Quinn Martin, the Dick Wolf of His Day, Premiered His Last Hit Show 48 Years Ago Today

We all know Dick Wolf as the undisputed king of the procedural, having birthed the Law & Order and Chicago franchises, not to mention FBI. 

Quinn Martin was the Dick Wolf of his day. For over twenty years he had at least one television series on the air every season, which was a lot harder to do when there were only three networks. The Untouchables, starring Robert Stack, premiered in 1959, and his run included hits like the military drama Twelve O'Clock High, The F.B.I., The Fugitive, The Streets of San Francisco, The Invaders, and Cannon.

On January 28, 1973, the last of his hit shows premiered, starring Buddy Ebsen of The Beverly Hillbillies in the title role of Barnaby Jones. You can watch the entire first episode above, which happens to be a crossover episode with Cannon. 

Jones is a life-long private eye — albeit the kind who drinks milk instead of bourbon — who's forced to come out of retirement and resume the family business when his son Hal is mysteriously gunned down in a phone booth shortly after calling another P.I., Frank Cannon (William Conrad) for help. The two of them team up to solve the case in the typical quiet, easy-going style of '70s detective shows. Lee Meriwether, who played Catwoman on the 1960s Batman series, also stars as Hal's widow who eventually joins her father-in-law at the agency. 

Barnaby Jones ran for eight seasons, from 1973 until 1980. Technically Martin did have another show after this, but A Man Called Sloane debuted in 1979 and didn't last 12 episodes, so it ended before Barnaby Jones went off the air. Martin continued producing made-for-TV movies until his death in 1987. 

Martin's shows had a signature style, featuring opening credits where a narrator would actually announce the actors and guest stars that would be appearing, followed by the title of each episode, as seen below in a Barnaby Jones title sequence.

Andy Hunsaker has a head full of sitcom gags and nerd-genre lore, and can be followed @AndyHunsaker if you're into that sort of thing.