You Can't Trick Me! Trivia Quiz

Answer:

"Jessica Jones" (2015) comes from the Marvel Comics stable of superheroes with Krysten Ritter playing the role of the ex-superhero who sets up her own detective agency. Whilst the writers call her an "ex" super, it doesn't mean she has lost her super strength, it is that she refuses to play the role of one. This emanates from her killing a person whilst she was under the spell of a mind controller named Kilgrave (David Tennant). However, the past is not far behind her... the psychotic Kilgrave has re-surfaced and has come back to haunt her in the first series. The series was met with such positive reviews that a further two series were created in 2018 and 2019.

"Banyon" (1972-3) is set in the 1930s and it is built around an honest detective (Banyon, played by Robert Forster) who's not afraid to take on any case, for a fee of "twenty bucks a day". Other regular characters in the show include Peggy Revere (Joan Blondell) who runs a secretarial school in the same building as Banyon. This proves fortuitous to the detective as part of the training for the secretaries is to act as his "girl Friday", and he doesn't have to pay them. Banyon's contact with the LA Police Department is Lt. Pete McNeil (Richard Jaeckel). The only other major character is Banyon's girlfriend, Abby Graham (Julie Gregg), who's constantly at him to settle down and marry her.

"Honey West" (1965) is a character created by Gloria and "Skip" Fickling, was inspired by Marilyn Monroe and was adapted for the small screen from a series of novels that first appeared in the late 1950s. Played by Anne Francis, Honey was alluring as her name implied, owned an ocelot for a pet, was as glamourous as "James Bond" and used a range of gimmicks and gadgetry that would have made Bond proud.

Craig Stevens was private eye "Peter Gunn" and Lola Albright was his girlfriend Edie Hart in this series created by Blake Edwards and ran from 1958 to 1961. Gunn was modeled on actor Cary Grant, was smooth, sophisticated, had expensive taste and never had a hair fall out of place. This made him the complete opposite of most private detectives that proliferated the small screen and pulp fiction at the time. He was also a lover of jazz which opened the door for Henry Mancini to wield his own personal magic on the score, earning him nominations for both the Emmy and the Grammy Awards.

"Joe Dancer" did not appear on TV as a drama series but a set of three movies made for television. The whole set was created, produced and narrated by, and starred by, Robert Blake, probably better known as the detective "Baretta" (1975-78) in the series of the same name. The three films were "Joe Dancer: The Big Black Pill" (1981), "Joe Dancer II: The Monkey Mission" (1981) and "Joe Dancer III: The Big Trade" (1983). The films were meant to lead into a television series that never eventuated.

"Cannon" was one of Quinn Martin's most successful crime series, running from 1971 through to 1976, and featuring William Conrad as the street wise but overweight private detective Frank Cannon. Cannon was a veteran of the Korean War, appeared to be highly intelligent and spoke several languages... the crooks never had a chance. Despite his weight, which became an in-joke during the show, he still chased down the bad guys and more than held his own in fist fights.

In the first series of "Mannix" (1967) we see Joe Mannix working for a detective agency called Intertect, who rely heavily on computers to solve crimes. Mannix is not a fan of the technology and, as a result, has a tendency to ignore the computer findings, challenges his boss on a regular basis and, generally, chooses to do things his own way. Played by Mike Connors, we get to know that, like Frank Cannon, he is a veteran of the Korean War, was a mercenary for a time and has the ability to take a fair bit of punishment. The producers felt that the show was a little high-brow for its audience with its over-reliance on technology in the first year. Consequently, at the start of the second season, we see Mannix quit his job at Intertect and branch out on his own.

Richard Roundtree reprises his role as private detective John Shaft from the 1971 movie of the same name. The television series "Shaft" ran during 1973 and 1974 and had to be toned down from the three big screen movies that came before it. For example, in the films, Shaft and the police did not see eye. In fact, Shaft exhibited disdain for the law enforcement officers, however, on television, we find him working closely with them. Roundtree would later express his aversion to this treatment, expressing that it dissolved the edginess that the film character possessed.

Lorne Greene, star of TV's "Bonanza" (1959-73) and "Battlestar Galactica" (1978-79), is Wade "Griff" Griffin, a former policeman turned private eye, in this ABC crime drama that ran from 1973 to 1974. Produced by Steve Bochco, the series featured a number of prominent guest appearances, including Barbara Feldon, Nick Nolte, Ricardo Montelban and Sal Mineo.

"Nero Wolfe" (2001-02) is an adaptation from Rex Stout's series of detective stories about a genius detective that is "grandly obese", famously eccentric and considers himself "the world's greatest detective". Maury Chaykin elevates the role of Wolfe and Timothy Hutton is Archie Goodwin in this twenty episode series that ran for two years.

The incorrect answers; "Casey Jones" (1957-58), "Django" (2023), "Father Murphy" (1981-83), "Cheyenne" (1955-63), "Hondo" (1967), "Maverick" (1957-62), "Stoney Burke" (1962-63) and "Sugarfoot" (1957-61) were all television westerns.