The Investigators is a short-lived American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 adventure

Adventure (genre)

The adventure genre, in the context of a narrative, is typically applied to works in which the protagonist or other major characters are consistently placed in dangerous situations...

/drama

Dramatic programming

Dramatic programming in the UK, or television drama and television drama series in the US, is television program content that is scripted and fictional along the lines of √a traditional drama. This excludes, for example, sports television, television news, reality show and game shows, stand-up...

 television series that aired on CBS from October 5, to December 28, 1961.

Synopsis

The series starred James Franciscus

James Franciscus

James Grover Franciscus was an American actor, known for his roles in the series The Naked City and The Investigators, and in feature films.-Life and career:...

 as insurance

Insurance

In law and economics, insurance is a form of risk management primarily used to hedge against the risk of a contingent, uncertain loss. Insurance is defined as the equitable transfer of the risk of a loss, from one entity to another, in exchange for payment. An insurer is a company selling the...

 investigator Russ Andrews part of the firm of Investigators, Inc. The program was the second of Franciscus's five attempts at series television. The series co-starred James Philbrook

James Philbrook

James Philbrook was an American actor who appeared in supporting roles in three short-lived television series between 1959 and 1963: The Islanders on ABC and The Investigators and The New Loretta Young Show, both on CBS...

 as Steve Banks, Alan Austin as Bill Davis, and Mary Murphy

Mary Murphy (actress)

Mary Murphy was an American film actress of the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. She was born in Washington, D.C. and spent most of her early childhood in Cleveland, Ohio. Her father, James Victor Murphy, died in 1940. Shortly afterwards, she and her mother moved to Southern California...

 as Maggie Peters, the secretary

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...

 who frequently helped the three investigators with their cases. The Investigators was based in New York City

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

. The program was similar to ABC

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 successful detective

Detective

A detective is an investigator, either a member of a police agency or a private person. The latter may be known as private investigators or "private eyes"...

 series 77 Sunset Strip

77 Sunset Strip

77 Sunset Strip is an hour-length American television private detective series created by Roy Huggins and starring Efrem Zimbalist, Jr., Roger Smith, and Edd Byrnes....

and Hawaiian Eye

Hawaiian Eye

Hawaiian Eye is an American television series that ran from October 1959 to September 1963 on the American Broadcasting Company television network.-Premise:...

.

The Investigators faced tough competition. Two ABC sitcoms, Fred MacMurray

Fred MacMurray

Frederick Martin "Fred" MacMurray was an American actor who appeared in more than 100 movies and a successful television series during a career that spanned nearly a half-century, from 1930 to the 1970s....

's My Three Sons

My Three Sons

My Three Sons is an American situation comedy. The series ran from 1960 to 1965 on ABC, and moved to CBS until its end on August 24, 1972. My Three Sons chronicles the life of a widower and aeronautical engineer named Steven Douglas , raising his three sons.The series was a cornerstone of the CBS...

, in its second season, and Cynthia Pepper

Cynthia Pepper

Cynthia Pepper is a blonde American actress whose principal work was accomplished during the early 1960s. Born Cynthia Anne Culpepper in Hollywood, California, she was the daughter of entertainer Jack Pepper , and Pepper's second wife, Dawn...

's Margie

Margie (TV series)

Margie is a television situation comedy starring Cynthia Pepper that was broadcast on ABC from October 12, 1961 to April 12, 1962 in the 9:30 Eastern Thursday time slot, sponsored by Procter & Gamble. The series was adapted from a 1946 film of the same name starring Jeanne Crain.- Plot :The show...

, in its only season, aired opposite The Investigators. National Broadcasting Company

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...

 offered two new programs, Richard Chamberlain

Richard Chamberlain

George Richard Chamberlain is an American actor of stage and screen who became a teen idol in the title role of the television show Dr. Kildare .-Early life:...

 in Dr. Kildare and Shirley Booth

Shirley Booth

Shirley Booth was an American actress.Primarily a theatre actress, Booth's Broadway career began in 1925. Her most significant success was as Lola Delaney, in the drama Come Back, Little Sheba, for which she received a Tony Award in 1950...

 in Hazel

Hazel (TV series)

Hazel is a Screen Gems television series about a fictional live-in maid named Hazel Burke and her employers, the Baxters. The five-season, 154-episode series aired in primetime from September 1961 until April 1966...

, at the same hour.

Though the series ran so briefly, it nevertheless featured an array of guest stars, including Joanna Barnes

Joanna Barnes

Joanna Barnes is an American actress and writer.Barnes was born in Boston, Massachusetts, but moved to Los Angeles, California soon after finishing her education, and took up a contract with Columbia Pictures...

, Edward Binns, Pat Carroll

Pat Carroll (actress)

Patricia Ann “Pat” Carroll is an American actress. She performed in numerous stage productions, and portrayed the roles of "Bunny Halper" on CBS's The Danny Thomas Show, Shirley Feeney's mother on ABC's Laverne and Shirley, and is the voice of the villainous Ursula in The Little Mermaid film...

, William Fawcett

William Fawcett (actor)

William "Bill" Fawcett was a character actor in Hollywood B-films and in television. His career extended from 1946 until the early 1970s. He is probably best remembered for his role as the cantankerous, rusty-voiced Pete Wilkey of the Broken Wheel Ranch on the NBC series Fury, co-starring Peter...

