Richard Diamond: Private Detective

Diamond is a happy-go-lucky detective who answers his telephone with atrocious commercial jingles and is a master of the verbal put-down (especially with police). His relationship with frustrated Lt. Walt Levinson is abrasive but rooted in honest affection, and his special delight is ribbing the stupid desk sergeant, Otis, a stock character inserted strictly for laughs. The opening each week sets up the problem and propells the sarcasm with the cops; the ending usually found Diamond in the Park Avenue penthouse of his girlfriend, the rich redhead Helen Asher. He sits at Helen’s piano and sings a song, usually a standard from Broadway or Hollywood, sometimes a chestnut from the earlier career of the younger Dick Powell. Miss Asher’s butler, Francis, always arrives at the most inopportune moment and leaves stammering in embarrassment.