Shark Bytes

The first season of Jake and the Fatman comes out on DVD July 8th 2008. Joe Penny is so talented and is awesome as Jake. This show rocks!!!

This show was fun! Joe Penny was HOT. My favorite episode was "Silent Surrender" (1991) because you had Joe Penny AND Ray Sharkey (guest spot) as a detective with the Violent Crimes Unit working together.

Ray was as good here as he was on Wiseguy. Really miss this Actor.

This show never jumped the shark. One of the many shows I liked that was canceled longer before its time. I do tend to wonder if the show would have been more successful if it had a different title.

One Comment........ Joe Penny, need I say more, soooooo DAMN HOT!!!

Believe me, I only watched this show for the weekly display of Joe Penny's muscular arms! Who cared about the acting or lack thereof when one could ogle those pillars of strength till the cows came home!!!!

I loved the show ... not a very catchy title, but I loved all the characters, and the way they interacted. I enjoyed the mystery story of each episode, and watching them solve the crime, already knowing, and yet still managing to be surprised at times.

A few good seasons; barely jumped in spite of the across the pacific moves. We found Joe Penny and his salmon shaped mouth's "I was a former street kid" accent and delivery grating. Nothing new in that cliche, except he carried it off better than average. The few amusing moments never upped in frequency or became slapstick and the energy never died. Never liked the two-part episodes and worried the show was jumping, but it didn't.

This jumped because it couldn't live up to its parent series Matlock. It was spun off from a Matlock episode. Fats was just another Ben Matlock. It was a good show but it was a dumb title. Joe Penny did a good job as well as the fatman. It was a more of a show Matlock fans could've enjoyed after all Dean Hargrove and Fred Silverman where genius' in the tv biz.

This show was a turning point in TV history. Iy paved the way for other crappy shows to succeed compared to this. Actually, we just want to be posted on this website and would appreciate it if Jake called us ASAP-dude, I need that drug money-and whats up with John Stamos' moustache?

This actually was not a bad show, maybe a little cheesy, but with a good premise and interesting characters. The move to Hawaii and back to Los Angeles didn't do it in. But, in the last season, a woman character was added (Neely? or something like that?) and Jake and the Fatman never seemed to actually work together anymore. And Joe Penny did a great job as the good guy (which he also played in Riptide, the only other show he was really on). I don't know why actors worry about getting typecast as the good guy, so they make a career out of playing rapists, murderers, abusive husbands and other assorted sicko's in made-for-TV movies. What is so wrong with being typecast as a good guy???

Fabulous! I think the only role Joe Penny played where he was not the bad guy- in this show he was the softie, big-brotherish, "I can braid little girl's hair" kind of cop and not some kind of cruel pervert on steroids that he is as extras on other shows & made-for-tv movies. Went downhill when they moved to Hawaii from wherever they were beforehand. Before that- brilliant! So entertaining!

This show was so brilliant! I especially liked the Derek character who with his blonde 80's perm was like a human extension for the immobile Fatman except unlike Jake he mostly worked in the office. It could only have gotten funnier if they added Mr Ferley. Jake Styles rules forever! Or is that Joke Stoyles?