Shaft

1 9 7 3 – 1 9 7 4 (USA)

Richard Roundtree brought John Shaft to television after a series of highly successful theatrical releases in which he had played the part.

John Shaft was a flamboyant, streetwise black private detective working in New York City, although his cases often took him far away from the Big Apple.

Smooth, imperturbable, and deadly efficient, he was sought out by all sorts of people when they needed help.

His source of police information, when he needed it, was Lieutenant Al Rossi (Ed Barth), with whom he had a friendly working relationship.

Shaft was one of three elements that rotated in the Tuesday 9:30 pm – 11:00 pm time-slot on CBS during the 1973-74 season. The other two were Hawkins and The New CBS Tuesday Night Movies.

The theme for the television series was actually written for the first Shaft movie (1971) and won composer Isaac Hayes an Academy Award.