The Inaugural TV Cup - Round One: Crime Fighter/Detective

Welcome to Round One of the Inaugural TV Cup!

We have 27 (two latecomers who I felt too mean/tired to say no to!) entrants here in this rather oversized competition, which we will run with for the first two round at the very least unless people make an argument for change and elimination. People Power!

In this opening round I have asked for you to choose your favourite/the best Detectives or Crime Fighters in TV history. We've veered away from your comic books heroes, its about your Policeman, your Private Eye or even just an old man, woman or beast that loves to investigate crimes. 

From a**-kicking dudes to mice we have a fine array of fine servants of the law to choose from.

Someone will have to remind me how long these polls run for so I can remember when to put our second round up, but that second round will be on Children's Cartoons and there are some fine, fine selections.

PLEASE VOTE FOR TWO SELECTIONS

Fox Mulder and Gene Hunt. Really liked The X-Files as a kid. Gene Hunt was ridiculous, but in the best way possible. And also, I've actually seen them. There's loads of stuff I've never seen on the list. Just counted actually; 5 of the shows, I've sat and watched a whole episode.

Part of the reason I didn't enter, never been too bothered about TV shows. I will be voting though.

Hercule Poirot is the stand out, Frank Drebin shading Magnum for second. Jessica Fletcher would've been a contender but someone on 606 v2 recently commented that she looks like a scrotum that's been boiled too long & soaked in vinegar which just about caused my ribs to shatter & precluded her from any vote.

Went with Jack Regan and dearly wished I had nominated him. The Sweeney was brilliant. Also went with Jack Bauer. 24 got a bit ridiculous by the end and repeated itself but the first few series were nothing short of unmissable and Bauer is nails.

Have not voted for my own, hopefully everyone does the same, in my humble opinion the competition is better like that.

Rowley wrote:Have not voted for my own, hopefully everyone does the same, in my humble opinion the competition is better like that.

Have decided to do the honourable thing and follow that route though, if the music cup is anything to go by, it's over half my votes gone before we've started. Best to get the excuses in early.

I would only vote for my choices if i think they are the absolute best (there was some really shocking choices in the music cup).

I didn't vote for mine here though and i voted for Vic Mackey & Jonathan Creek.

Rowley wrote:

Have not voted for my own, hopefully everyone does the same, in my humble opinion the competition is better like that.

You'll be the only person with a green badge that doesn't vote for their own then, Jeff.

I went for Dexter Morgan and Sarah Lund. Dexter was a great show, original, moving and odd in equal measures. Sarah Lund was just awesome. The original Danish version of The Killing was one of the best shows I have seen in the last decade. Just brilliant and Sarah Lund made the programme for me. The US version was inferior but still eminently watchable.

I have a special place in my heart for whomever nominated Monk though! Such a bad show but my wife is obsessed with it and my Sky + is full of episodes of it. Hilarious.

I am amazed that Jonathan creek has got two votes!

I went for Sledge Hammer which is one of my all time favourite shows (David rasche is just incredible as the titular Sledge) and the timeless classic that is Columbo.

The whole pacing of each episode and laxidasical detection by Peter Falke was amazing in its day. Even now, you can watch old episodes and enjoy them. Who can say the same about most on this list?

Amazed that my second choice of Jim Rockford isn't on the list, as he's better than half the list.
I think once again, my age will count against me.
 
Is Sherlock Holmes the current version? Might have voted for Jeremy Brett one.
 
Like a previous poster, I'm only a regular watcher of 5 of those shows and I'd prefer not to vote for the sitcoms, or my own, which only leaves Hunt and Mulder

What happened to Starsky & Hutch, or Crockett & Tubbs, or Jake & The Fatman, or Simon & Simon, or Hart & Hart, or Kuryakin & Solo, or Wallace & Gromit?

JuliusHMarx wrote:Amazed that my second choice of Jim Rockford isn't on the list, as he's better than half the list.
I think once again, my age will count against me.
 

The Rockford Files was great, Julius. There was a thread a while back about detectives and I did ask if anybody remembered him but got no replies.

That led me to believe that either a) no-one had heard of him or b) no-one likes me.

Or possibly both.

Is Sherlock the one with Cumberbatch? That'll get my vote along with Luther I think. Not much discussion re Spender but I guess that people just assume it will be the most popular come the end of the round.....

Columbo and Poirot. Your quiet, cerebral powerhouses. Holmes up there despite the quirky modern take (which I like as a programme), but think the Brett version was more "holmes-y" and would have gone for that.

Words cannot describe how much I hate Murder, she wrote.

No Marple?

Mind the windows Tino. wrote:

JuliusHMarx wrote:Amazed that my second choice of Jim Rockford isn't on the list, as he's better than half the list.
I think once again, my age will count against me.
 

The Rockford Files was great, Julius.  There was a thread a while back about detectives and I did ask if anybody remembered him but got no replies.

That led me to believe that either a) no-one had heard of him or b) no-one likes me.

Or possibly both.

 
Maybe we're the only ones old enough to remember him. At some point I'm hoping to nominate The Prisoner - no-one will have watched that either. Remember that The Beatles got no votes in the music round, but Oasis got loads

That's because they were better

 

he he he

Mind the windows Tino. wrote:
You'll be the only person with a green badge that doesn't vote for their own then, Jeff.

Just goes to prove what most of us have known all along, that I am clearly the best green badged chap on here.

