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Efrem Zimbalist Jr.

Sunset strip.

Also, The F.B.I.

Although I watched it diligently all through its 9-year run, it should be obvious by now that The F.B.I. series was an unpaid commercial for a federal agency that, then as now, stepped on our privacy rights without benefit of court orders in its efforts to stomp out crime.

It all came to a head, of course, with the revelations following the Watergate break-in.

Many of us will remember J. Edgar Hoover's testimony when he declared that there was no such thing as organized crime.

Yeah, right, Edgar. Only because the government doesn't like competition.

Surprisingly, the NY Times was kind to Efrem Zimbalist Jr. in his obituary three years ago:

Mr. Zimbalist personified the suave and unflappable leading man as an Ivy League-educated private eye on the lighthearted “77 Sunset Strip” and as a stalwart agent who always got his man on “The F.B.I.,” which ran for nine seasons and made him a household name. “The F.B.I.” was unquestioning in its support of the agency it depicted, and both on screen and off, Mr. Zimbalist became its unofficial symbol.
His life imitated his art. Politically conservative, he was a strong defender of J. Edgar Hoover, the F.B.I.’s director, and a close friend of Ronald Reagan.