1970s Mystery TV Shows

Columbo is a friendly, verbose, disheveled-looking police detective who is consistently underestimated by his suspects. Despite his unprepossessing appearance and apparent absentmindedness, he shrewdly solves all of his cases and secures all evidence needed for indictment. His formidable eye for detail and meticulously dedicated approach often become clear to the killer only late in the storyline.

Los Angeles County medical examiner Quincy routinely engages in police investigations.

Cranky but likable L.A. PI Jim Rockford pulls no punches (but takes plenty of them). An ex-con sent to the slammer for a crime he didn't commit, Rockford takes on cases others don't want, aided by his tough old man, his lawyer girlfriend and some shady associates from his past.

Wealthy couple Jonathan and Jennifer Hart, a self-made millionaire and his journalist wife, moonlight as amateur detectives.

Rod Serling narrates an anthology of fantasy, horror and sci-fi stories from a set resembling a macabre museum. A chilling work of art serves as the connective link between the stories.

A bald, lollipop sucking police detective with a fiery righteous attitude battles crime in New York City.

Barnaby Jones is a television detective series starring Buddy Ebsen and Lee Meriwether as father- and daughter-in-law who run a private detective firm in Los Angeles. The show ran on CBS from January 28, 1973 to April 3, 1980, beginning as a midseason replacement. William Conrad guest starred as Frank Cannon of Cannon on the first episode of Barnaby Jones, "Requiem for a Son" and the two series had a two-part crossover episode in 1975, "The Deadly Conspiracy".

Baretta is an American detective television series which ran on ABC from 1975 to 1978. The show was a milder version of a successful 1973–74 ABC series, Toma, starring Tony Musante as chameleon-like, real-life New Jersey police officer David Toma. While popular, Toma received intense criticism at the time for its realistic and frequent depiction of police and criminal violence. When Musante left the series after a single season, the concept was retooled as Baretta, with Robert Blake in the title role.

Kolchak: The Night Stalker is an American television series that aired on ABC during the 1974–1975 season. It featured a fictional Chicago newspaper reporter who investigated mysterious crimes with unlikely causes, particularly those that law enforcement authorities would not follow up. These often involved the supernatural or even science fiction, including fantastic creatures.

Ellery Queen is an American television detective mystery series based on the fictional character Ellery Queen. It aired on NBC during the 1975-76 television season and stars Jim Hutton as Ellery Queen, David Wayne as his father, Inspector Richard Queen, and Tom Reese as Sgt. Velie. Created by the writing/producing team of Richard Levinson and William Link, the title character "breaks" the fourth wall to ask the audience to consider their solution.

Everyone’s favorite mystery-solving Great Dane is here to find clues, along with a little help from his energetic nephew and four human companions.

McMillan & Wife is a lighthearted American police procedural that aired on NBC from September 17, 1971 to April 24, 1977. Starring Rock Hudson and Susan Saint James in the title roles, the series premiered in 90-minute episodes as part of the wheel series NBC Mystery Movie, in rotation with Columbo and McCloud. Initially airing on Wednesday night, the original line-up was shifted to Sundays in the second season, where it aired for the rest of its run. This was the first element to be created specially for the Mystery Movie strand.

Thriller is a British television series, originally broadcast in the UK from 1973 to 1976. It is an anthology series: each episode has a self-contained story and its own cast. As the title suggests, each story is a thriller of some variety, from tales of the supernatural to down-to-earth whodunits.

The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries is a television series which aired for three seasons on ABC. The series starred Parker Stevenson and Shaun Cassidy as amateur sleuth brothers Frank and Joe Hardy, respectively, and Pamela Sue Martin as girl detective Nancy Drew. The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries was unusual in that it often dealt with the characters individually, in an almost anthological style. That is, some episodes featured only the Hardy Boys and others only Nancy Drew.

Aside from doubling the length of each episode, The New Scooby-Doo Movies differed from its predecessor in the addition of a rotating special guest star slot; each episode featured real-life celebrities or well known fictional characters joining the Mystery, Inc. gang in solving the mystery of the week. Some episodes, in particular the episodes guest-starring the characters from The Addams Family, Batman, and Jeannie, deviated from the established Scooby-Doo format of presenting criminals masquerading as supernatural beings by introducing real ghosts, witches, monsters, and other such characters into the plots.

The plot unfolds across two distinct worlds: Dr. Cristiano Navarro’s hospital and an impoverished neighborhood on the outskirts of São Paulo. While doctors at the hospital fight to save lives using state-of-the-art medical technology, young Emanuel—living in the neighborhood—demonstrates the ability to perform miraculous, extraordinary healings with just the touch of his hands. Dr. Cristiano is married to Linda, a wealthy, refined woman twenty years his junior. They long for a child but have been unable to conceive. Linda consults Dr. Paula, a renowned gynecologist, but the doctor cannot resolve their issue. Linda then decides to seek help from Emanuel, sparking a series of conflicts with her husband. However, things are far from ideal in Emanuel’s neighborhood. He possesses paranormal abilities that sometimes manifest in ways beyond his control. An enigmatic and unpredictable man, Emanuel fears his own powers.

