The Thin Man (TV series)

The Thin Man
Kirk and Lawford as Nick and Nora with Asta, 1957.
Genre	Comedy Drama
Written by	Ben Starr
Starring	Peter Lawford Phyllis Kirk
Theme music composer	Johnny Green Season 1 Pete Rugolo Season 2
Country of origin	USA
Original language(s)	English
No. of seasons	2
No. of episodes	72
Production
Running time	1/2 hour (25:33 minutes)
Production company(s)	Clarington Productions
Distributor	MGM Television
Release
Original network	NBC
Original release	September 20, 1957 – August 28, 1959

The Thin Man is a half-hour weekly television series based on the mystery novel The Thin Man (1933) by Dashiell Hammett and the 1935 -1947 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer movie series of the same name. The 72 episodes were produced by MGM Television and broadcast by NBC for two seasons from 1957–1959 on Friday evening. It was the first TV series produced by MGM.

The series starred Peter Lawford and Phyllis Kirk as Nick and Nora Charles. The dog, Asta, was played by three identical wire-hair terriers.Jack Albertson, Patricia Donahue, and Nita Talbot had recurring roles during the show's second season. Albertson played Lieutenant Harry Evans of the New York Police Department. Donahue played Hazel, Nick and Nora's neighbor. Talbot played Beatrice Dane, alias Blondie Collins, a criminal who dragged Nick and Nora into her schemes. Both Hazel and Beatrice made attempts to seduce Nick. Nora's jealousy fueled her sarcasm on these occasions.

A newspaper columnist wrote that Nora Charles' role was different from that of other female leads in detective programs on television. Kirk commented:

We were the first of the sophisticated detective dramas, and from the scripts it was simple to see that the part of Nora Charles was that of a leading lady who made more than token appearances. Since then some of the new shows just use girls as part of the scenery.

Among the series guest stars was Billy Gray, who appeared at the same time he was cast as James "Bud" Anderson, Jr., in Father Knows Best. Ann McCrea was cast as Billie in the 1958 episode, "The Lost Last Chapter". Of note is the "guest star" in the episode "Robot Client", none other than the original Robby the Robot from the 1956 film "Forbidden Planet".