Burke's Law

Burke's Law is an American detective series that aired on ABC from 1963 to 1966. The show starred Gene Barry as millionaire captain of Los Angeles Police homicide division Amos Burke, who is chauffeured around to solve crimes in his 1962 Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud II complete with an early car phone. The original series was converted into a spy drama, Amos Burke Secret Agent, in its third and final season. The series was revived in 1994–1995 on CBS, with Barry reprising the role of the millionaire detective. Premise The show shares stylistic similarities with Barry's previous series, Bat Masterson, in which he played a debonair lawman of the Old West. During the opening credits, as the title flashes onscreen, a woman's voice seductively pronounces the words "It's Burke's Law!" The title also reflects Burke's habit of dispensing wisdom to his underlings in a professorial manner, e.g., "Never ask a question unless you already know the answer. Burke's Law." The anomaly of a millionaire police captain is explained in a first episode conversation between Detective Tim Tilson and a potential witness. Told that Amos Burke is Head of the Homicide Division and a millionaire, the witness asks: "Why a cop?" A variant is repeated in the 1994 revival.