Man Against Crime

Man Against Crime
Ralph Bellamy as Mike Barnett (1951)
Also known as	''Follow That Man''
Genre	Crime drama
Created by	Lawrence Klee
Written by	Vin Bogert
Directed by	Paul Nickel (1949) Edward Montagne (1952-54) William Berke (1953) Frank McDonald (1953) Paul Alter (1953) Francis D. Lyon (1954)
Starring	Ralph Bellamy (1949-1954) Frank Lovejoy Nita Talbot
Narrated by	Carl King
Theme music composer	Fred Steiner
Country of origin	United States
Original language(s)	English
No. of seasons	5
No. of episodes	122
Production
Producer(s)	Edward Montagne Lawrence M. Klee
Editor(s)	Maria Montague (1952-53)
Running time	30 mins. (approx)
Release
Original network	CBS (1949-1953) DuMont (1953-1954) NBC (1953-1954)
Picture format	Black-and-white
Audio format	Monoaural
Original release	October 7, 1949 – June 27, 1954

Man Against Crime (also known as Follow That Man) starring Ralph Bellamy, one of the first television programs about private eyes, ran on CBS, the DuMont Television Network and NBC from October 7, 1949 to June 27, 1954. The show was created by Lawrence Klee and was broadcast live until 1952. The series was one of the few television programs ever to have been simulcast on more than one network: the program aired on both NBC and DuMont during the 1953-1954 television season.

Man Against Crime stars Ralph Bellamy as Mike Barnett, a New York freelance private eye. In the 1951 season, Robert Preston co-starred as Mike Barnett's brother, Pat (who also assumed the lead while Bellamy was on vacation that summer). In the summer of 1956, Frank Lovejoy took over the role of Mike Barnett until the series' end that same year.

Accompanied by a frantic theme song by Fred Steiner, the film noir-style introduction features an unknown man running down a deserted New York City street while being chased by a black car, all of which is viewed from above. As he knocks on Barnett's door, there is a spray of sub-machine gun fire, and the man is killed. Barnett opens the door, hears the click of the bolt on the gun, ducks and is missed by a second, shorter burst of slugs. Barnett then takes off after the killer while Follow That Man appears in bold letters and the title of the episode is shown on a file folder that is propped up against a telephone. The filmed episodes were syndicated as Follow That Man because the sponsor owned the original title [see below].

The show's first prime-time episode aired on CBS on 7 October 1949, and the final prime-time episode was broadcast, on NBC, on 26 August 1956. In the 1950-1951 season, the series finished at #13 in the Nielsen ratings, followed by a #29 finish in 1951-1952.