History Series / TenspeedAndBrownShoe

''Tenspeed and Brown Shoe'' was a 1980 Creator/{{ABC}} detective-comedy series, created by Creator/StephenJCannell as the first show from Stephen J. Cannell Productions.

* SaltAndPepper: One of the first TV takes on this trope -- Lionel is white, nervous, and too noble for his own good while E.L. is black, confident, and streetwise. Justified in that Lionel came from a well-off background and was even set to marry into money, while E.L.'s only known a hardscrabble life.

* LongTitle: Several episodes have these, culminating in Episode 9's "It's Easier to Pass an Elephant Through the Eye of a Needle Than a Bad Check in Bel Air".

* ''Series/HardcastleAndMcCormick'', which Wiki/{{Wikipedia}} points out is a WunzaPlot series that also has an ex-con as one of the lead characters

* ''Series/HardcastleAndMcCormick'', which Wiki/{{Wikipedia}} points out is a TheyFightCrime series that also has an ex-con as one of the lead characters

* TheyFightCrime: One's a black ex-con, one's a white ex-stockbroker -- now they're private detectives! The Creator/MillCreekEntertainment [=DVD=] release straight up called it "The ''[[Series/TheOddCouple1970 Odd Couple]]'' of detective shows!"

* TheyFightCrime: One's a black ex-con, one's a white ex-stockbroker -- now they're private detectives! The Creator/MillCreekEntertainment [=DVD=] release straight up called it "The ''[[Series/TheOddCouple Odd Couple]]'' of detective shows!"

* KnightInShiningArmor: Lionel lives to help the helpless (especially women and children) and has great respect for the law...which frequently strains his partnership with E.L., who is a lot more pragmatic. {{Reconstructed}} in that he comes to accept that saving the day sometimes means bending the law, and he ''does'' have a point in being a stickler for the rules otherwise, since E.L.'s schemes cause as much trouble as they solve if not more.

* BookEnds: Probably coincidental since it did only last one season, but the show begins and ends with stories involving Lionel's (ex-)fiance Bunny. In the last episode, "Diamonds Aren't Forever", she and his parents try to convince him to give up the detective business.

* GirlOfTheWeek: Three episodes in a row (the ones right after the PilotMovie) have one for Lionel, and E.L. has one in the very next episode "The Sixteen Byte Data Chip and the Brown-Eyed Fox". Most of them get an in-universe reason to not be there the next week, save for the one in "The Robin Tucker's Roseland Roof and Ballroom Murder". Zig-zagged with Lionel's fiance Bunny, who disappears after the PilotMovie only to return in the final episode "Diamonds Aren't Forever" hoping to win him back, with no mentions of her in the interim.

* PurpleProse: PlayedForLaughs -- the excerpts of the ''Mark Savage'' novels the audience hears via Lionel's voiceover are dripping with this.

* ''Series/HardcastleAndMcCormick'', which Website/{{Wikipedia}} points out is a TheyFightCrime series that also has an ex-con as one of the lead characters

* ''Series/HardcastleAndMcCormick'', which {{Wikipedia}} points out is a TheyFightCrime series that also has an ex-con as one of the lead characters

Compare (as Wiki/{{Wikipedia}} does) with two subsequent Cannell productions:

Compare (as Wiki/{{Wikipedia}} does) with ''Series/HardcastleAndMcCormick'', a subsequent TheyFightCrime series from Cannell that also has an ex-con as one of the lead characters, and with ''Series/TheGreatestAmericanHero'', Cannell's next series that applies a similar naive hero/savvy partner dynamic to the {{Superhero}} genre.

Compare (as Wiki/{{Wikipedia}} does) with ''Series/HardcastleAndMcCormick'', a subsequent TheyFightCrime series from Cannell that also has an ex-con as one of the lead characters.

* ABirthdayNotABreak: "Loose Larry's List of Losers" takes place on Lionel's birthday, and starts with E.L. throwing a little surprise party for him at their office. Unfortunately, the watch he gives him as a present turns out to be stolen, and on top of that, E.L. has to go to his monthly parole hearing -- and his new officer is a lot tougher than the old one was...

* TitleMontage: The regular episodes all have one, with clips drawn primarily from the PilotMovie.

* FunnyBruceLeeNoises: Lionel is prone to making these when he goes on the defense against thugs or kicks open the occasional locked door. Unusually for this trope, he has genuine karate skills -- he's a third-degree black belt -- but since he's played by a then-27-year-old Jeff Goldblum, the comedy remains. Lionel's real problem is that, being an {{Adorkable}} gentleman who never expected/wanted to use his skills in actual combat, he tends to waste time warning his attackers of his skills -- allowing them to get in the first hit.

While the show had a strong start in the ratings as a mid-season replacement, ABC only kept it for one season of 14 episodes. However, in that time it gained a cult following and was a major stepping stone for Goldblum, providing as it did his first starring role in any medium. The entire series was released on DVD in TheNewTens, though rights issues involving the PilotMovie mean it and the rest of the show were released by different distributors. Creator/ShoutFactory now owns the rights to this series aside from the pilot.

While the show had a strong start in the ratings as a mid-season replacement, ABC only kept it for one season of 14 episodes. However, in that time it gained a cult following and was a major stepping stone for Goldblum, providing as it did his first starring role in any medium. The entire series was released on DVD in TheNewTens, though rights issues involving the PilotMovie mean it and the rest of the show were released by different distributors.

* CharacterDevelopment: Not a lot given the short run, but the effectiveness of Lionel's karate skills goes up as the show progresses because he 1) more used to using them in defense situations and 2) less prone to ''warning opponents about them beforehand''. He also becomes (slightly) less of a rules stickler through his experiences with E.L., and more self-confident.

* CreditsMontage: Several episodes (especially later in the run) have one, likely to pad out the running times since the alternative sequence, which unspools over a still from the episode, is at least 30 seconds shorter.

** Lionel Whitney zig-zags the trope in that his biggest problem is that he decided to become a detective (after spending most of his working life as a stockbroker) as a way of living out his pulp fiction-inspired dreams of being a hard-boiled gumshoe, and as a result tends to see the cases his agency takes on in melodramatic genre terms. At the same time he's not ''quite'' equipped to handle the grayed morality and action that requires in practice, being something of a KnightInShiningArmor. More straightforwardly, he's also prone to TheDulcineaEffect, is overly trusting of others (especially women and children), and in the last episode it's revealed that his parents are deeply disappointed he gave up his old life for a career that leaves him in PerpetualPoverty.

* CharacterDevelopment: Not a lot given the short run, but the effectiveness of Lionel's karate skills goes up as the show progresses because he 1) more used to using them in defense situations and 2) less prone to ''telling opponents'' about them beforehand. He also becomes ''slightly'' less of a rules stickler through his experiences with E.L.

* TheCameo: In-universe, Stephen J. Cannell is the author of the ''Mark Savage'' novels Lionel loves, and a picture of him appears on the back of their dust jackets. He briefly appears onscreen at a police station in one episode, briefly distracting Lionel from the business at hand.

* TheDulcineaEffect: Lionel is prone to this in episodes with a GirlOfTheWeek. It gets him into a ''lot'' of trouble in "Savage Says: There's No Free Lunch" because [[spoiler: that week's Dulcinea is actually TheVamp. Even better? The novel he's working his way through at the time sees Savage similarly deceived, but it isn't until Lionel's recovering in the hospital that he finishes it and realizes how strong the PlotParallel was]].

* GenreSavvy: Even as a stockbroker, Lionel dreamed of being a private detective and living out the novels he reads. His knowledge of genre tropes that were cliches even in the 1940s is more of a hindrance than a help when applied to actual turn of the '80s cases, though.
* HealthcareMotivation: E.L. steals the BriefcaseFullOfMoney from the mob in the PilotMovie to pay the hospital bills of a relative who was beaten up by them. (This nicely serves to establish E.L. as a LovableRogue.)

