The FBI is one of those crime dramas that isn't very interesting because really there's no gray areas between the good guys & the bad guys. The Criminals are usually REALLY bad and the good guys (the FBI agents) are usually good and their's never any question or doubt as to why they are after any specific bad guys. They just do their job every episode and the bad guys ALWAYS get caught at the end of every episode by the good guys. But the main interesting things about this show is that every episode is based off of real FBI case files and the Real FBI had anything & everything to do with this show, from approving the episode scripts & sets and approving the wardrobe worn by the actors playing the agents.
And as you can imagine, the show comes off as EXTREMELY pretentious because it basically serves as a walking billboard/paid advertisement for the FBI. VERY much like how Dragnet served as a paid advertisement for the LAPD. In fact you can find SO many parallels between those two shows it's not even funny. First of all, they both based their episodes from real case files (with Dragnet basing their episodes off of real LAPD case files and the FBI basing their episodes from real federal FBI case files). And both shows faced a untimely demise but for different reasons (when LA cops began to garner a bad reputation for Police Brutality against Blacks at the end of the 60's and the beginning of the 70's something that is still an issue today. The popularity of Dragnet plummeted and lead to it's cancellation. When Watergate happened and people found out the FBI was behind that, no one really wanted to watch the show anymore and then it was cancelled).
The shows also unfortunately lead into some unpopular political opinions at the time such as being Anti Drug and Pro Vietnam but it is interesting noting how long the show originally lasted (It ran for a whopping 9 years). And how after it cancelled it was seen VERY little in Syndication, but I think that's because it was basically a product of it's time and the situations in each episode quickly became dated after the series left the air.
So this show is available in it's entirety on DVD through Warner Archive (but you can find those DVDs for cheaper on Amazon vs the Warner Archive website). but it's not on any over the air free TV station or on any streaming app right now and it hasn't been shown in reruns in years despite it's impressive 9 season run. As far as the cast is concerned, the one thing the show has going for it is it's character. We've got Inspector Lew Erskine (Efrem Zimbalist Jr) who plays as widowed FBI agent who doesn't let his own personalities & opinions get in the way into his job. His daughter in the first season (Lynn Loring). is dating special agent Jim Rhodes (Stephen Brooks) who disappeared after the second season replaced by William Reynolds. Phillip Abbott plays the older FBI agent Erskine reports to on his latest findings on each criminal they catch in each episode. Efrem previously had a starring role in the Warner Brothers Detective Series 77 Sunset Strip and since he was still technically under contract with Warner Brothers he naturally signed on to do this series which gave him another incredibly steady gig for a long time. (The previous show he did ran for 6 seasons. He would outdo himself with show lasting for 9 seasons).
So I would recommend this show if your into bland typical crime dramas and can stand The FBI's brand being shoved into your face constantly if your not one of those people I would skip this show completely. Also, this show also was a walking Billboard for Ford because it was the show's primary sponsor for the majority of the show's run, and the characters in this show can be seen driving Ford cars in the show. Also you can tell by watching this series Quinn Martin had a BIG ego problem with his name being imprinted with each episode intro, but then again, he was the producer for this series and this was his longest lasting series he produced.
And as you can imagine, the show comes off as EXTREMELY pretentious because it basically serves as a walking billboard/paid advertisement for the FBI. VERY much like how Dragnet served as a paid advertisement for the LAPD. In fact you can find SO many parallels between those two shows it's not even funny. First of all, they both based their episodes from real case files (with Dragnet basing their episodes off of real LAPD case files and the FBI basing their episodes from real federal FBI case files). And both shows faced a untimely demise but for different reasons (when LA cops began to garner a bad reputation for Police Brutality against Blacks at the end of the 60's and the beginning of the 70's something that is still an issue today. The popularity of Dragnet plummeted and lead to it's cancellation. When Watergate happened and people found out the FBI was behind that, no one really wanted to watch the show anymore and then it was cancelled).
The shows also unfortunately lead into some unpopular political opinions at the time such as being Anti Drug and Pro Vietnam but it is interesting noting how long the show originally lasted (It ran for a whopping 9 years). And how after it cancelled it was seen VERY little in Syndication, but I think that's because it was basically a product of it's time and the situations in each episode quickly became dated after the series left the air.
So this show is available in it's entirety on DVD through Warner Archive (but you can find those DVDs for cheaper on Amazon vs the Warner Archive website). but it's not on any over the air free TV station or on any streaming app right now and it hasn't been shown in reruns in years despite it's impressive 9 season run. As far as the cast is concerned, the one thing the show has going for it is it's character. We've got Inspector Lew Erskine (Efrem Zimbalist Jr) who plays as widowed FBI agent who doesn't let his own personalities & opinions get in the way into his job. His daughter in the first season (Lynn Loring). is dating special agent Jim Rhodes (Stephen Brooks) who disappeared after the second season replaced by William Reynolds. Phillip Abbott plays the older FBI agent Erskine reports to on his latest findings on each criminal they catch in each episode. Efrem previously had a starring role in the Warner Brothers Detective Series 77 Sunset Strip and since he was still technically under contract with Warner Brothers he naturally signed on to do this series which gave him another incredibly steady gig for a long time. (The previous show he did ran for 6 seasons. He would outdo himself with show lasting for 9 seasons).
So I would recommend this show if your into bland typical crime dramas and can stand The FBI's brand being shoved into your face constantly if your not one of those people I would skip this show completely. Also, this show also was a walking Billboard for Ford because it was the show's primary sponsor for the majority of the show's run, and the characters in this show can be seen driving Ford cars in the show. Also you can tell by watching this series Quinn Martin had a BIG ego problem with his name being imprinted with each episode intro, but then again, he was the producer for this series and this was his longest lasting series he produced.