View source for Charlie Wild, Private Detective

{{About|the television program|the radio program|Charlie Wild, Private Detective (radio program)}}
{{Infobox television
| image         = John McQuade Charlie Wild, Private Detective 1951.JPG
| caption       = John McQuade as Charlie Wild (1951)
| genre         = [[Crime (genre)|Crime]]
| creator       =
| developer     = 
| writer        = Peter Barry<br>Stanley Niss<ref name=bb092251/>
| director      = Paul Nickell<ref name=bb/><br>Leonard Valenta
| starring      = [[Kevin O'Morrison]] (1950-51)<br>John McQuade (1951-52)<br>[[Philippa Bevans]]<br>[[John Shellie]]<br>[[Philip Truex]]<br>[[Cloris Leachman]]
| producer      = Lawrence White<ref name=bb/><br>Walter Tibbals<ref name=bb/><br>Carlo DeAngelo<br>[[Herbert Brodkin]]
| runtime       = 30 minutes
| country       = United States
| channel       = [[Columbia Broadcasting System|CBS]] (1950-1951)<br>[[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]] (1951-1952)<br>[[DuMont Television Network|DuMont]] (1952)
| first_aired   = {{start date|1950|12|22}}
| last_aired    = {{end date|1952|06|19}}
| num_seasons   = 2
| num_episodes  = 64
| list_episodes =  
}}
'''''Charlie Wild, Private Detective''''' is an American detective series that aired on three of the four major American television networks of the 1950s.

==Origin==
The program was the televised version of a radio program with the same title. At least some of the episodes that were broadcast on [[CBS]] were simulcasts of the radio program.<ref>{{cite news|title=CBS-TV Shifts Levenson to 'Wild' Time|url=http://www.americanradiohistory.com/hd2/IDX-Business/Music/Archive-Billboard-IDX/IDX/50s/1951/Billboard%201951-06-09-OCR-Page-0014.pdf|accessdate=14 February 2017|magazine=Billboard|date=June 9, 1951|page=6}}</ref>

==Premise==
Charlie Wild was a private investigator with headquarters in New York City, with most of his cases involving murder. He often used violence to solve cases, bending the law at times without actually breaking it. Effie Perrine was Wild's secretary.<ref name=etvs/>

A review of the program's premiere episode in the trade publication ''[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]'' described the plot as "run-of-the-mill" except that "the menace ran to silk dressing gowns and Beethoven symphonies" as Wild solved two murders.<ref name="bb">{{cite news|last1=Francis|first1=Bob|title=Charlie Wild, Private Detective|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aR8EAAAAMBAJ&dq=%22Charlie+Wild%2C+Private+Detective%22&pg=PA60|accessdate=13 February 2017|magazine=Billboard|date=January 6, 1951|page=6}}</ref> The reviewer summarized by saying that the show needed "more original story approach and less hokum."<ref name=bb/>

A subsequent ''Billboard'' review (of the September 11, 1951, episode) indicated little change in evaluation. Haps Kemper wrote that the "plot was routine, the script hardly scintillating, and the performance unenthusiastic" except for that of the female guest star.<ref name="bb092251">{{cite news|last1=Kemper|first1=Haps|title=Charlie Wild, Private Detective|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_hkEAAAAMBAJ&dq=%22Charlie+Wild%2C+Private+Detective%22&pg=PA8|accessdate=13 February 2017|magazine=Billboard|date=September 22, 1951|page=11}}</ref>

==Broadcasts==
The series first aired live on CBS from December 22, 1950, to June 27, 1951 (20 episodes). It was initially on alternate Friday nights, but it moved to every Wednesday night effective the week of April 16.<ref>{{cite news|title=CBS-TV To Reshuffle Shows, Strengthen Saturday Nights|url=http://www.americanradiohistory.com/hd2/IDX-Business/Music/Archive-Billboard-IDX/IDX/50s/1951/Billboard%201951-01-27-OCR-Page-0006.pdf|accessdate=15 February 2017|magazine=Billboard|date=January 27, 1951|page=6}}</ref> It then aired on [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]] from September 11, 1951, to March 4, 1952 (27 episodes). On March 13, 1952, the [[DuMont Television Network]] picked the series up for the last three months, with 17 episodes, ending on June 19, 1952.<ref name="etvs">{{cite book|last1=Terrace|first1=Vincent|title=Encyclopedia of television shows, 1925 through 2010|date=2011|publisher=McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers|location=Jefferson, N.C.|isbn=978-0-7864-6477-7|page=178|edition=2nd}}</ref>

The CBS broadcasts were sponsored by [[Wildroot Cream-Oil]] hair tonic.<ref>{{cite news|title=Lava To Divvy Web Show Tab With General Mills|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pE0EAAAAMBAJ&dq=%22Charlie+Wild%2C+Private+Detective%22&pg=PA4|accessdate=13 February 2017|magazine=Billboard|date=December 2, 1950|page=4}}</ref> The ABC series was sponsored by Mogen David wine.<ref name=bb092251/>

==Cast==
John McQuade replaced [[Kevin O'Morrison]] as Charlie Wild after the first seven episodes. [[Cloris Leachman]] played Effie Perrine. [[Sandy Becker]]<ref name=etvs/> and Bob Williams<ref name=bb092251/> were the announcers.

==Episode status==
Fifteen episodes are held by the [[UCLA Film and Television Archive]], including two from the DuMont series. The [[Paley Center for Media]] holds four episodes from the DuMont series.{{Citation needed |date=August 2023}}

==Critical response==
Ben Gross wrote in the [[New York Daily News|New York ''Daily News'']] that the show's situations and characters had already been used "dozens of times on video shows".<ref name="dn">{{cite news |last1=Gross |first1=Ben |title=Televiewing |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/daily-news/129269744/ |access-date=August 1, 2023 |work=Daily News |date=January 8, 1951 |location=New York, New York City |page=36|via = [[Newspapers.com]]}}</ref> He also disliked the dialogue, which he said was "so stilted that, at times, it becomes ridiculous."<ref name="dn" />

==See also==
*[[List of programs broadcast by the DuMont Television Network]]
*[[List of surviving DuMont Television Network broadcasts]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Bibliography==
*David Weinstein, ''The Forgotten Network: DuMont and the Birth of American Television'' (Philadelphia: [[Temple University Press]], 2004) {{ISBN|1-59213-245-6}}
*Alex McNeil, ''Total Television'', Fourth edition (New York: [[Penguin Books]], 1980) {{ISBN|0-14-024916-8}}
*Tim Brooks and Earle Marsh, ''The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network TV Shows'', Third edition (New York: [[Ballantine Books]], 1964) {{ISBN|0-345-31864-1}}

==External links==
* {{IMDb title|0042092}}
* [http://ctva.biz/US/Crime/CharlieWild.htm List of episodes at CTVA]
* [https://dumonthistory.com/a1.html DuMont historical website]

[[Category:1950 American television series debuts]]
[[Category:1952 American television series endings]]
[[Category:1950s American crime drama television series]]
[[Category:American Broadcasting Company television dramas]]
[[Category:American live television shows]]
[[Category:Black-and-white American television shows]]
[[Category:CBS television dramas]]
[[Category:DuMont Television Network original programming]]
[[Category:American English-language television shows]]