** Whenever someone -- usually Lionel -- is reading a ''Mark Savage'' novel, the reader's voiceover narration is accompanied by a smoky sax theme fit for a film noir.

* MeaningfulName: ''Lionel'' is a perfect name for a would-be hero who's too idealistic for his own good but also braver than he appears.

* PerpetualPoverty: As with Cannell's previous show ''Series/TheRockfordFiles'', the heroes struggle with actually making money solving cases. Quite a few episodes have E.L. slipping back into his old con artist ways to counteract this, often with results that either help or hinder solving the case of the week. In some episodes, such as "The Millionaire's Life" and "Diamonds Aren't Forever", it ''causes'' the crisis of the week!
* PurpleProse: PlayedForLaughs -- the excerpts of the ''Mark Savage'' novels the audience hears via voiceover are positively dripping with this.

* CrossOver: E.L. Turner also appears in the final five episodes of one of Cannell's later detective shows, ''J.J. Starbuck'', as the driver/partner of a Texas billionaire-turned-detective-WalkingTheEarth after the latter is injured. Ben Vereen reprised his role. The crossover was not initially planned, but rather served as a means of working around an actual injury sustained by lead actor Dale Robertson.

* CrossOver: E.L. Turner also appears in the final five episodes of one of Cannell's later detective shows, ''J.J. Starbuck'', as the driver/partner of a Texas billionaire turned detective WalkingTheEarth after the latter is injured. Ben Vereen reprised his role. The crossover was not initially planned, but rather served as a means of working around an actual injury sustained by lead actor Dale Robertson.

* OneWordTitle: Episode 12 is simply titled..."Untitled".

* PerpetualPoverty: As with Cannell's previous show ''Series/TheRockfordFiles'', the heroes struggle with actually making money solving cases. Quite a few episodes have E.L. slipping back into his old con artist ways to counteract this, often with results that either help or hinder solving the case of the week. In "The Millionaire's Life" and "Diamonds Aren't Forever", it ''causes'' the crisis of the week!

* ShortRunners: One season of 14 episodes (or 13 if you count the PilotMovie as a double-length episode).

* BittersweetEnding: "Savage Says: What Are Friends For?" has the sole genuinely sad ending in the series. [[spoiler: Not only is Lionel's best friend from high school/colleague from work killed by the villains, it's because the friend's wife -- whom Lionel had pined for from afar all these years, and who seems to return his feelings -- was in on the plot all along, using him as a pawn. He's genuinely heartbroken by this betrayal.]] What sweetens it is that [[spoiler: after he confronts her and turns her in, an admiring E.L. drops his usual wisecracks to assure him he's done the right thing by way of comforting him]].

* BittersweetEnding: "Savage Says: What Are Friends For?" has the sole genuinely sad ending in the series. [[spoiler: Not only is Lionel's best friend from high school/colleague from work killed by the villains, it's because the friend's wife -- whom Lionel had pined for from afar all these years, and who seems to return his feelings -- was in on the plot all along, using him as a pawn. He's genuinely heartbroken by this betrayal]]. What sweetens it is that [[spoiler: after he confronts her and turns her in, an admiring E.L. drops his usual wisecracks to assure him he's done the right thing by way of comforting him]].

* BittersweetEnding: "Savage Says: What Are Friends For?" has the sole genuinely sad ending in the series. [[spoiler: Not only is Lionel's best friend from high school/colleague from work killed by the villains, it's because the friend's wife -- whom Lionel had pined for from afar all these years, and who seems to return his feelings -- was in on the plot all along, using him as a pawn. He's genuinely heartbroken by this betrayal, but after he confronts her and turns her in, an admiring E.L. assures him he's done the right thing.]]