B.L. Stryker

When you think of car chase movies, the Smokey and the Bandit series have to be pretty high on your list. Burt Reynolds, Sally Field, a souped-up convertible, some hapless cops, it’s a perfect formula for fun – especially if you have a mullet. Following on from that success after a few years in the wilderness, Burt re-emerged as B.L. Stryker, a carefree private detective who lives on his boat in southern Florida. With the same formula that every single detective series of the past thirty years has used – wacky friends, sexy women, villains who always make one fatal mistake that sees them caught – B.L. Stryker actually received light critical praise and even an Emmy nomination, over the course of its two seasons and as many TV movies. Co-executive produced by Tom Selleck, the show was decently written, well performed and competently produced, but the formulaic concept never grabbed the audience that Magnum PI had pulled a few years before.