Oscar "The Duke" Ramsey
Created by

Yet another Stephen J. Cannell-produced PI show that flopped.

38-year old Chicago prizefighter OSCAR "THE DUKE" RAMSEY decides the prizes he's fighting for just ain't worth it no more (plus he got his ass kicked by an oppenent half his age).

So he decides to quit the ring and concentrate on running Duke and Benny's Corner, a bar and grill. When Benny gets himself taken out, The Duke swings into action, solving the murder, and finding himself with a new occupation, private eye. Hovering around were Joe Cadiilac, a slick young bookie, Dedra Smith, a jet setter with the hots for the Duke and Sgt. O'Brien, his pal on the force.

With connections on both sides of the law and a popular actor, Robert Conrad, playing the lead, it seemed like a natural.

It wasn't. The show headed straight to Palookaville, only lasting a pilot and four episodes.

TRIVIA

• Red West, who played Sgt. O'Brien, was a former bodyguard of Elvis Presley's. Larry Manetti went on to co-star in Magnum P.I..

TELEVISION

• UP AGAINST THE ODDS (Also known as The Duke)
  (April 5, 1979, NBC)
  2 hour TVM, served as pilot for short-lived series 4 60-minute episodes
  A Stephen J. Cannell Production for Universal Television
  Created by Stephen J. Cannell
  Writers: Stephen J. Cannell
  Directed by Robert Conrad, Lawrence Doheny, Dana Elcar, Tony Lo Bianco
  Producers: Alex Beaton, Don Carlos Dunaway
  Executive Producer: Stephen J. Cannell
  Music: Mike Post and Pete Carpenter
  Starring Robert Conrad as OSCAR "THE DUKE" RAMSEY
  Larry Manetti as Joe Cadillac
  Red West as Sgt. Mick O'Brien
  Patricia Conwell as Dedra Smith
  
  
• THE DUKE
  (1979, NBC)
  4 60-minute episodes
  A Stephen J. Cannell Production for Universal Television
  Producers: Alex Beaton, Don Carlos Dunaway
  Executive Producer: Stephen J. Cannell
  Music: Mike Post and Pete Carpenter
  Starring Robert Conrad as OSCAR "THE DUKE" RAMSEY
  Larry Manetti as Joe Cadillac
  Red West as Sgt. Mick O'Brien
  Patricia Conwell as Dedra Smith
  

• "Blues For The Duke" (April 18, 1979)
• "The Two Hundred Underwacker Street Bridge" (April 20, 1979)
• "Long And Thin, Lorna Lynn" (April 27, 1979)
• "Nothing 'Cept Noise" (May 18 1979)

Respectfully submitted by Kevin Burton Smith. Special thanks to Glen DeCosta, who appeared, uncredited, in "Long And Thin, Lorna Lynn" for his help.