Series Description:

Thie Banacek TV show was a 90 minute detective action series on NBC about a "hip" Polish-American private detective. He used his crime-solving abilities to find stolen property for which he received large rewards from insurance companies.

Banacek TV Show Cast:

George Peppard .................... Thomas "Tom" Banacek
Ralph Manza ....................... Jay Drury
Murray Matheson ................... Felix Mulholland
Christina Belford ................. Carlie Kirkland

Banacek TV Show Trivia:

Thomas Banacek was very successful at his job. He was able to own a home in the ritsy Beacon Hills section of Boston, Massachucetts!

The cigars that George Peppard smoked on Banacek were Panatelas from Club 21 in New York City. He had smoked the same cigars as Hannibal Smith on "The A-Team". He eventually gave up smoking in 1992 after having a tumor removed from one of his lungs.

The Banacek TV show was one element of the NBC Mystery Movie series. It shared its timeslot with other popular mystery series including "Columbo", "McCloud", "McMillan And Wife", and "Quincy M.E."

George also stopped drinking alcohol in 1978 after concluding he was an alcoholic. He became very active in helping other alcoholics stop drinking and also got involved in several other charitable organizations.

Mr. Peppard was actually hired to play the role of Blake Carrington on the series, "Dynasty". After a series of disagreements with producers, he was fired and John Forsythe got the role.

George Peppard also made no secret of the fact that he was thrilled when the TV series, "The A-Team (1983)" was cancelled. He feared that the show would go on forever!

The series won an award from the "Polish-American Congress" for positively portraying a Polish-American on television.

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Episodes List With Original Air Dates

Tv Show Pilot Episode

Banacek (3/20/1972) - As a segment on NBC's "Wednesday Mystery Movie".

The First Season

1... Let's Hear It For A Living Legend (9/13/1972)
2... Project Phoenix (9/27/1972)
3... No Sign Of The Cross (10/11/1972)
4... A Million The Hard Way (11/1/1972)
5... To Steal A King (11/15/1972)
6... Ten Thousand Dollars A Page (1/10/1973)
7... The Greatest Collection Of Them All (1/24/1973)
8... The Two Million Clams Of Cap'N Jack (2/7/1973)

The Second Season

9... No Stone Unturned (10/3/1973)
10. If Max Is So Smart, Why Doesn't He Tell Us Where He Is? (11/7/1973)
11. The Three Million Dollar Piracy (11/21/1973)
12. The Vanishing Chalice (1/15/1974)
13. Horse Of A Slightly Different Color (1/22/1974)
14. Rocket To Oblivion (2/12/1974)
15. Fly Me - If You Can Find Me (2/19/1974)
16. Now You See Me, Now You Don't (3/12/1974)