History Series / TheNBCMysteryMovie

The most famous element was ''Series/{{Columbo}}'', which came to television in a MadeForTVMovie in 1968 (''Prescription: Murder'', adapted by [[LevinsonAndLink Richard Levinson and William Link]] from their stage play) before becoming part of the wheel in its initial season following a second TV movie (1971's ''Ransom For A Dead Man''). ''Series/McCloud'' (inspired by the 1968 movie ''Coogan's Bluff'') began as an hour-long show as part of another WheelProgram, ''Four-In-One'', in 1970; the following season, this and ''Series/NightGallery'' were "freed" from the wheel, ''Night Gallery'' for its own slot and ''[=McCloud=]'' to be in the new strand. (The other two elements, ''[[Film/SanFranciscoInternationalAirport San Francisco International]]'' and ''The Psychiatrist'', were cancelled along with ''Four-In-One'' itself.) ''Series/McMillanAndWife'', starring Rock Hudson and Susan Saint James respectively, was the only element to be directly created for the ''Mystery Movie'' lineup.

* ''Tenafly'' (1973-74): Another LevinsonAndLink creation, with James [=McEachin=] as the only black lead in this incarnation of the ''Mystery Movie'' lineup, playing one of the unflashiest, most down-to-earth detectives (of any colour) on television - a happily married family man just doing a job.

* MeaningfulName: LevinsonAndLink named Tenafly after the town of Tenafly, UsefulNotes/NewJersey.

* ''[=McCoy=]'' (1975-76): the first American TV series to star Tony Curtis, here playing a con man in the Myth/RobinHood mold.

[[caption-width-right:320:"Tonight, Richard Boone stars as ''HecRamsey''!"]]

* ''{{Banacek}}'': George Peppard as a Polish-American insurance investigator, based in Boston. This was the only element to appear in both seasons (and the only one to have its own page on this site).

* ''Amy Prentiss'' (1974-75): focusing on the first female chief of detectives in San Francisco, played by Creator/JessicaWalter. The pilot aired [[PoorlyDisguisedPilot in disguise]] as the double-length ''Series/{{Ironside}}'' episode "Amy Prentiss: AKA, The Chief." Incidentally, the City by the Bay wouldn't have a real female chief of police [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heather_Fong until 2004]].

* ''[=McCoy=]'' (1975-76): the first American TV series to star Tony Curtis, here playing a con man in the RobinHood mold.

* ''[[Series/{{McCloud}} [=McCloud=] ]]''
* ''McMillanAndWife'': known as ''[=McMillan=]'' in its final season.

* ''Amy Prentiss'' (1974-75): focusing on the first female chief of detectives in San Francisco, played by Jessica Walter. The pilot aired [[PoorlyDisguisedPilot in disguise]] as the double-length ''Series/{{Ironside}}'' episode "Amy Prentiss: AKA, The Chief." Incidentally, the City by the Bay wouldn't have a real female chief of police [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heather_Fong until 2004]].

The most famous element was ''Series/{{Columbo}}'', which came to television in a MadeForTVMovie in 1968 (''Prescription: Murder'', adapted by [[LevinsonAndLink Richard Levinson and William Link]] from their stage play) before becoming part of the wheel in its initial season following a second TV movie (1971's ''Ransom For A Dead Man''). ''[[Series/{{McCloud}} [=McCloud=] ]]'' (inspired by the 1968 movie ''Coogan's Bluff'') began as an hour-long show as part of another WheelProgram, ''Four-In-One'', in 1970; the following season, this and ''NightGallery'' were "freed" from the wheel, ''Night Gallery'' for its own slot and ''[=McCloud=]'' to be in the new strand. (The other two elements, ''San Francisco International'' and ''The Psychiatrist'', were cancelled along with ''Four-In-One'' itself.) ''McMillanAndWife'', starring Rock Hudson and Susan Saint James respectively, was the only element to be directly created for the ''Mystery Movie'' lineup.