Each episode of this series include multiple segments: The first and last were "Laff-A-Lympics" segments, the other ones were "Captain Caveman and the Teen Angels", "Scooby-Doo" and "Dynomutt" segments. The "Laff-A-Lympics" segments feature 45 Hanna-Barbera cartoon characters (classic and otherwise) competing for gold medals in wacky events. Events include racing on ostriches, camels, kangaroos, rickshaws and unicycles, as well as scavenging for creatures like the Abominable Snowman, vampires, and the Loch Ness Monster.

Ghost Story is an American television anthology series that aired for one season on NBC from 1972 to 1973. Executive-produced by William Castle, it initially featured supernatural entities such as ghosts, vampires, and witches. By mid-season, low ratings led to a shift -- for the most part -- away from paranormal themes and a title change to Circle of Fear.

An anthology series produced by Thames Television, comprised of short mystery, suspense or crime adaptations featuring, as the title suggests, detectives who were literary contemporaries of Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes.

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Colonel Epaminondas is a retrograde and authoritarian man, who commands and dismantles the region. He declares war on Pedro Galvão, his main rival, when he donates part of his land – purchased from the colonel – for the construction of a church and a school. The arrival of professor Juliana, right at the beginning of the plot, changes the lives of the residents of the small village. Juliana takes over the school and ends up arousing the interest of Fernando, Epaminondas' son. Oblivious to the fights that drive the story are Pituca (Patrí and Serelepe (Aires Pinto). The friendship between the two children, however, does not please the colonel, who is always fighting with his daughter. 'Meu Pedacinho de Chão' was co-produced and shown simultaneously by Globo and TV Cultura in São Paulo.

Banacek is an American detective TV series starring George Peppard that aired on the NBC network from 1972 to 1974. The series was part of the rotating NBC Wednesday Mystery Movie anthology. It alternated in its time slot with several other shows but was the only one to last beyond its first season.

Ben Mears has returned to his hometown to write a book about the supposedly haunted Marsten House. When people around the Marsten House start dying mysteriously, Mears discovers that the owner of the mansion is actually a vampire who is turning them into an army of undead slaves.

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The Scooby-Doo/Dynomutt Hour is a 60-minute package show produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions in 1976 for ABC Saturday mornings. It marked the first new installments of the cowardly canine since 1973, and contained the following segments: The Scooby-Doo Show and Dynomutt, Dog Wonder.

Orson Welles’ Great Mysteries is a British television anthology series produced by Anglia Television for the ITV network and broadcast between 1973 and 1974. The series presents standalone adaptations of classic mystery, crime, and supernatural stories drawn from literary sources including Dickens, Conan Doyle, Wilkie Collins, Balzac, Maugham, O. Henry, and others. Each episode is framed by original introductory and closing sequences performed by Orson Welles, who serves as the series’ host and sole recurring on-screen presence. These segments, written and directed by Welles (uncredited), function as stylized narrative framing devices rather than dramatic participation in the stories themselves. The dramatic content of each episode is performed by separate casts and directors, with no continuing characters or serialized narrative, establishing the series as a unified television anthology rather than a collection of standalone films.

Dr. Michael Rhodes, a professor of parapsychology who, along with his assistant Nancy Murphy, attempts to solve supernatural mysteries.

Based on the short stories by G. K. Chesterton, Father Brown is a Roman Catholic priest and amateur detective.

Yuri Solomin in the military-adventure film about the fate of red scout Koltsov, who in 1919 was sent with the special sssignments into Denikin's army headquarters, where he became adjutant of the commander. The film not only tells about the operations brilliantly conducted by Koltsov, but also reveals the complex inner world of characters who lived in the controversial and tragic time.

Mrs. Kate Columbo, wife of the famous lieutenant, solves crimes as a reporter, while raising her little daughter.

Five women inherit a fortune from a stranger, but to claim the money they must fulfill certain requirements. How much is it worth to choose our own destiny?

Herculano Quintanilha, after a failed coup and escape from prison, becomes a magician. He meets Márcio, a conflicted heir, and begins to influence his powerful family.

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Daniel is a psychic who can see the past and predict the future. As a child, he had a vision that his brother-in-law, João Henrique, was cheating on his sister, Ester, which led her to separate from her husband. As an adult, his psychic abilities increase and Daniel uses them for his own benefit, rather than to help people. He sets up a practice and appears on TV, becoming famous and known as “the Prophet.” Daniel begins to grow rich, important, and cold.

The cases of slow-talking but high-powered West Virginia attorney Billy Jim Hawkins.

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Supernatural is a 1977 British anthology television programme broadcast on BBC One. Each episode follows the Club of the Damned, where a prospective member is required to tell a horror story, and their application would be judged on how fright factor. Applicants who fail to tell a sufficiently frightening story are killed.

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TV series starring Ikko Furuya, based on the Kosuke Kindaichi mystery novel series by Seishi Yokomizo.