Spenser

• Title: Spenser: For Hire – Discord in a Minor
• IMDb: link

“Don’t ever give up you who are for anybody, ever”

For Throwback Thursday we turn we turn our attention back to the mean streets of Boston. “Discord in a Minor” begins with the kidnapping of the teenage daughter (Barbara Garrick) of famous conductor (Paul Shenar) under Spenser‘s (Robert Urich) protection. Despite being fired, Spenser refuses to let the matter rest (a common theme in the show and the novels which inspired them) and continues to search for the missing girl. His investigation leads to classic Spenser heavy Joe Broz (Raymond Serra) whose screw-up son Jimmy (Neill Barry) just so happens to be both the the missing girl’s boyfriend and the person driving the van involved in the kidnapping.

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• Title: Spenser: For Hire – Original Sin
• IMDb: link

For Throwback Tuesday we turn we turn our attention back to the mean streets of Boston. A pushy Catholic priest (Jay O. Sanders) guilts Spenser (Robert Urich) into investigating the death of a young girl who was about to become a nun. No one, includin the girl’s parents (Elizabeth Franz and Eddie Jones) and Spenser himself, wants him on the case which uncovers the fact that the young woman was pregnant and gets Spenser squared off against local scumbag Tommy Flaherty (David O’Brien) evicting people from property in dispute with ties to the archdiocese. Spenser’s run-in with Flaherty puts him temporarily at odds with Hawk (Avery Brooks), but his decision to save Spenser from a bullet shows where his friend’s loyalty’s truly lie (although, to be safe, Spenser does call in a favor to make sure Hawk is sidelined when it comes time to confront Flaherty).

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• Title: Spenser for Hire – The Choice
• IMDb: link

For Throwback Thursday we turn the clock back to take a look at another episode of Spenser: For Hire. In “The Choice” Spenser‘s (Robert Urich) five-minutes of fame make the private detective a target for a pair of young sociopaths (Patricia Clarkson and Sam Robards) looking to up the game which until this point has included killing homeless victims no one has missed. Toying with the detective proves to be just the thing. Even after the pair kill a friend of Hawk‘s (Avery Brooks) in front of Spenser, he finds it difficult to get either the police or the girl’s father to take the situation seriously.

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• Title: Spenser for Hire – Promised Land
• IMDb: link

“You can’t save the world.”

The year was 1985 and private detective shows were in vogue. The decade saw shows like Magnum, P.I., Remington Steele, Moonlighting, Matt Houston, Simon & Simon, Mike Hammer, Jake and the Fatman, Partners in Crime, and others all hit the airwaves. One of those shows was Spenser for Hire. My introduction into the world of Robert B. Parker‘s Boston private investigator came not from one of the author’s novels but the television show based on them. And I’ve been a fan ever since.

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