77 Sunset Strip stars Efram Zimbalist Jr. and Roger Smith as two private detectives who operated an agency at 77 Sunset Strip in Los Angeles. Aiding them in many of their cases is Ed "Kookie" Byrnes, a wanna-be PI who started as a valet parking attendant at Dino's, the club next to their office.
The series ran for six seasons ( 1958-1964 ) and featured a number of entertaining one-hour cases. Decades TV began the marathon early this morning and it will continue to run until 5am EST on Monday. On Sunday, beginning at 10am EST the five-part episode titled "5" will be airing. This one has Efram Zimbalist tracking down an art thief and boasts an excellent cast including Peter Lorre, Herbert Marshall, Diane McBain, Burgess Meredith, William Shatner, Ed Wynn - and his son Keenan, Wally Cox, and Walter Slezak.
I think 77 Sunset Strip was the best of the Warner Bros. detective shows before Kookie fever took its toll. Most people probably don't know how popular Edd Byrnes's character was, but his song (with Connie Stevens) "Kookie, Kookie, Lend Me Your Comb" was a big hit!
ReplyDeleteOne of the few things about cutting cable is that I can no longer access Decades TV (I used to watch it every day!!) -- at least, I don't know how, if I can. I would dearly love to see this show. I never have seen it, but I have always had a fascination with the name Ed "Kookie" Byrnes, for some reason. I hope I can somehow get to see it!
ReplyDeleteLoved when Warner Archive Instant was around airing it along with the other classics (Surfside Six, Hawaiian Eye) in their library. MeTV was airing 77 Sunset Strip late at night as recently as 2020; hopefully one of the retro services will pick it up again soon.
ReplyDeleteIt is on MeTV Plus, not the original MeTV, weeknights at 9pm
DeleteThanks for sharing this!
DeleteUnfortunately Decades is changing to an all-comedy network, Catchy Comedy, this Monday:
ReplyDeletehttps://variety.com/2023/tv/news/decades-network-catchy-comedy-night-court-1235521267/