Customer Reviews

Tenspeed and Brown Shoe

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

CBS, who owned the rights on the pilot refused to come to an arrangement for its usage on this DVD set! Therefore Mill Creek Entertainment has been forced to NOT include it on the DVD. All other episodes will be there. CBS has succeeded in making me as mad as hell. Its a 30 year old program being released to a budget-priced DVD! What do they care anymore?! So the pilot, which explains what you need to know about the show, is gone. There is a man on youtube, user id chuckcollins, who is planning on posting the pilot that he has from an old recording. So I guess for the price you could watch the pilot on youtube then enjoy the rest. Its what I plan to do, but I'm mad at CBS for screwing this up for everybody

This series was shown in my region of Britain in a ridiculous lunchtime slot, as 'filler.' As a result whenever I have mentioned it to people over the years, I get a glazed look in their eyes, and the question: 'Tenspeed & what?'

I seem to recall a senior US network executive called the introductory film the best 'pilot' he'd ever seen; I caught the second half of the pilot and was instantly hooked.

For the following few weeks I used to cycle home from school, watch the show and then cycle back late, ditching Physical Education class. (It's ok, I turned out alright).

It ended too soon but sometimes - when a show is cancelled - we can at least treasure it as something, which didn't run too long and eventually go off the boil...

The Tenspeed character resurfaced years later in the show JJ Starbuck, which has so far not been shown in Britain. I hope that gets released too.

Tenspeed and Brown Shoe was a short lived series in the early 1980's. The chemistry between "detectives" Ben Vereen and Jeff Goldblum is not only extremely humorous, but also over the top, amazing acting. I remember looking forward to wathing the show each week and how disappointed I was when the network tanked it!
It was as good or better than Police Squad and it's about time it's coming to DVD!

familystrengths

THIS IS NOT THE COMPLETE SERIES this set does not include PILOT EP-episodes 1&2
this was disapointing.the pilot was one of the best t.v. movies of all time.

Prolific writer/producer Stephen J. Cannell, had numerous TV hits during the 70's, one of the most successful being The Rockford Files, chronicling the adventures of private investigator Jim Rockford. The series, Ritchie Brockelman, Private Investigator, was a spinoff from The Rockord Files in 1978, but the show only lasted a few episodes. In 1980, Cannell tried the P.I. route again, with Tenspeed and Brownshoe, a comedy/adventure series featuring LA based private investigators Lionel Whitney (Jeff Goldblum) and E.L. "Tenspeed" Turner (Ben Vereen). The tall, lanky, bug-eyed, stuttering Goldblum, and Vereen, the slick-talking, overly dramatic, man with a thousand smooth dance moves, make a pretty amusing team. With each bringing something different to the Whitney Detective Agency, the partnership is a study in contrast.

Lionel Whitney is a trenchcoat wearing, green Triumph TR7 driving, ex-accountant type who left the financial world to become a private detective, hoping to find the kind of romance and adventure, he reads about in pulp detective novels. A running gag, was that Whitney was constantly reading `Mark Savage' mysteries, books written by Stephen J. Cannell, that displayed the bearded author's picture on the back cover. As he reads aloud passages from these books, Whitney fantasized about living the life of the fictional detective, Mark Savage. Almost completely out of his element, the naïve, idealistic, and soft-hearted Whitney, was often getting mixed up in questionable cases, where he would often be played for a fool. Fortunately his skills as a black belt karate practitioner, proved to be a major asset.

E.L. Turner is a street smart, fast-talking, con man type, who is on parole. Preferring to avoid or talk his way out of trouble, Turner is a quick improviser, and is adept at assuming identities, and using disguises. Despite his shady tendencies, Turner's activities are mostly of a mildly illegal nature. His knowledge of human nature, and the streets, proves invaluable in helping to solve cases, although his checked past sometimes complicates them.

