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Tenspeed and Brownshoe was Jeff's first and only major television role. It was a dectective series about two private eyes. It was one of the 80s classic TV sitcoms even though it only ran for a few seasons and it introduced many fans to Jeff's talents as an actor.

Jeff plays the straight edged, detective novel obsessed Lionel Whitney. His idol is Mark Savage (a fictional Detective). He thinks his purpose in life is to uphold the law.

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Lionel gets involved with Ben Vereen's charcter E.L. "tenspeed" Turner. E.L. is a con-man, been in out of jail his whole life and is out on parol now. Through some odd circumstances (mostly E.L. conning Lionel and Lionel getting upset) they met up and when E.L is faced jail time if he doesn't have a job, Lionel sets up "The Lionel Whitney Agency".

E.L is constantly running scams and Lionel is always to try to get him to run the straight and narrow and lecturing E.L. about the righteousness of the law. Lionel is like one of those classic black and white movies detectives and there are often the voice overs too (i.e. VOICE OVER: "Savage said never to trust a woman with a cute name, and there she was standing before me, Bunny Gabore").

Video Segements

These are in Real Video format. You must download the player. A few are shotty quality because my video isn't very good (it's very old), but some of the episodes are better quality than others. Click on the photo to see the video.


The Theme

Meet Mark Savage

The Agency is Formed

Lionel's Birthday

Episode Guide




recurring character:
  • Woody Eney as Larry Craig

      1st Season 1980

    1. _"Tenspeed and Brown Shoe (1)"
      gs: Robert Webber [ Unknown ], Robyn Douglass [ Unknown ], Jayne Meadows [ Unknown ], Richard Romanus [ Unknown ], Simone Griffith [ Unknown ], Larry Manetti [ Unknown ], Luke Andreas [ Unknown ]

      E.L. steals a million dollars from the mob, which the mob had gotten by fencing Nazi diamonds. This gets both the mob and the Nazis after him and a confused Lionel, who is about to be married, and whom both groups believe to be E.L.'s partner.

    2. _"Tenspeed and Brown Shoe (2)"
      gs: Robert Webber [ Unknown ], Robyn Douglass [ Unknown ], Jayne Meadows [ Unknown ], Richard Romanus [ Unknown ], Simone Griffith [ Unknown ], Larry Manetti [ Unknown ], Luke Andreas [ Unknown ]

      E.L. steals a million dollars from the mob, which the mob had gotten by fencing Nazi diamonds. This gets both the mob and the Nazis after him and a confused Lionel, who is about to be married, and whom both groups believe to be E.L.'s partner.

    3. _"Robin Tucker's Roseland Roof and Ballroom Murders"
      gs: Elayne Heilveil [ Unknown ], John Pleshette [ Unknown ], Leo Gordon [ Unknown ], Lee V. Paul [ Unknown ], Mark Giardino [ Unknown ]

      Lionel and E.L. form a detective agency and get their first case: an unidentified man who is willing to pay lots of money to find a woman.

    4. _"Savage Says: There's No Free Lunch"
      gs: Denny Miller [ Unknown ], Janice Heldon [ Unknown ], Glenn Wilder [ Unknown ], Ernie Orsatti [ Unknown ], Edward Bill [ Unknown ], Tony Burton [ Unknown ]

      Lionel takes a fancy to a client who claims someone is trying to kill her and then leads Lionel and E.L. around in circles while putting killers on their trail.

    5. _"Savage Says: What Are Friend's For?"
      gs: Jim Murtaugh [ Unknown ], Cassie Yates [ Unknown ], Martin Kove [ Unknown ], Sandy Ward [ Unknown ], Debbie Sheldon [ Unknown ]

      Lionel and E.L. must deal with a motorcycle gang when a nervous stockbroker asks Lionel to check out two of his clients who threatened him when he asked them for needed tax information.

    6. _"The Sixteen Byte Data Chip and the Brown-eyed Fox"
      gs: Lynne Moody [ Unknown ], Dennis Burkley [ Unknown ], Lawrence Haddon [ Unknown ], Edmund Stoiber [ Unknown ], Harry Basch [ Unknown ], Lewis Arquette [ Unknown ]

      Pressure is put on Lionel and E.L. to create a phony investigation for their client: a woman looking for her missing brother who was working on a super computer.

    7. _"The Millionaire's Life"
      gs: Ben Hammer [ Unknown ], James Sloyan [ Unknown ], Floyd Levine [ Unknown ], Meeno Peluce [ Unknown ]

      A con E.L. decides to pull off in order to get the rent money turns sour when he picks a mark with connections to the mob.

    8. _"Savage Says: The Most Dangerous Bird is the Jailbird"
      gs: Shelley Smith [ Unknown ], Richard Romanus [ Unknown ], Richard Dimitri [ Unknown ], Larry Manetti [ Unknown ], Bill Capizzi [ Unknown ]

      A mobster goes after Lionel and E.L. after they help his girl friend dump him so she can run off with a lounge singer.

    9. _"It's Easier to Pass an Elephant Through the Eye of a Needle Than a Bad Check in Bel Air"
      gs: James Bond III [ Unknown ], Robert Alda [ Unknown ], Rockne Tarkington [ Unknown ], Dick Anthony Williams [ Unknown ], Henry Sanders [ Unknown ]

      E.L.'s nephew's appearance is concurrent with that of thugs who are after a book which E.L. knows nothing about.

    10. _"Loose Larry's List of Losers"
      gs: Nick Coster [ Unknown ], Candy Azzara [ Unknown ], Larry Mango [ Unknown ], Ken O'Brien [ Unknown ]

      Lionel receives a hot birthday present from E.L., while E.L.'s probation officer is trying to find a way to get E.L. put back in prison.

    11. _"This One's Gonna Kill Ya"
      gs: John Anderson [ Unknown ], James Whitmore Jr. [ Unknown ], James Parkes [ Unknown ], Fred Stuthman [ Unknown ], Patricia Gaul [ Unknown ]

      Someone tries to kill Lionel and E.L. after Lionel decides to solve a forty-year-old murder case involving a celebrated beauty queen.

    12. _"Untitled"
      gs: Lesley Woods [ Unknown ], Mario Roccuzzo [ Unknown ], Rene Auberjonois [ Unknown ], Claude Earl Jones [ Unknown ], James Cosa [ Unknown ], Harvey Gold [ Unknown ]

      E.L. comes up with a get rich quick scheme when he learns that the Agency's cleaning lady is a descendent of the Russian royal family.

    13. _"The Treasure of Sierra Madre Street"
      gs: Lynn Carlin [ Unknown ], Pamela Brull [ Unknown ], Bart Burns [ Unknown ], Red West [ Unknown ], Maddy Maguire [ Unknown ], Bert Conway [ Unknown ]

      Lionel and E.L. set out to discover if a "random" killing by a mental patient was in fact the work of a hired killer.

    14. _"Diamonds Aren't Forever"
      gs: John Hillerman [ Unknown ], Dana Wynter [ Unknown ], Camilla Sparv [ Unknown ], Thaao Penghlis [ Unknown ], Kurt Grayson [ Unknown ]

      E.L. helps Lionel impress his visiting parents by arranging for him to gain access to a luxurious office, belonging to diamond thieves, which Lionel can claim as his own.