{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2025}} {{Infobox television | image = Devlin Connection.tiff | caption = | genre = Detective fiction<br>Procedural drama | runtime = 48 minutes | creator = John Wilder | producer = Cliff Gould<br>Harvey Frand | executive_producer = Jerry Thorpe | starring = Rock Hudson<br>Jack Scalia | narrator = | theme_music_composer = Patrick Williams | company = Jerry Thorpe Productions<br>Mammoth Films, Inc.<br>Viacom Productions | country = United States | network = NBC | first_aired = {{Start date|1982|10|2}} | last_aired = {{End date|1982|12|25}} | num_seasons = 1 | num_episodes = 13 }}
'''''The Devlin Connection''''' is an American television crime drama<ref>{{cite book|title=Encyclopedia of Television Shows, 1925 through 2010, 2d ed.|first=Vincent|last=Terrace|date=2008|publisher=Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland}}</ref> created by John Wilder and starring Rock Hudson and Jack Scalia. The show aired on NBC for 13 episodes in 1982, premiering on October 2.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.tvguide.com/tvshows/devlin-connection/200900/|title=Devlin Connection|magazine=TV Guide|accessdate=June 15, 2016}}</ref>
== Premise == Hudson stars as Brian Devlin, a former military intelligence officer and ex-owner of a detective agency who is now the director of the Performing Arts Center in Los Angeles. Devlin meets racquetball pro and private investigator Nick Corsello (Scalia), who is revealed to be Devlin's son from a brief affair 28 years earlier. The accent of the show was put on the fun of investigating crimes instead of classic dramatic crime-solving procedure. Usually Nick would have a case and Brian — wanting to forge a relationship with his long-lost son, but also wanting his son to succeed independently — would unofficially help out with the investigation, sometimes surreptitiously and without Nick's prior knowledge. The duo would proceed to solve each mystery-of-the-week, along the way verbally sparring in a light-hearted fashion about their different investigatory methods and perspectives on life. Hudson's intent was to create "classy, sophisticated, educational, literate entertainment".<ref name="csmonitor">Unger, Arthur (October 1, 1982). [https://www.csmonitor.com/1982/1001/100100.html "Rock Hudson looks back on his films and ahead to his TV series"]. ''The Christian Science Monitor''. Retrieved June 17, 2016.</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.hollywood.com/tv/the-devlin-connection-59463317/|title=The Devlin Connection – 1982|publisher=Hollywood.com|accessdate=June 15, 2016|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20151018144204/http://www.hollywood.com/tv/the-devlin-connection-59463317/|archivedate=October 18, 2015}}</ref>
Hudson and Scalia had previously worked together on the film ''The Star Maker'' in 1981.<ref name="csmonitor"/> ''The Devlin Connection'' was Harvey Frand's first job as a producer.<ref>Staff (July 31, 2009). [https://www.hollywood.com/celebrities/emmy-winning-producer-frand-dies-57206533/ "Emmy-winning producer Frand dies"]. Hollywood.com. Retrieved April 20, 2020.</ref>
==Cast== [[File:Devlin Connection TV.jpg|thumb|Jack Scalia and Rock Hudson]]
===Main cast (all episodes)=== * Rock Hudson as Brian Devlin, director of Performing Arts Center * Jack Scalia as Nick Corsello, racquetball pro and private detective
===Supporting cast, episodes 1–9 (as aired)=== * Leigh Taylor-Young as Lauren Dane, Brian's assistant * Louis Giambalvo as Lt. Earl Borden, Nick's friend and former colleague from New York * Takayo as Mrs. Watanabe, Brian's housekeeper * Melanie Vincz as Alice Arms, Nick's health club co-worker * Jack Kruschen as Max Salkall, orchestra conductor at Performing Arts Center
===Supporting cast, episodes 10–13 (as aired)=== * Irene Tedrow as Margaret Hollister, Brian's assistant * Herbert Jefferson Jr. as Otis Barnes, Nick's friend and night club owner
== Production changes == Original production started in 1981. After four episodes were filmed production was delayed a year due to Hudson's heart problems — heart surgery with five heart bypasses.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20083563,00.html|archive-date=January 10, 2011| title=One Year After Heart Surgery, Rock Hudson Is Rolling Again, but His ''Devlin Connection'' Is Ailing|date=November 15, 1982|author=Staff|magazine=People|access-date=September 2, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110110200741/https://people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20083563,00.html}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://movies2.nytimes.com/library/national/science/aids/100385sci-aids.html|title=Rock Hudson, Screen Idol, Dies at 59|website=The New York Times|date=October 3, 1985|author=Berger, Joseph|access-date=April 20, 2020}}</ref>
In the initial four episodes of ''The Devlin Connection'' (in production order, not broadcast order) the show is a slightly gritty P.I. drama. Brian has an older assistant (Irene Tedrow) and his office and apartment are modest. Nick is a Vietnam veteran who works as a small-time private detective operating out of a night club run by his friend Otis (Herbert Jefferson Jr.). The types of cases tackled by Brian and Nick usually involved ordinary people in dire, slightly seedy, and decidedly unglamorous circumstances.
