Mike Hammer (TV series)

Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer
Starring	Darren McGavin Bart Burns
Theme music composer	Dave Kahn Melvyn Lenard Gordon
Opening theme	"Riff Blues"
Country of origin	United States
Original language(s)	English
No. of episodes	78 (list of episodes)
Production
Producer(s)	Richard Irving
Running time	30 minutes
Production company(s)	Revue Productions
Distributor	Universal Television NBCUniversal Television Distribution
Release
Original network	Syndication
Picture format	Black-and-white; NTSC
Audio format	Monaural sound
Original release	January 28, 1958 – 1960

Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer
Starring	Stacy Keach Lindsay Bloom Don Stroud Kent Williams
Opening theme	Harlem Nocturne
Country of origin	USA
No. of episodes	24 (list of episodes)
Production
Running time	60 minutes (with commercials)
Production company(s)	Jay Bernstein Productions Columbia Pictures Television
Distributor	Sony Pictures Television
Release
Original network	CBS
Picture format	Color; NTSC
Audio format	Monaural sound
Original release	January 28, 1984 – January 12, 1985

Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer is the title used for two syndicated television series that followed the adventures of fictional private detective Mike Hammer. The gritty, crime fighting detective—created by American crime author Mickey Spillane—has also inspired several feature films and television films.

Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer, with Darren McGavin in the title role, is the first syndicated television series based on Spillane's hard-boiled private detective. The series (produced from 1957 to 1959) had a run of 78 episodes over two seasons. Episodes were filmed in black and white and filled a half-hour time slot.

Public and critical reaction to the show was mixed. While TV Guide referred to it as "easily the worst series on TV", McGavin said that the show was "instantly successful". Some reviewers were critical of the show for its use of excessive and gratuitous violence. However, McGavin made a point of playing the role of Hammer with a hint of tongue-in-cheek satire – against the wishes of Universal Studios executives. Unlike the series that appeared in the 1980s, Mickey Spillane had minimal involvement in the production of the 1950s program. "I just took the money and went home," Spillane said of the show. "Believe me, I had bigger fish to fry, namely, that darn elusive Batmanfish."

Darren McGavin played the title role. McGavin would go on to play another hardboiled private detective in the short-lived 1968 series The Outsider. He is perhaps best known as Carl Kolchak in the television series Kolchak: The Night Stalker and the curmudgeonly father in A Christmas Story.

Bart Burns played the role of Hammer's trustworthy ally in the Police department Captain Pat Chambers. Pat was the only other character to appear in every one of Spillane's Hammer novels. Burns would later go on to guest star in several television series, such as Dragnet, Columbo and The Rockford Files.

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