Shark Bytes

An absolutely fun and entertaining show to the very end. BTW, Raymond Burr WAS gay. I'll never forget the story that Howard Sterns' father told of RB doing a session at Ben Sterns recording studio. He told of RB prancing around in a very non Perry Mason voice wearing a shirt tied at the waist like a hot chick. Given the disparity between the real Raymond and Perry Mason is it all the more remarkable how great the show was.

The plots may be dated now, but there is a style that makes the show still watchable today.

James Bond and Harry Palmer showed how profitable movie continuing heroes could be in the 1960's. And Paul Newman had a big success as private detective Lew Harper. The great Blake Edwards tried to get Peter Gunn a place in the movie hero club around 1968. The ever unflappable Craig Stevens returned as Gunn, but Edward Asner replaced Hershel Bernardi as Lt. Jacoby, and Laura Devon played Edie Hart, instead of the luscious Lola Albright. The replacements were good actors, but far from improvements on the perfection of the originals. Blake Edwards also revisited two of his other TV creations with this movie: Richard Diamond and Mr. Lucky. Sherry Jackson played a very sexy, very stacked tease named Sam (the same name as Richard Diamond's leggy phone service operator). And Gunn is working for a women who runs an establishment (a bordello actually) on a yacht outside the city legal limits, similar to Mr. Lucky's gambling ship. The woman who runs the bordello turns out to be a man, which was a jolting surprise. And the black and white photography was still impressive. But the movie overall, although not bad, just wasn't that emotionally or intellectually involving. It was a big disappointment for most Peter Gunn fans. But Blake Edwards did manage to have an enormous success with a series of movies about a detective hero: Inspector Jacques Clouseau (The Pink Panther).

One of the COOLEST shows of all time and a GREAT theme song- one of the best, that's for sure.

This show was stylish and hip for its time. No shark came close to the surface for this series.

Peter gunn never jumped, chemistry style and witty dialogue, like this show had were not common in the late 50s early 60s period, The music as an integral part of the show was really ahead of its time. The use of the camera was very unique and dynamic also. Perfect casting and the perfect sound of mancini and the smooth vocals of lola albright made the show a delight. The repartee between craig stevens and herschel bernardi as lt jacoby was so cool it was almost parody. If peter gunn wasnt the coolest guy of his time i dont know who was.

I enjoyed the immediately preceding post. Blake Edwards created "Richard Diamond" for radio. Dick Powell played Diamond on radio, and then Powell produced "Diamond" for TV through his Four Star production company with relative newcomer David Janssen in the lead. Edwards apparently was shut out from having anything to do with producing "Diamond" for TV. I think Edwards looked at every aspect of the TV "Diamond" (which started in 1957) and tried (successfully) to improve upon it with "Gunn", which started in 1958. When you compare "Gunn" to "Diamond", "Gunn" has far better music,black and white photography, atmosphere,writing, humor,guest characters,and clothes. "Gunn" also has the best "friend on the force" character ever-Lt. Jacoby superbly played by Hershel Bernardi. In fact, Jacoby may be my all-time favorite TV cop. Gunn also eventually gets one of the coolest bachelor pads on TV-only rivaled by the ones on "Checkmate" and "Hong Kong". And Gunn has about as lush a girl friend as one could imagine-Lola Albright. Edwards reportedly took Craig Stevens to his own tailor and barber. True or not, Edwards made reliable, handsome, but generally undistinguished and callow second-lead Craig Stevens into the epitome of cool, a TV Cary Grant. Stevens was dazzling in the role, something he wasn't in any other role before or after. The above poster is right that this show was all about style not substance, but compared to other 1950's TV it certainly stands out. In 1959, the year after Gunn started, Edwards brought "Mr. Lucky" to television, played by John Vivyan. This was an even finer effort that also had much humor and style. Ross Martin was dazzling as second banana Andamo and Vivyan like Craig Stevens made a marvelous Cary Grant stand in. Blake Edwards had a great creative period with these two shows-doing almost nothing wrong. As fine a career as Edwards had as a film director, I think he did some of his best work with these two shows.

The final season was weaker - Craig Stevens' repartee just wasn't as snappy - but overall the series never jumped. For those who watch it today, it should be kept in mind that Peter Gunn was more about style and savoir faire than about plot lines - in fact, I'd say that the series was so tightly written overall that I've always felt that it would have played better as an hour-long drama rather than a half-hour show. The big thing about Gunn was that he wasn't the wise-cracking, hard-boiled gumshoe that Mike Hammer and Richard Diamond were: he was well tailored, well housed (one wondered where he got all the money), well mannered, and had an extremely dry wit. All that sophistication, though, didn't mean that he was any smarter than the typical private eye, though: Gunn would get himself beat up on occasion, even though the series focused on double entendres rather than double uppercuts. Also had to love Lola Albright as Gunn's girlfriend/witty repartee partner Edie Hart, as well as Mother (she ran a lounge/nightclub that Edie sang at) who ironically was played by ex-Metropolitan Opera diva Helen Traubel. Don't know if the shows stand up all that well nowadays, but if you want an idea of what "cool" was in the late '50s, I can't think of a better example...

Best TV music of all time. Hands down. I'm humming it right now.

I remember when it changed networks towards the end. The music was great, but the show didn't hold up as well.

this show was a classic (I believe it was done in either the late 1950s or early 1960s).