Fan Art...and A Look at a Certain Kind of TV

Over the years, there have been a number of movie and TV series that attempted to play with the format of the very successful "Thin Man" series about the adventures of Nick and Nora Charles, as played by William Powell and Myrna Loy. There was even a TV series of that name in the 1950s, with Peter Lawford and Phyllis Kirk. More recent examples include Hart to Hart with Robert Wagner and Stefanie Powers or McMillan & Wife, with Rock Hudson and Susan St. James.

All of those match the pattern of a professional male detective with an amateur female partner, usually his wife. Since the 1980s, there have been a number of similar series with the roles reversed: a pro female detective and an amateur male partner--usually not married. The most important element in these series has been the sexual tension between the partners, as in Remington Steele, Moonlighting, and the example I illustrated here, Castle.

All of these shows eventually decided they had to resolve that tension, either by having the protagonists admit their attraction and fall into bed together or, in some cases, actually get married. The problem? Once that happened, there was little to differentiate this series from any other detective/police procedural on the air. The fun was gone. (Of course, with both Castle and Moonlighting, there was the additional problem of animosity between the two leads and/or the producers.)

It's happened with other sorts of shows as well: I present The Nanny and Who's the Boss? as prime examples. Maybe relying on this sort of relationship simply isn't conducive to a long run?