Warner Bros. had the idea that what worked for 77 Sunset Strip would turn into a sort of cottage industry for the studio. Ah, but not so fast.
Surfside 6 was, to an extent, a spin-off from Bourbon Street Beat, largely with one character, Ken Madison (Van Williams) relocating from New Orleans to Miami. Lee Patterson, Troy Donohue, & Diane McBain co-starred. The series lasted just 2 seasons (1960-2), and perhaps that might be because the setting was too close to another WB crime drama, Hawaiian Eye.
I never saw the show. We'll leave you with the intro:
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SURFSIDE SIX is streaming on Warner Archive Instant. It's a fun show, though 77 SUNSET STRIP was the first and best of these detective series from WB.
Diane McBain is always stunning, as is Margarita Sierra, who sadly passed away only a year after the show left the air of heart disease. She was only 27.
The big reasons it never captured a wider audience: the Warner factory was starting to fade by 1960, and the show faced top 10 competition from THE DANNY THOMAS SHOW and THE ANDY GRIFFITH SHOW on CBS during its second season.
I neglected to mention that Lee Patterson would later resurface on a daytime soap, ABC's One Life to Live, and was a regular there for several years.
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