Jigsaw John was a winter replacement series for NBC, airing from February-June 1976.
"Jigsaw" John St. John (Jack Warden, ex-NYPD) was a typical police detective of the period. Unfortunately, because there were plenty of crime dramas on the air at the time, Jigsaw John was cancelled after 4 months.
Warner Bros. Discovery owns the rights to the series.
Edit, 2/8/24: Had to change the video. Here's the intro:
Jack Warden would return to comedy with The Bad News Bears 3 years later.
Rating: B.
2 comments:
There was a real "Jigsaw John".
John Patrick St.John was a detective in the Los Angeles Police Force for 51 years, from 1942 to 1993; he held Badge Number 1 in the LAPD.
St.John became known as "Jigsaw John"because of his methodical way of piecing together evidence in murder cases, leading to the highest clearance rate in the department.
Al Martinez, a newspaperman in Los Angeles, wrote a biography of Det. St.John, titled "Jigsaw John", which became so popular in LA that it attracted attention from Hollywood; a TV-movie and subsequent series resulted, with Jack Warden signed for the lead.
NBC fast-tracked the Jigsaw John series, which was totally fictional, with no relation to St.John's actual investigations; the rest, you know.
Meanwhile, Detective "Jigsaw" John St.John continued as an active LAPD homicide investigator, finally retiring in 1993; he passed on two years later in '95, and was funeralized with full honors by the LAPD.
Nobody remembers the TV show, which is probably just as well ...
At that time, NBC was that desperate for a hit show other than Little House on The Prairie. They could've waited a little longer, but you know, desperation.......
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