Ace Crawford, Private Eye

Infobox Television
show_name = Ace Crawford, Private Eye


caption =
genre = Parody
Comedy
creator =
director =
developer =
presenter =
starring = "(See article)"
voices =
narrated =
theme_music_composer = Hughie Cannon
Peter Matz
opentheme =
endtheme =
composer =
country = USA
language =
num_seasons = 1
num_episodes = 5
list_episodes =
executive_producer =
producer = Ron Clark
Philip Weltman
supervising_producer =
asst_producer =
co-producer =
editor =
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location =
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runtime = 30 min.
network = CBS
picture_format =
audio_format =
first_run =
first_aired = March 15, 1983
last_aired = April 12, 1983
preceded_by =
followed_by =
related =
website =
imdb_id = 0084968
tv_com_id = 12753

"Ace Crawford, Private Eye" was a 1983 television program that parodied the “hard-boiled detective” genre; Tim Conway starred as a trench-coated private detective who always solved the case and caught the bad guy, despite his constant bumbling. Only five episodes were shown.

Cast and characters

In addition to Tim Conway as Ace Crawford, the cast included:

* Joe Regalbuto as Toomey, a CPA and Conway’s assistant; he always saw Crawford as a hero, and thought that his bumbling was simply some kind of cunning strategy.
* Billy Barty as Inch, owner and bartender of The Shanty, a wharfside bar where Crawford hangs out.
* Shera Danese as Luana, a singer at The Shanty who lusted after Crawford.
* Bill Henderson as Mello, a blind jazz musician at The Shanty.
* Dick Christie as Detective Lieutenant Fanning, who was always mystified as to how Crawford solved every case.

Format

In each half-hour episode, Crawford would be hired for, or otherwise find himself involved in, a case in which criminals were taking advantage of innocent citizens. He would then approach the case using Conway’s trademark comedy style; in one episode he was disguised as a feeble old man, in another he was using children's toy microphone as a “wire,” et cetera. In spite of the slapstick results of his actions, Crawford would always emerge triumphant.

Every episode ended the same way: Crawford would leave The Shanty at night and walk along the wharf, vanishing into the fog... and then audibly fall into the water.

Each episode was on film (as opposed to videotape), and had a laugh track.

Availability

In 1989, a VHS videocassette was released, containing the first three episodes. This videocassette is currently out of print, and this show has not yet been released on DVD.

External links

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