"MacGruder and Loud" (1985) TV series

User Rating:

8.9/10   

Writer:

Rogers Turrentine (writer)

Seasons:

1 | unknown

Release Date:

20 January 1985 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Crime

Tagline:

By night lovers, by day cops

Plot:

Malcolm MacGruder and Jenny Loud are two cops, who are partners. Now they fall in love and get married...

Plot Keywords:

Secret Marriage | Detective Series | Secret Door | TV Show | Secret Love

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Julie Cobb	...	Olivia (1 episode, 1985)
Robert Desiderio	...	Lynch (1 episode, 1985)
Soleil Moon Frye	...	Kathy (1 episode, 1985)
Wendy Girard	...	Dr. Gina Gottlieb (1 episode, 1985)
Richard Hatch	...	Danny (1 episode, 1985)
Richard Lynch	...	Joey Dime (1 episode, 1985)
Ron Perlman	...	Attorney (1 episode, 1985)
Barry Primus	...	Sam (1 episode, 1985)
Willard E. Pugh	...	Bobby (1 episode, 1985)

Runtime:

USA:60 min (15 episodes)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Aaron Spelling Productions

Trivia:

This show was a folly that cost ABC dearly. The network created the series as their answer to CBS's cop-buddy hit "Cagney & Lacey" (1982) with the twist that it was a secret affair between a policeman and his policewoman partner. ABC spent millions and heavily hyped the show for three months with non-stop ads on television and in print and made its premiere an event by having it follow Super Bowl XIX. The premiere got a huge audience despite dreadful early reviews but the ratings didn't hold and the following week it dropped to #34 in the ratings and continued to plummet until ABC pulled the show after only three months.

He had a sexy smile and she had nice hair

This was a good show. I think. I was young and I watched a lot of crap back then. Anyway...

ABC had high hopes for this show, the pilot achieved the coveted post-Super Bowl time-slot in 85. After the big game, millions of Americans who were either too drunk or too lazy to change the channel, watched this. Then ABC promptly moved the MacGruder & Loud playing piece from Boardwalk to Baltic Avenue, giving it a cushy new home Monday nights at 10:00 PM EST. Graveyard slot.

Everybody knows that in those days there were 2 types of shows that weren't going stand a creamsicle's chance in hell of surviving:

1) Any sitcom that aired immediately following "Facts Of Life"

2) Any ABC series that aired Monday nights at 10:00 PM EST

Nice knowing ya' Malcolm & Jenny!

The show itself was watchable. I think. In that "Hart To Hart"/"Remington Steele" sort of way. MacGruder and Loud weren't detectives though, they were ordinary beat-cops. They didn't fight crime in stylin' J.C. Penney leisure-wear, no detective-salary fashions for them... no, they served and protected in (get this) plain ole wash-n-wear police uniforms! Imagine.

The bad guys were always interesting. I think. And the chase-scenes were always quasi-thrilling. But the real reason 3 people in America kept tuning in was Malcolm & Jenny's secret marriage. To fool their nosy precinct captain (he of many impromptu home-visits) they lived in side-by-side apartments. With a secret passageway between the two that was hidden by a *bookcase!* YES! The only thing missing was Alfred and the bat-poles!

Such fun this show was. I think. I was young and I watched a lot of crap back then.