, Rhonda Fleming

Rhonda Fleming

Rhonda Fleming , is an American film and television actress.She acted in more than 40 films, mostly in the 1940s and 1950s, and became renowned as one of the most beautiful and glamorous actresses of her day...

, Dennis Hopper

Dennis Hopper

Dennis Lee Hopper was an American actor, filmmaker and artist. As a young man, Hopper became interested in acting and eventually became a student of the Actors' Studio. He made his first television appearance in 1954 and appeared in two films featuring James Dean, Rebel Without a Cause and Giant...

, Bethel Leslie

Bethel Leslie

Bethel Leslie was an American theatre, film, and television actress and a screenwriter.Born in New York City, Leslie was discovered by George Abbott, who cast her in the play Snafu in 1944...

, Ida Lupino

Ida Lupino

Ida Lupino was an English-born film actress and director, and a pioneer among women filmmakers. In her 48-year career, she appeared in 59 films and directed seven others, mostly in the United States. She appeared in serial television programmes 58 times and directed 50 other episodes...

, Gavin MacLeod

Gavin MacLeod

Gavin MacLeod is an American actor most notable for playing Happy Haines on McHale's Navy, Murray Slaughter on The Mary Tyler Moore Show and Captain Merrill Stubing on The Love Boat...

, Lee Marvin

Lee Marvin

Lee Marvin was an American film actor. Known for his gravelly voice, white hair and 6' 2" stature, Marvin at first did supporting roles, mostly villains, soldiers and other hardboiled characters, but after winning an Academy Award for Best Actor for his dual roles in Cat Ballou , he landed more...

, Dina Merrill

Dina Merrill

-Early life:Merrill was born Nedenia Marjorie Hutton in New York City, New York, the only child of Post Cereals heiress Marjorie Merriweather Post and her second husband, Wall Street stockbroker Edward Francis Hutton...

, Mickey Rooney

Mickey Rooney

Mickey Rooney is an American film actor and entertainer whose film, television, and stage appearances span nearly his entire lifetime. He has won multiple awards, including an Honorary Academy Award, a Golden Globe and an Emmy Award...

, Richard Rust

Richard Rust

Richard Rust was an American actor of stage, television, and film born in Boston, Massachusetts, probably best remembered for his role as a young lawyer in NBC's Sam Benedict series. Rust's mother died when he was five, and his father was an officer in the United States Navy...

, Albert Salmi

Albert Salmi

Albert Salmi was an American actor.-Biography:Albert Salmi was born in Brooklyn, New York, to Finnish immigrant parents, and following a stint in the Army, took up acting as a career, studying Method acting with Lee Strasberg. In 1955, Salmi starred in Bus Stop on Broadway...

, Vaughn Taylor

Vaughn Taylor (actor)

Vaughn Taylor was an American film and television actor. He was born in Boston, Massachusetts.His film credits include Jailhouse Rock, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Psycho and In Cold Blood....

, Harry Townes

Harry Townes

Harry Rhett Townes was an American television and movie actor.-Early life:Townes was born in Huntsville, the seat of Madison County in northern Alabama...

, Claire Trevor

Claire Trevor

Claire Trevor was an Academy Award-winning American actress. She was nicknamed the "Queen of Film Noir" because of her many appearances in "bad girl” roles in film noir and other black-and-white thrillers...

, and Jane Wyman

Jane Wyman

Jane Wyman was an American singer, dancer, and character actress of film and television. She began her film career in the 1930s, and was a prolific performer for two decades...

.

After the series ended, Franciscus was later cast in his most successful television role in NBC's Mr. Novak

Mr. Novak

Mr. Novak is an American dramatic series starring James Franciscus in the title role, which aired on NBC for two seasons, from 1963 to 1965.-Overview:...

(1963-1965), as a high school

High school

High school is a term used in parts of the English speaking world to describe institutions which provide all or part of secondary education. The term is often incorporated into the name of such institutions....

 English

English language

English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

 teacher

Teacher

A teacher or schoolteacher is a person who provides education for pupils and students . The role of teacher is often formal and ongoing, carried out at a school or other place of formal education. In many countries, a person who wishes to become a teacher must first obtain specified professional...

. He starred later in ABC's Longstreet

Longstreet (TV series)

Longstreet is an American crime drama series that was broadcast on the ABC in the 1971-1972 season . A 90-minute pilot movie of the same name aired prior to the debut of the series as an ABC Movie of the Week.-Synopsis:...

, as an insurance investigator once again, but this the character, Mike Longstreet, is a blind man. Coincidentally, The Investigators and Longstreet aired at the same time, Thursdays at 9 PM (Eastern).

Episode list

Episode #	Episode title	Original airdate
1-1	"Murder on Order"	October 5, 1961
1-2	"The Oracle"	October 12, 1961
1-3	"New Sound for the Blues"	October 19, 1961
1-4	"I Thee Kill"	October 26, 1961
1-5	"Quite a Woman"	November 2, 1961
1-6	"Style of Living"	November 9, 1961
1-7	"In a Mirror, Darkly"	November 16, 1961
1-8	"De Luca"	November 23, 1961
1-9	"Death Leaves a Tip"	November 30, 1961
1-10	"Panic Wagon"	December 7, 1961
1-11	"The Mind's Own Fire"	December 14, 1961
1-12	"Something for Charity"	December 21, 1961
1-13	"The Dead End Man"	December 28, 1961