Former military intelligence officer and Korean War veteran Brian Devlin (Rock Hudson) is now wealthy, a connoisseur, a slick dresser and the director of the Performing Arts Center in Los Angeles.
Into his life comes Nick Corsello (Jack Scalia), a 28-year-old struggling private eye who works as a racquetball pro at a health club when he isn’t detecting.
It turns out that Nick is Brian’s son – a son he never knew he had. He was born during the Korean War after Brian’s brief affair with a French woman named Nicole Corsello. Brian was transferred to Berlin before he knew of Nicole’s pregnancy.
So Brian uses his connections to help Nick on his cases. The trick is to do so without letting Nick know he’s doing it.
Lauren Dane (Leigh Taylor-Young) is Brian’s secretary and Otis Barnes (Herbert Jefferson Jr) is Brian’s friend and the owner of a nightclub called The Home Bass.
Originally planned for 1981, The Devlin Connection was delayed by a year when star Rock Hudson underwent heart surgery.
A typical episode allowed Devlin to be sophisticated about wine. When the daughter of a friend bought a shipment of a fine French vintage, one sip told Devlin the stuff was vin ordinaire from California.
That fraud led him and Nick – separately and competitively – to a mysterious French beauty and some fake monks, whose real scam was the smuggling of stolen plates from the French mint.
Hudson was reportedly thrilled when the series was cancelled as he felt it lacked any real spark and had no comedy in it.
Brian Devlin
Rock Hudson Nick Corsello
Jack Scalia Lauren Dane
Leigh Taylor-Young Lt. Earl Borden
Louis Giambalvo Mrs Watanabe
Takayo Otis Barnes
Herbert Jefferson Jr
