Ace Crawford, Private Eye
Ace Crawford, Private Eye is an American sitcom that aired on CBS from March 15 to April 12, 1983. The series parodied the "hard-boiled detective" genre.
Synopsis
Tim Conway stars as a trench-coated private investigator who always solves the case and catches the bad guy, despite his constant bumbling. The show was broadcast on Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET. Only five episodes were aired.Cast and characters
- Tim Conway as Ace Crawford, Private Eye.
- Joe Regalbuto as Toomey, a CPA and Crawford'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 a children's toy microphone as a "wire." 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, and had a laugh track.