Rowley wrote:

Mind the windows Tino. wrote:
You'll be the only person with a green badge that doesn't vote for their own then, Jeff.

Just goes to prove what most of us have known all along, that I am clearly the best green badged chap on here.

That's like being the nicest turd in the pan though.

Easy votes for me. Went with Jack Bauer and Gene Hunt.

Poirot for sure! Legend.

Went for Gene Hunt and Jack Regan. I loved Life On Mars it was such a great programme. Jack Regan was John Thaw's best role. I loved watching The Sweeney. Easy choices for me.

Bit disappointed that there was no Cagney & Lacey to choose from. Plus where was Hetty Wainthropp??

Poncherello from CHiPs deserves a mention as does KITT from Knight Rider & the A-Team (though they are probably responsible for more crime than they solve)

Like you Womble loved Life on Mars but Ashes to Ashes spoilt it a bit for me, would have been better letting sleeping dogs lie. Because of that could not bring myself to vote for Gene.

Columbo and Jack Frost. Feel bad to have left out Jack Bauer, Poirot and Sherlock.

Rowley wrote:Like you Womble loved Life on Mars but Ashes to Ashes spoilt it a bit for me, would have been better letting sleeping dogs lie. Because of that could not bring myself to vote for Gene.

Yes I know what you mean. Ashes to Ashes was ok but I too can't help thinking they should have left it alone. The ending of Life On Mars was brilliant. I still had to vote for Gene though, he was a great character.

Lots of support for Columbo, which I find surprising - was he really that much better than Kojak, Frank Cannon, Ironside, or any of the those others from the 70s?
I didn't watch it much, but it seemed to me that every episode was pretty much a variation on the same theme.

The great thing about the show was the way Columbo unnerved the criminals into giving up Information. He always outwitted them although he was never smarter than them. That was his charm.

And unlike kojak et al the quality of the criminal was always incredible. Amazing show that deserves the votes it has sofar

By the way, does anyone know if Petrocelli has finished building his house yet?

I thought The Sweeney might have had a few more votes. That was fantastic programme. Loved watching repeats of that when I was a kid. Jack Regan was such a likeable character even though he was a chain smoking, heavy drinking and quite aggressive cop. Amazing show.

Columbo is the only tv detective that I know of that is based on a Dostoevsky character.

Sticking with the rule of not voting for my own, I've gone for Vic Mackie and Sherlock Holmes.

I love you superfly. You are definitely my favourite scottish poster on here.

I didn't vote for anyone who was originally a character in a book.

Philip Glenister took Gene Hunt and turned him into one of the greatest TV characters ever, although how much crime fighting he did is debatable It's a good thing whoever picked him picked "Life on Mars" instead of "Ashes to Ashes" because the latter was crap. Mrs Fletcher is a legend of TV and I seem to have grown up watching her programme so she gets a vote too.

Bonus points for the person who can name the 2 actors who played Columbo before Peter Falk (one on TV and one in the theatre)

could of voted for 6 or 7 of these , good to see The Gene Genie out in front .

Bert Freed was the first Columbo on tv

Kenny wrote:could of voted for 6 or 7 of these , good to see The Gene Genie out in front .

Bert Freed was the first Columbo on tv

Very good - how did you know that?

JuliusHMarx wrote:

Kenny wrote:could of voted for 6 or 7 of these , good to see The Gene Genie out in front .

Bert Freed was the first Columbo on tv

Very good - how did you know that?

read a book on Falk and it was in that , Falk had said he was glad the other guy ( Freed ) hadn't worked out as if he had his career would of been so different

I honestly thought I would do quite well this round.

 

Union Cane wrote:I honestly thought I would do quite well this round.

 

I think my admiration of Jimmy Nail's career may see me ejected from the competition in round 1

I thought I had the comedy vote sewn up, completely forgot about Frank Drebin.

I've got the rodent vote sewn up though.

I also thought I would do quite well this round and there i am with Nil Pwa again!

I voted for Cal Lightman, i think Tim Roth is brilliant and so is "Lie to me"! and Jonathan Creek as Alan Davies is a legend!

Went with Poirot and Frost, but disappointed at the lack of Inspector Morse and Tom Barnaby(Midsomer Murders) in the poll!

Should have gone Ryan Hardy (Kevin Bacon) from The Following  

Monk and Dexter got my vote, love both shows. Vic Mackey unlucky to miss out as is Quincy, used to watch a load of Quincy at 3.00 in the morning in my student days so it will always bring me fond memories.

Columbo for me. Appreciated by the whole family. Voted for my own as second before I read Rowley's comment, so sorry about that

Dont be a pluck and vote sherlock!

 Someones voted for me

bhb001 wrote:Columbo for me. Appreciated by the whole family. Voted for my own as second before I read Rowley's comment, so sorry about that

Bet you Rowley is voting for his own after convincing everyone else not to vote for theirs.

I went for Danger Mouse and Gene Parmesan. Any Arrested Development nominations are going to get my vote btw

Union Cane wrote:I thought I had the comedy vote sewn up, completely forgot about Frank Drebin.

Sorry about that

Surprised no-one went for Doctor Who, who's clearly a detective...

Galted wrote:

bhb001 wrote:Columbo for me. Appreciated by the whole family. Voted for my own as second before I read Rowley's comment, so sorry about that

Bet you Rowley is voting for his own after convincing everyone else not to vote for theirs.

How dare you. When I talk the talk I walk the walk. Ask anyone on the boxing boards about my heroic stance against boxnation.