With Cannell writing many of the scripts, the stories have offbeat elements and quirky characters, similar to The Rockford Files. Whitney and Turner, do not have the glib smoothness of a Jim Rockford, so they have to go about things a little differently, and their lack of smoothness is part of the comedy. Give these guys credit for independence though, for unlike many TV detectives, the Whitney Detective Agency, does not have a buddy on the police force to help them out. And they are rarely bailed out, by having the cops appear just in the nick of time. Mike Post and Pete Carpenter, who did the music for The Rockford Files, and several other Cannell series, provide the music for Tenspeed and Brown Shoe. The results, are very similar to Rockford. Some of the music works, but country influenced cues, with harmonica and banjo, that may have suited Jim Rockford, don't always play that well here. The series features guest stars that appeared in other Cannell series, like Dana Wynter, Elaine Heilveil, James Whitmore Jr., John Hillerman, Rene Auberjonois, Larry Manetti, Red West, Jack Garner, and Richard Romanus.

The packing for the three disc set is very economical, featuring discs in paper sleeves. Image quality of the episodes, is fair to below average, with some bad looking shading, and odd colors at times. Sound quality is average. There are no subtitles, or bonus features. Fourteen one hour episodes were produced, but only twelve are included the set. The two part series pilot, unfortunately is not included, but the low price still makes the set an attractive buy.

The series had a moderately strong, midseason debut in January 1980, but fell in the ratings, and was not renewed. It is lightly recommended to those who like their detectives a little goofy, but definitely recommended to fans of the two engaging stars. Multitalented Ben Vereen, who at the time was probably most known for his work in productions like Pippin, and the TV miniseries Roots, is quite entertaining as the freewheeling E. L. Turner. The series was an early break, in the career of a young Jeff Goldblum, who would later find success in films, like The Fly (1986) and the Jurassic Park films.

We enjoyed this old show - blast from the past - except it was missing the pilot episode so the season isn't really complete!

I remember first seeing this series many years ago! I enjoyed it way back then & wondered why it took these years to be released on dvd! So we geet the news that it will be released & everyone was happpy, placed their preorders & waited to receiv their boxset form Amazon! I received mine yesterday & quicky opened it! Only to find that inside the very sturdy casing, I found three paper enevelopes with a disc each inside! Carefully, I removed these discs one at a time & placed them in plastic disc holders which easily fit into the case. Since these were transparent, I began to read each disc as the case said all 12 episodes! 12 & not 13, where was the pilot??? Nowhere to be found!! What is the sense of claiming that the entire series will be released & the most important episode, in this case the pilot movie, is not included!!!! I understand that the television network responsible for airing the pilot could not come to an arrangement or an accomodation with Mill Creek Entertainment! There is alot of dust & print damage on each episode & the sound is acceptable, but the packaging & the exclusion of the pilot movie are two sore points for me!
Final Update:
This is the e-mail I received from Mill Creek Entertainment this morning 22nd March:
"The rights to the pilot are held by CBS and we are unable to include the pilot along with the twelve episodes. At this time, there are no plans to release another version of this DVD set."
So there you have it, one can only hope for the pilot to released somehow in the future, at this point in time, not by Mill Creek Entertainment!

...before buying and about the fact that the original pilot episode was missing, even though some reviewers were kind enough to summarize the missing episode, even though I would buy the (complete) missing episode if I could...

Nothing made up for the intense frustration- and anger- I still feel that the set is NOT complete and THE MOST IMPORTANT EPISODE was missing. The charm is the quirkiness of the two disparate characters, but you'll never find out how they actually got together, the specific meaning of their signature handshake and there are no flashbacks to when they met, etc.

Yes, seeing a very young Jeff Goldblum was worth it. Knowing that someone sabotaged the set, just to be spiteful, bothered me more than I thought it would.

Stephen Cannell did this series just after Rockford files. The style is clearly similar to others of the time, but the casting was brilliant. Goldblum & Vereen have each had shining careers and this is where many first saw them. I looked forward to seeing them screw up and get out of it every week and was shocked when it was cancelled. These are selected episodes, so you don't get the progression, but it's great to see them again.

I had totally forgotten this show and how charming it was. This DVD is a fun trip down memory lane to the careers of 2 terrific actors and Stephen Cannell's writing.