Banyon is a detective series broadcast in the United States by NBC as part of its 1972âÂÂ73 television schedule. The series was broadcast on Fridays from 10:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. EST beginning September 15, 1972, with the final episode shown on January 12, 1973. A standalone two-hour television movie was broadcast in 1971. The series was a Quinn Martin Production (in association with Warner Bros. Television).
Banyon was a period drama set in the late 1930s in Los Angeles. It concerned the life of private investigator Miles C. Banyon (Robert Forster), a tough-but-honest detective who would accept essentially any case for US$20/day. Banyon's police acquaintance with the Los Angeles Police Department was the cynical Lieutenant Pete McNeil (Richard Jaeckel).
Located in the same complex (the famed Bradbury Building) as Banyon's office was the secretarial school operated by Peggy Revere (Joan Blondell). By an agreement between Banyon and Revere, part of the training provided to these young women was a period serving as Banyon's secretary; this gave him the advantage of not having to provide a salary for a secretary.
Besides Revere, the other ongoing female character was Banyon's girlfriend, Abby Graham (Julie Gregg), a nightclub singer who was constantly trying to encourage him to "settle down" and marry her.
Banyon was unable to find an adequate audience and lost in the Nielsen ratings to ABC's Love, American Style and movies on CBS and was canceled midseason. Despite the show's short life, Quentin Tarantino liked Forster's performance as the title character so much that he hired him for the feature film Jackie Brown many years later.
Brooks, Tim and Marsh, Earle, The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows