Most of us have seen the 1980's rendition of Mickey Spillane's legendary detective, Mike Hammer. However, this was actually not the first time that Hammer had made it to television.
That would actually have been in 1957, when Spillane reached a deal with Revue Studios to adapt Hammer for television. Darren McGavin was cast as Hammer, and maybe this was a reason why, when McGavin landed the lead in Kolchak: The Night Stalker nearly 20 years later, his portrayal of investigative reporter Carl Kolchak, right down to narrating the episode from the reporter's point of view, was modeled after the hard-boiled detectives of yore, such as Hammer.
This version of Mike Hammer was last seen in the home district on Retro TV about 3 years ago, before WTEN cut its ties with the network, airing on Sunday nights, which would've been a good fit back in the day. However, I didn't see enough of it to merit a rating.
Right now, we'll leave you with a sample episode, "Letter Edged in Blackmail", with Angie Dickinson in one of her earliest TV roles:
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