By Eric Grigs | July 10, 2021

From the late 70s into the early 80s, private investigator shows dominated the three main networks’ schedules. And plenty of them made detecting a family affair. Married couple crime-solvers? Hart to Hart has got you covered. (There’s McMillan & Wife too.) Siblings? Call brothers Simon & Simon. And who can forget the Snoop Sisters? (Well, actually most people, after one very short season.)

In 1984, the hottest family-owned business for TV investigations was a father and son one. Crazy Like a Fox was a star vehicle, written specifically for the incomparable Jack Warden. An easygoing and experienced old P.I., Warden’s lovable Harry Fox somehow in each episode finds a way to drag his high-strung, lawyer son (John Rubenstein) into every case.

Getting a late season start in December 1984 by displacing Alice and The Jeffersons in the Sunday 9-10 p.m. time slot, right after Murder, She Wrote, it shot to #10 in the ratings. This two-hour block of mysteries clicked with CBS viewers, who showed up in droves for older-aged sleuths solving murders and crimes. In 1985, Jack Hicks of TV Guide wrote: “The back-to-back Sunday night successes of Murder, She Wrote and Crazy Like a Fox seem to have proven that it’s OK for television to depict adult life as we know it in the U.S. after 40.” That optimism would be short lived.

I didn’t watch Crazy Like a Fox during its initial run. I have only a vague recollection of it when it originally aired. But nearly 40 years later, I came across its epic intro theme song and opening credits by chance. In those 30 seconds, I was instantly hooked. I became determined to track it down. It wasn’t easy (still no official release), although its 35 episodes have aired occasionally on channels like GetTV.

Charming and delightful—generally not the typical words used about the TV of today (looking at you Handmaid’s Tale)—is how I’d describe this show’s blend of light humor and plot-driven, episodic case-of-the-week shows. I find that my favorite “comfort TV” is low stakes (let’s face it, real life is stressful enough, thank you very much). Tuning in to a different episode’s unconnected storyline with unexpected new guest stars is a mental oasis, instead of the effort that goes with keeping track of several world-building spectacles during my down time. Hicks’ TV Guide review, mentioned above, went on to note: “While the strongest writing on Crazy Like a Fox still is not Hitchcock, when it’s good it’s a diverting hour, reminiscent of Columbo or The Rockford Files, mildly twisty and idiosyncratic, with Warden unleashed on the streets of San Francisco.”

There’s a breezy, effortless feeling to the relationship between Harry, Sr. and Harrison, Jr. You really believe their odd-couple-like father and son dynamic at the heart of each episode. Warden was nominated in the Emmy Best Actor category for both years the show aired and deserved the recognition. Rubenstein’s neurotic portrayal of the long-suffering son should have received a nod too for the demands on his skillful comedic timing. During the pilot episode’s high speed chase finale, he serves up plenty of hilarious slapstick, surprised looks, and hammy gestures while begrudgingly helping dear old Dad resolve the case. And as Harrison Jr. is dragged through the streets of San Francisco on the hood of a cab, the writers don’t waste the opportunity to send him though a car wash for our amusement, of course.

So how did Crazy Like a Fox go from ratings hit to canceled the following year? Bad timing, literally. Network execs decided to resurrect the CBS Sunday Night Movie, which caused the show to begin its shuffle around the schedule through various time slots.

With a new top ten hit, CBS didn’t have to do any more work to lock in their win of the ratings game on Sunday nights—just keep catering to older viewers who were loyal to this type of programming. Jack Warden’s Harry Fox could have experienced a similar staggering twelve season run like its lead-in, Angela Lansbury’s Jessica Fletcher, eventually went on to do. But as has been said about Murder, She Wrote throughout its tenure: the network loved having hits, but loved chasing a younger demographic more.

In 1987—just a year after cancellation—the network brought back the characters for a reunion movie, Still Crazy Like a Fox. Due to viewer demand, decent numbers, and positive critic response, there were rumblings that the show would come back and pick up where it left off, but restarting the series never materialized.

Fast-forward to our modern television era where social media marketing ensures you never lose track of a favorite show or are unable to find it with more than a simple Google search. How many great shows like Fox have been saved by on demand streaming where the day and time a new show airs has become irrelevant to its success or failure? The tradeoff: Crazy Like a Fox’s type of self-contained episodic scripts that you could interchangeably drop in on for any episode just to be entertained for an hour has been completely jettisoned in favor of multi-episode arcs and endless cliffhangers to make sure you click “next episode.”

If you haven’t seen this father and son duo on the hunt for criminals, it’s worth chasing down this Fox to give it a watch. And if you get trapped, like me, staying up late somehow bingeing a show that’s meant to be watched week-to-week—how crazy would that be?

Eric Grigs is a pop culture writer, artist, and co-host of the Pop Trash Podcast.

This Great Show Couldn't Outfox a Network Trap