Ace Crawford, Private Eye

*Ace Crawford, Private Eye*
Ace Crawford, Private Eye
Genre	Mystery ; Comedy ;
Created by	Ron Clark & Tim Conway
Directed by	Michael Preece ; Charles S. Dubin ;
Starring	Tim Conway ; Joe Regalbuto ;
Theme music composer	Hughie Cannon ; Peter Matz ;
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
No. of seasons	1
No. of episodes	5
Production
Camera setup	Multi-camera
Running time	30 minutes
Production companies	Conway Enterprises ; Viacom Productions ;
Original release
Network	CBS
Release	March 15 ? ; April 12, 1983

Ace Crawford, Private Eye is an American sitcom that aired on CBS from March 15 to April 12, 1983. The series parodied the "hard-boiled detective" genre.

Synopsis [ edit ]

Tim Conway stars as a trench-coated private investigator who always solves the case and catches the bad guy, despite his constant bumbling. The show was broadcast on Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET . Only five episodes were aired.

Cast and characters [ edit ]

Tim Conway as Ace Crawford, Private Eye.
Joe Regalbuto as Toomey, a CPA and Crawford's assistant; he always saw Crawford as a hero, and thought that his bumbling was simply some kind of cunning strategy.
Billy Barty as Inch, owner and bartender of The Shanty, a wharfside bar where Crawford hangs out.
Shera Danese as Luana, a singer at The Shanty who lusted after Crawford.
Bill Henderson as Mello, a blind jazz musician at The Shanty.
Dick Christie as Detective Lieutenant Fanning, who was always mystified as to how Crawford solved every case.

Format [ edit ]

In each half-hour episode, Crawford would be hired for, or otherwise find himself involved in, a case in which criminals were taking advantage of innocent citizens. He would then approach the case using Conway's trademark comedy style; in one episode he was disguised as a feeble old man, in another he was using a children's toy microphone as a "wire." In spite of the slapstick results of his actions, Crawford would always emerge triumphant.

Every episode ended the same way: Crawford would leave The Shanty at night and walk along the wharf , vanishing into the fog... and then audibly fall into the water.

Each episode was on film (as opposed to videotape ), and had a laugh track .

US TV ratings [ edit ]

Season	Episodes		Originally aired		Nielsen Rank	Nielsen Rating
Season	Episodes		First aired	Last aired	Nielsen Rank	Nielsen Rating
1	5		March 15, 1983 ( 1983-03-15 )	April 12, 1983 ( 1983-04-12 )	75 ^[1]	N/A

Episodes [ edit ]

Nº	Title	Directed by:	Written by:	Air date
1	"Murder at Restful Hills"	Michael Preece	Ron Friedman	March 15, 1983 ( 1983-03-15 )
Ace investigates the claim of Luana's grandmother that deaths at a nursing home weren't the result of natural causes.
2	"Bull Bates"	Charles S. Dubin	Ron Clark , Tim Conway	March 22, 1983 ( 1983-03-22 )
Deedee, the girlfriend of gangster Bull Bates, gives to Ace a book detailing everyone that Bates has rubbed out.
3	"Inch in a Pinch"	Michael Preece	Arnie Kogen	March 29, 1983 ( 1983-03-29 )
Ace sets a trap for a merciless mobster when his bartender friend Inch is beaten up by thugs.
4	"The Microchip Caper"	Michael Preece	Rudy De Luca	April 5, 1983 ( 1983-04-05 )
Ace finds himself in the middle of a multi-million dollar con when he is hired to test a computer company's plant security.
5	"The Gentleman Bandit"	Michael Preece	Mickey Rose	April 12, 1983 ( 1983-04-12 )
Ace goes undercover as a secretary to nab a thief who is preying on a magazine's female employees.

Home media [ edit ]

In 1989, a VHS videocassette was released containing the first three episodes. In August 2020, Shout! Factory TV acquired complete streaming rights. ^[2]

References [ edit ]

^ Lina. "The TV Ratings Guide: 1982-83 Ratings History -- Soap Bubbles Rise, Several Veterans Part and NBC Renews Poorly Rated Masterpieces" . Retrieved 1 April 2018 .
^ "Watch Full Episodes of "Ace Crawford, Private Eye" " . ShoutFactoryTV.com . Retrieved June 20, 2021 .

External links [ edit ]

Ace Crawford, Private Eye at IMDb

[1] Lina. "The TV Ratings Guide: 1982-83 Ratings History -- Soap Bubbles Rise, Several Veterans Part and NBC Renews Poorly Rated Masterpieces" . Retrieved 1 April 2018 .

[2] "Watch Full Episodes of "Ace Crawford, Private Eye" " . ShoutFactoryTV.com . Retrieved June 20, 2021 .

[1]

[2]