name was coincidentally the same as the character of the series.

History

The role of Amos Burke actually predated Barry's series, having been played by Dick Powell on an episode of "The Dick Powell Show" in 1961. The first incarnation of the series was produced by Powell's company, Four Star Television.

In the last season of the original, 1965–1966, the series was retitled "Amos Burke, Secret Agent", and only seventeen episodes were broadcast instead of the thirty-two of the first two seasons. In this last season, Burke went to work for a secret government agency, but still drove around in his Rolls, which had been discreetly bulletproofed by the agency. The supporting cast of the earlier seasons was dropped.

The revival show

In the revival of the show, which ran on CBS from 1994 to 1995, the title again became "Burke's Law" and Burke was back at work as a police detective. In the second incarnation, Burke was assisted by his son, Peter (Peter Barton). The revival, even more than the original program, was widely regarded as being largely camp. The nostalgic revival featured guest appearances by many of Barry's peers from the 1960s Spy-fi genre, including Patrick Macnee ("The Avengers"), Peter Lupus ("") and Anne Francis reprising Honey West (albeit renamed "Honey Best").

DVD release

Burke's Law (1963) Season One (Volume One) became available on DVD from VCI Entertainment on April 29, 2008. Season One Volume Two is expected to be released in the fall/winter of 2008.

External links

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