Ten Speed And Brownshoe (ABC 1980, Jeff Goldblum, Ben Vereen)

Ten Speed And Brownshoe was something of the odd couple of detective work. “Ten Speed” was a charming hustler and master of disguise who was working to simply meet his parole requirements. “Brownshoe” – an old term for bankers, stockbrokers, and other “straight” types—was his well-to-do and somewhat naive foil, a romantic whose idea of sleuthing was rooted in 1940s novels and old Bogart movies.

This unlikely pair joined forces in their own agency, located two blocks off Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles, and with lots of undercover work and high-speed chases they managed to crack all sorts of cases.

Ten Speed and Brown Shoe was launched with a tremendous promotional blitz in early 1980, and attracted a large audience for its first couple of episodes, It then declined rapidly and was soon canceled. The producer of this series was Stephen J. Cannell, whose name was used as “the author” of all the blood-and- guts detective novels Lionel was forever reading to help him hone his detective skills.

production details
USA / ABC – Paramount / 1×96 minute episode 10×60 minute episodes / Broadcast 1980

Creator: Stephen J. Cannell / Music: Mike Post, Pete Carpenter / Producers: Stephen J. Cannell, Alex Beaton, Chuck Bowman, Juanita Bartlett

cast
BEN VEREEN as E.L. ‘Tenspeed’ Turner
JEFF GOLDBLUM as Lionel ‘Brown Shoe’ Whitney