Stephen J. Cannell didn't set out to remake I Spy, although you could argue that the 1965-8 Bill Cosby-Robert Culp series had to be an inspiration for Tenspeed & Brown Shoe, a mid-season replacement series that Cannell sold to ABC during the 1979-80 season.
E. L. "Tenspeed" Turner (Ben Vereen) was an ex-con trying to go straight. Lionel Whitney, aka Brown Shoe (Jeff Goldblum) was an accountant-turned-private eye who sought to rehabilitate Turner. The two formed a detective agency in Los Angeles, where, it seems, just about anything is possible.
Unfortunately, viewers didn't respond, as Tenspeed initially aired on Sundays when it launched in January 1980, then was bumped to Friday nights, where it ended its run five months later. Cannell had probably seen Vereen in Roots, and thought he could build a series around him. He thought enough of the Tenspeed character to bring Vereen back for an appearance on another of his shows, NBC's J. J. Starbuck, with Dale Robertson, a few years later.
My belief is that viewers probably felt Cannell was just having a little fun at the expense of rival producer Aaron Spelling, who had sold quite a few crime dramas to ABC during the 70's. Cannell would perfect his formula a few years later with another ABC series, Hardcastle & McCormick, which ran for three seasons.
Here's a sample episode:
Rating: B-.
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