Rocky King Detective

Rocky King Detective (also known as Inside Detective) is an American action/crime drama series that was broadcast live on the DuMont Television Network on Sundays at 9pm ET. The series ran for six seasons, from January 15, 1950, to December 26, 1954.

Rocky King Detective
Roscoe Karns as Rocky King
Also known asInside Detective
GenreAction/crime drama
StarringRoscoe Karns
Earl Hammond
Todd Karns
Grace Carney
Country of originUnited States
No. of seasons6
Production
Producer(s)Wilbur Stark
Production company(s)Stark-Layton Production
Release
Original networkDuMont Television Network
Picture formatBlack-and-white
Audio formatMonoaural
Original releaseJanuary 15, 1950 –
December 26, 1954

Overview

Roscoe Karns stars as the title character whose job is "chief of homicide" of Manhattan's 24th Police Precinct. During the first three seasons, Earl Hammond portrayed King's partner, Detective Sgt. Lane. During the final two seasons, Karns' real life son Todd portrayed King's partner Detective Hart. Rounding out the cast was Grace Carney as the voice of King's oft-rambling but always off-camera wife, Mabel, who provided a sort of comic relief for the series.

The majority of DuMont shows were known for their austere budgets. This one fit in perfectly because it was broadcast live from the actual corridors and offices of DuMont. Despite its low budget and limited nationwide audience (the DuMont network owned a limited number of stations), Rocky King was DuMont's most popular and longest running shows.

Episode status

Rocky King Detective was relatively well-preserved compared to most other DuMont programs; 37 episodes are archived at the UCLA Film and Television Archive. Two episodes are held in the J. Fred MacDonald collection at the Library of Congress.

The kinescopes for the four episodes released to DVD originate courtesy of Satellite Media Production. These episodes have been screened at the non-profit Mid-Atlantic Nostalgia Convention held annually in Aberdeen, Maryland. The same four episodes were released to DVD on November 21, 2006, altered with a company logo superimposed on the screen and sound effects added to the soundtrack in an attempt to claim copyright. The Satellite Media Production release contained no alterations.

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See also

Bibliography
  • David Weinstein, The Forgotten Network: DuMont and the Birth of American Television (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2004) ISBN 1-59213-245-6
  • Alex McNeil, Total Television, Fourth edition (New York: Penguin Books, 1980) ISBN 0-14-024916-8
  • Tim Brooks and Earle Marsh, The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network TV Shows, Third edition (New York: Ballantine Books, 1964) ISBN 0-345-31864-1


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