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The F.B.I.

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TV Series

The Resume

    (September 19, 1965-April 28, 1974)
    ABC
    A Quinn Martin / Warner Brothers co-production
    Efrem Zimbalist, Jr. as Inspector Lewis Erskine
    Philip Abbott as Arthur Ward
    Stephen Brooks as Special Agent Jim Rhodes (1965–67)
    William Reynolds as Special Agent Tom Colby (1967–73)
    Shelly Novack as Special Agent Chris Daniels (1974-1975)
    Dramatized casefiles of the Federal Bureau of Investigation
    Inspired by ‘The FBI Story’ (Warner Brothers, 1959)

Why The F.B.I. might be annoying:

    Take note of the period punctuation in your search for the abbreviation.
    ‘The mission of the F.B.I. is to protect the innocent and identify the enemies of the Government of the United States.’ (How times have changed.)
    The premier episode (‘The Monster,’ about a serial killer that used his victims’ hair to strangle them) was so shocking to the real federal official that acted as series consultant that he called for its cancellation!
    Unusual for its day, there was an early subplot involving Erskine’s daughter – whose mother died in the ambush he was supposed to die in – and Agent Rhodes.
    Not without merit, MAD Magazine parodied it as ‘The F.I.B.’ (Even decades later!)
    Only in its sixth season did it enter the Nielsens Top 10; it never finished above 17th before or since.

Why The F.B.I. might not be annoying:

    The rolling timpani and ascending brass make for an easily-recognizable theme piece among its original audience.
    At the end of the teaser, the casefile code and infraction would be smashed onto the frozen frame.
    It survived several more cancellation attempts (by J. Edgar Hoover, no less).
    Its first legit Christmas episode (‘Dark Christmas’) was filmed in Denver, Colorado – complete with active winter – in 1972.
    Only in its first and last seasons did it finish outside the Nielsens’ top 30.
    Zimbalist and Abbott were the only cast members common to all 241 episodes (with Reynolds, the last surviving regular, coming in at over 160).
    Some episodes followed their epilogue with a real ‘most wanted’ segment hosted by Zimbalist.
    It inspired a short-run spinoff (‘Today’s FBI’), whose entire six-month run was in the same Sunday slot on the same network.

Credit: Cool It All Right?


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    For 2024, as of last weekly ranking, Out of 2 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2023, Out of 28 Votes: 53.57% Annoying