Weird old title sequences: Jake and the Fatman (1987-1992)

21 July 2011 Rob Buckley Classic TV, US TV, Weird old title sequences Post a comment

Jake and the Fatman

Yes, time for a show’s whose title wouldn’t get it past the approval stage these days: Jake and the Fatman. The story of an obese police officer from Honolulu who becomes an LA district attorney (that would be ‘Fatman’) and Jake, the special investigator he works with, Jake and the Fatman was one of a long slew of not especially good cop shows that dominated 80s TV (and, ahem, CBS in general to this day). It’s pretty much what you think – Jake and “the Fatman” fought crime each week, with Jake eyeing up lots of LA women along the way and the Fatman being gruff. He also brought his bulldog along with him to help.

Strangely, the show was originally set in LA, but come seasons two, three and four, it moved to Hawaii. Then it moved back again to LA midway through the fourth season and stayed there until the end. It also launched a spin-off show, Diagnosis Murder, the repeats of which still dominate daytime TV in the UK.

But have some weird old titles to confirm you that yes, William Conrad was overweight.

Author

  • Rob Buckley

    I’m Rob Buckley, a journalist who writes for UK media magazines that most people have never heard of although you might have heard me on the podcast Lockdown Land or Radio 5 Live’s Saturday Edition or Afternoon Edition. I’ve edited Dreamwatch, Sprocket and Cambridge Film Festival Daily; been technical editor for TV producers magazine Televisual; reviewed films for the short-lived newspaper Cambridge Insider; written features for the even shorter-lived newspaper Soho Independent; and was regularly sarcastic about television on the blink-and-you-missed-it “web site for urban hedonists” The Tribe. Since going freelance, I've contributed to the likes of Broadcast, Total Content + Media, Action TV, Off The Telly, Action Network, TV Scoop and The Custard TV.

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