Banyon is a detective series broadcast in the United States by NBC

NBC

The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...

 as part of its 1972-73 television schedule

1972-73 United States network television schedule

This was the television schedule on all three United States television networks for the fall season beginning in September 1972. All times are Eastern and Pacific, with a few exceptions, such as Monday Night Football....

, though a standalone two-hour television movie was broadcast first in March 1971. The series was a Quinn Martin

Quinn Martin

Quinn Martin was one of the most successful American television producers. He had at least one television series running in prime time for 21 straight years , an industry record.-Early life:...

 Production (in association with Warner Bros. Television

Warner Bros. Television

Warner Bros. Television is the television production arm of Warner Bros. Entertainment, itself part of Time Warner. Alongside CBS Television Studios, it serves as a television production arm of The CW Television Network , though it also produces shows for other networks, such as Shameless on...

), the first-ever show Martin made for the NBC network.

Banyon was a period drama set in the late 1930s in Los Angeles. It concerned the life of private investigator

Private investigator

A private investigator , private detective or inquiry agent, is a person who can be hired by individuals or groups to undertake investigatory law services. Private detectives/investigators often work for attorneys in civil cases. Many work for insurance companies to investigate suspicious claims...

 Miles C. Banyon (Robert Forster

Robert Forster

Robert Forster is an American actor, best known for his roles as John Cassellis in Haskell Wexler's Medium Cool, and as Max Cherry in Quentin Tarantino's Jackie Brown, the latter of which gained him an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor.- Early life :Forster was born Robert Wallace...

), a tough-but-honest detective who would accept essentially any case for US$20/day. Located in the same complex (the famed Bradbury Building

Bradbury Building

The Bradbury Building is an architectural landmark in Los Angeles, California. The building was built in 1893 and is located at 304 South Broadway in downtown.-History:...

) as Banyon's office was the secretarial

Secretary

A secretary, or administrative assistant, is a person whose work consists of supporting management, including executives, using a variety of project management, communication & organizational skills. These functions may be entirely carried out to assist one other employee or may be for the benefit...

 school operated by Peggy Revere (Joan Blondell

Joan Blondell

Rose Joan Blondell was an American actress who performed in movies and on television for five decades as Joan Blondell.After winning a beauty pageant, Blondell embarked upon a film career...

). By an agreement between Banyon and Revere, part of the training provided to these young women was a period serving as Banyon's secretary; this gave him the advantage of not having to provide a salary for a secretary but meant that he never had the same one long enough for her to become a truly knowledgeable or reliable assistant. Besides Revere, the other ongoing female character was Banyon's girlfriend, Abby Graham (Julie Gregg

Julie Gregg

Julie Gregg is an American television, film and stage actress. She generally played supporting or guest, but not lead, roles. She is best known for her portrayal of Sandra Corleone in The Godfather...

), a nightclub singer who was constantly trying to encourage him to "settle down" and marry her, but to no avail during the brief run of this series. Banyon's police acquaintance with the Los Angeles Police Department

Los Angeles Police Department

The Los Angeles Police Department is the police department of the city of Los Angeles, California. With just under 10,000 officers and more than 3,000 civilian staff, covering an area of with a population of more than 4.1 million people, it is the third largest local law enforcement agency in...

 was the cynical Lieutenant Pete McNeil (Richard Jaeckel

Richard Jaeckel

Richard Hanley Jaeckel was an American actor of film and television.-Life and career:Jaeckel was born in Long Beach, New York. A short, but tough guy, he played a variety of characters during his fifty years in movies & television and became one of Hollywood's best known character actors...

).

Banyon was unable to find an adequate audience and lost in the Nielsen ratings

Nielsen Ratings

Nielsen ratings are the audience measurement systems developed by Nielsen Media Research, in an effort to determine the audience size and composition of television programming in the United States...

 to American Broadcasting Company

American Broadcasting Company

The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...

's Love, American Style

Love, American Style

Love, American Style is an hour-long TV anthology produced by Paramount Television and originally aired between September 1969 and January 1974...

and movies

Film

A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...

 on CBS

CBS

CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...

 and was canceled midseason.

It is one of the few Quinn Martin shows not owned currently by CBS/Republic Pictures

Republic Pictures

Republic Pictures was an independent film production-distribution corporation with studio facilities, operating from 1934 through 1959, and was best known for specializing in westerns, movie serials and B films emphasizing mystery and action....

; the series rights remain with Time Warner

Time Warner

Time Warner is one of the world's largest media companies, headquartered in the Time Warner Center in New York City. Formerly two separate companies, Warner Communications, Inc...

. It is also one of only two QM shows to bill a cast member above the title (the other is A Man Called Sloane

A Man Called Sloane

A Man Called Sloane was an American secret agent adventure television series that aired on NBC during the 1979-1980 television season. It was a Woodruff Production in association with QM Productions, and became the final series produced by Quinn Martin's company to debut .The series starred Robert...

, featuring Robert Conrad

Robert Conrad

Robert Conrad is an American actor. He is best known for his role in the 1965 CBS television series The Wild Wild West, in which he played the sophisticated Secret Service agent James T. West, and his portrayal of World War II ace Pappy Boyington in the television series Baa Baa Black Sheep...

).

Episode list

Episode	Title	Original Airdate
1	"The Decent Thing to Do"	September 15, 1972
2	"The Old College Try"	September 22, 1972
3	"The Graveyard Vote"	September 29, 1972
4	"Completely Out of Print"	October 6, 1972
5	"Meal Ticket"	October 13, 1972
6	"The Clay Clarinet"	October 27, 1972
7	"Dead End"	November 3, 1972
8	"Time to Kill"	November 10, 1972
9	"Think of Me Kindly"	November 17, 1972
10	"A Date with Death"	November 24, 1972
11	"Sally Overman Is Missing"	December 1, 1972
12	"The Lady Killer"	December 8, 1972
13	"The Murder Game"	December 15, 1972
14	"Just Once"	December 22, 1972
15	"Time Lapse"	January 12, 1973