When production resumed after about a year the entire supporting cast was replaced. Changes were made to the characters of Brian and Nick and to the tone of the show. The stories became much more upscale, usually involving rich, glamorous people. Brian's office and apartment are much larger and more sumptuous, and he lives a more conspicuously flashy lifestyle. Brian's assistant is an exceptionally stylish younger woman (Leigh Taylor-Young). At his home he has a housekeeper (Takayo). Nick is a former NYPD officer (instead of being a Vietnam vet) and is not a full-time professional P.I. but instead is a racquetball pro who works at a health club and investigates on the side. Nick has a friend/police contact from his days with the NYPD (Louis Giambalvo) who is a Lieutenant with the LAPD, and with whom Nick has a friendly but sometimes contentious relationship. At the health club where Nick works he often flirts with his shapely co-worker Alice (Melanie Vincz), who is nearly always seen in an extremely form-fitting leotard.
At Hudson's insistence the nine flashier episodes aired first. This meant, from the audience's perspective, that the series abruptly changed tone from flashy to mildly gritty after the first nine weeks and the show's supporting characters were dropped without explanation. Even more confusing, the episode where Nick and Brian actually meet, "Claudine", aired as the tenth episode.
==Episodes== {{No plot|section|date=March 2026}} {{Episode table |background=#FFD700 |overall=4 |title=22 |director=16 |writer=16 |airdate=16 |episodes=
{{Episode list |EpisodeNumber = 1 |Title = Brian and Nick |DirectedBy = Christian I. Nyby II |WrittenBy = Cliff Gould |OriginalAirDate={{Start date|1982|10|2}} |ShortSummary= |LineColor=FFD700 }} {{Episode list |EpisodeNumber = 2 |Title = Lady on the Billboard |DirectedBy = James Frawley |WrittenBy = Henri Simoun |OriginalAirDate={{Start date|1982|10|9}} |ShortSummary= |LineColor=FFD700 }} {{Episode list |EpisodeNumber = 3 |Title = Love, Sin and Death at Point Dume |DirectedBy = Christian I. Nyby II |WrittenBy = Guerdon Trueblood |OriginalAirDate={{Start date|1982|10|16}} |ShortSummary= |LineColor=FFD700 }} {{Episode list |EpisodeNumber = 4 |Title = The Corpse in the Corniche |DirectedBy = Barry Crane |WrittenBy = Howard Berk |OriginalAirDate={{Start date|1982|10|23}} |ShortSummary= |LineColor=FFD700 }} {{Episode list |EpisodeNumber = 5 |Title = The Absolute Monarch of Ward C |DirectedBy = Barry Crane |WrittenBy = Michael Sloan |OriginalAirDate={{Start date|1982|10|30}} |ShortSummary= |LineColor=FFD700 }} {{Episode list |EpisodeNumber = 6 |Title = The French Detective |DirectedBy = Rod Holcomb |WrittenBy = {{StoryTeleplay|t=Howard Rodman & Cliff Gould and Peter Lefcourt|s=Peter Lefcourt}} |OriginalAirDate={{Start date|1982|11|6}} |ShortSummary= |LineColor=FFD700 }} {{Episode list |EpisodeNumber = 7 |Title = Of Nuns and Other Black Birds |DirectedBy = Christian I. Nyby II |WrittenBy = Robert Dozier & Rob Gilmer |OriginalAirDate={{Start date|1982|11|13}} |ShortSummary= |LineColor=FFD700 }} {{Episode list |EpisodeNumber = 8 |Title = Ring of Kings, Ring of Thieves |DirectedBy = Jeff Bleckner |WrittenBy = Rudolph Borchert |OriginalAirDate={{Start date|1982|11|27}} |ShortSummary= |LineColor=FFD700 }} {{Episode list |EpisodeNumber = 9 |Title = Arsenic and Old Caviar |DirectedBy = James Frawley |WrittenBy = Rudolph Borchert |OriginalAirDate={{Start date|1982|12|4}} |ShortSummary= |LineColor=FFD700 }} {{Episode list |EpisodeNumber = 10 |Title = Claudine |DirectedBy = Lee H. Katzin |WrittenBy = John Wilder |OriginalAirDate={{Start date|1982|12|11}} |ShortSummary= |LineColor=FFD700 }} {{Episode list |EpisodeNumber = 11 |Title = Allison |DirectedBy = Bernard L. Kowalski |WrittenBy = Anne Collins |OriginalAirDate={{Start date|1982|12|18}} |ShortSummary= |LineColor=FFD700 }} {{Episode list |EpisodeNumber = 12 |Title = Erica |DirectedBy = Bernard L. Kowalski |WrittenBy = Peter Lefcourt |OriginalAirDate={{Start date|1982|12|25}} |ShortSummary= |LineColor=FFD700 }} {{Episode list |EpisodeNumber = 13 |Title = Jennifer |DirectedBy = Lee H. Katzin |WrittenBy = Frank V. Furino |OriginalAirDate={{Start date|1983|1|8}}{{ref|eps1|1}} |ShortSummary= |LineColor=FFD700 }} }} <sup>'''1'''</sup><small>{{note|eps1}}NBC burned off the final episode without notice in early 1983. All 13 episodes aired on TV Land from 1996–1998.</small>
==Ratings== <onlyinclude> {| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center" |- ! Season ! Episodes ! Start date ! End date ! Nielsen rank ! Nielsen rating |- | style="text-align:center" | 1982–83 | style="text-align:center" | 13 | style="text-align:center" | October 2, 1982 | style="text-align:center" | December 25, 1982 | style="text-align:center: | 96<ref>Clawson, J. (July 9, 2017). [https://web.archive.org/web/20180517165049/http://www.tvratingsguide.com/2017/07/1982-83-top-30-soap-bubbles-rise.html "1982–83 Ratings History — Soap Bubbles Rise, Several Veterans Part and NBC Renews Poorly Rated Masterpieces"]. The TV Ratings Guide. Archived from [http://www.tvratingsguide.com/2017/07/1982-83-top-30-soap-bubbles-rise.html the original] on May 17, 2018. Retrieved May 7, 2020.</ref> | style="text-align:center" | N/A |}
== Video releases == In the mid-1980s Trans World Entertainment officially released the first three episodes on VHS videotape cassettes.<ref>[https://www.amazon.com/Devlin-Connection-Vol-III-Death/dp/6300238709 "Devlin Connection Vol. 3"]. Amazon.com. Retrieved July 1, 2016.</ref> There are also bootleg DVDs of all the TV Land aired episodes.
== References == {{reflist}}
== External links == *{{IMDb title|id=0083407|title=The Devlin Connection}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Devlin Connection}} Category:1980s American crime drama television series Category:1980s American mystery television series Category:1982 American television series debuts Category:1982 American television series endings Category:American detective television series Category:English-language American television shows Category:Television series by CBS Studios Category:Television shows filmed in Los Angeles Category:Television shows set in Los Angeles Category:NBC crime dramas