* MeaningfulName: LevinsonAndLink named Tenafly after the town of Tenafly, [[{{Joisey}} N.J.]].

* ''Lanigan's Rabbi'' (1977): based on the novels by Harry Kemelman about police chief Paul Lanigan and his friend Rabbi David Small (who dabbles in detective work), starring Art Carney as Lanigan and David Solomon (Stuart Margolin, PlayingAgainstType, in the pilot TV movie that aired the previous year - his commitments to ''TheRockfordFiles'' precluded his playing the role in the series) as Rabbi Small.

* [[HeyItsThatGuy Hey It's That Gal!]]: Amy Prentiss's daughter is a young [[MadAboutYou Jamie Stemple Buchanan]].

The series was introduced for most of its run with an opening theme by Music/HenryMancini and visuals featuring a silhouetted figure walking across a landscape at sunset, using a flashlight to light up images of the elements of the wheel that season (the order depending on which one was airing that evening). Here are three examples, for ''[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJ26K3nVM_0 Columbo]]'', ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iHk5cGwuS6A [=McMillan=] and Wife]]'' and the second season of the ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CUTMvmvfaos Wednesday Mystery Movie]]'' - the first one had a different theme by Quincy Jones, which [[http://www.televisiontunes.com/Cool_Million.html you can hear here]] ("Tonight, James Farentino stars in ''Cool Million''!").

The series was introduced for most of its run with an opening theme by Music/HenryMancini and visuals featuring a silhouetted figure walking across a landscape at sunset, using a flashlight to light up images of the elements of the wheel that season (the order depending on which one was airing that evening). Here are three examples, [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJ26K3nVM_0 two for]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iHk5cGwuS6A the Sunday lineup]] and one for the second season of the ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CUTMvmvfaos Wednesday Mystery Movie]]'' - the first one had a different theme by Quincy Jones, which [[http://www.televisiontunes.com/Cool_Million.html you can hear here]] ("Tonight, James Farentino stars in ''Cool Million''!").

The series was introduced for most of its run with an opening theme by Music/HenryMancini and visuals featuring a silhouetted figure walking across a landscape at sunset, using a flashlight to light up images of the elements of the wheel that season (the order depending on which one was airing that evening). Here are three examples, [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJ26K3nVM_0 two for]] [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YPm8qyVvwlc the Sunday lineup]] and one for the second season of the ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CUTMvmvfaos Wednesday Mystery Movie]]'' - the first one had a different theme by Quincy Jones, which [[http://www.televisiontunes.com/Cool_Million.html you can hear here]] ("Tonight, James Farentino stars in ''Cool Million''!").

The series was introduced for most of its run with an opening theme by Music/HenryMancini and visuals featuring a silhouetted figure walking across a landscape at sunset, using a flashlight to light up images of the elements of the wheel that season (the order depending on which one was airing that evening). [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJ26K3nVM_0 Here are]] [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YPm8qyVvwlc two examples]]. The ''Wednesday Mystery Movie'' had a different theme by Quincy Jones, which [[http://www.televisiontunes.com/Cool_Million.html you can hear here]] ("Tonight, James Farentino stars in ''Cool Million''!").

* ''Faraday And Company'' (1973-74): Dan Dailey as Faraday, a PI back in the US after having spent almost 30 years in a Caribbean prison; the "company" (his agency) was basically his family.

* ''HecRamsey'' (1972-74): that's him in the page image up there.

The series was introduced for most of its run with an opening theme by Music/HenryMancini and visuals featuring a silhouetted figure walking across a landscape at sunset, using a torch to light up images of the elements of the wheel that season (the order depending on which one was airing that evening). [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJ26K3nVM_0 Here are]] [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YPm8qyVvwlc two examples]]. The ''Wednesday Mystery Movie'' had a different theme by Quincy Jones, which [[http://www.televisiontunes.com/Cool_Million.html you can hear here]] ("Tonight, James Farentino stars in ''Cool Million''!").

* ReunionMovie: ''[=McCloud=]'' was the only element other than ''Columbo'' to have any kind of revival, with 1989's ''The Return Of Sam [=McCloud=]''.

* ''{{Banacek}}'': George Peppard as a Polish-American insurance investigator, based in Boston. This was the only element to appear in both seasons.

The most famous element was ''Series/{{Columbo}}'', which came to television in a MadeForTVMovie in 1968 (''Prescription: Murder'', adapted by [[LevinsonAndLink Richard Levinson and William Link]] from their stage play) before becoming part of the wheel in its initial season following a second TV movie (1971's ''Ransom For A Dead Man''). ''[[{{McCloud}} [=McCloud=] ]]'' (inspired by the 1968 movie ''Coogan's Bluff'') began as an hour-long show as part of another WheelProgram, ''Four-In-One'', in 1970; the following season, this and ''NightGallery'' were "freed" from the wheel, ''Night Gallery'' for its own slot and ''[=McCloud=]'' to be in the new strand. (The other two elements, ''San Francisco International'' and ''The Psychiatrist'', were cancelled along with ''Four-In-One'' itself.) ''McMillanAndWife'', starring Rock Hudson and Susan Saint James respectively, was the only element to be directly created for the ''Mystery Movie'' lineup.

Once this was an established success, NBC and [[{{Universal}} Universal Television]] launched a second night, moving the three originals to Sundays (they initially aired on Wednesdays) as the rebranded ''NBC Sunday Mystery Movie'' and premiering the ''NBC Wednesday Mystery Movie''; they also tried to find a fourth spoke for the wheel, but none of the new arrivals (see below for chronology) stuck, and neither did the ''NBC Wednesday Mystery Movie'' itself (which only ran from 1972-74) - in fact, it wasn't until the final season that they finally had an addition which was a real hit, in ''[[{{Quincy}} Quincy, M.E.]]''. In 1977 all the elements were cancelled except for the crusading coroner, who in a reversal of ''[=McCloud=]'' was granted his own hour-long slot (although ''Columbo'' continued to make appearances in additional TV movies).

* ''[[{{McCloud}} [=McCloud=] ]]''

* {{Mad}}: ''Clodumbo'', ''[=MacVillian=] & Strife'', ''[=McClown=]'', ''Queezy, M.E.''.

* {{Mad}}: ''Clodumbo'', ''MacVillian & Strife'', ''McClown'', ''Queezy, M.E.''.

The most famous element was ''Series/{{Columbo}}'', which came to television in a MadeForTVMovie in 1968 (''Prescription: Murder'', adapted by [[LevinsonAndLink Richard Levinson and William Link]] from their stage play) before becoming part of the wheel in its initial season following a second TV movie (1971's ''Ransom For A Dead Man''). ''McCloud'' (inspired by the 1968 movie ''Coogan's Bluff'') began as an hour-long show as part of another WheelProgram, ''Four-In-One'', in 1970; the following season, this and ''NightGallery'' were "freed" from the wheel, ''Night Gallery'' for its own slot and ''[=McCloud=]'' to be in the new strand. (The other two elements, ''San Francisco International'' and ''The Psychiatrist'', were cancelled along with ''Four-In-One'' itself.) ''McMillanAndWife'', starring Rock Hudson and Susan Saint James respectively, was the only element to be directly created for the ''Mystery Movie'' lineup.

* ''McCloud''

* ''HecRamsey'' (1972-74): that's him in the page illustration.

The series was introduced for most of its run with an opening theme by Music/HenryMancini and visuals featuring a silhouetted figure walking across a landscape at sunset, using a torch (known to Yanks as flashlight) to light up images of the elements of the wheel that season (the order depending on which one was airing that evening). [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJ26K3nVM_0 Here are]] [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YPm8qyVvwlc two examples]]. The ''Wednesday Mystery Movie'' had a different theme by Quincy Jones, which [[http://www.televisiontunes.com/Cool_Million.html you can hear here]] ("Tonight, James Farentino stars in ''Cool Million''!").

* ''HecRamsey'' (1972-74)