This '60s TV Action Thriller Broke Ground By Being Named After Its Female Lead

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The 1960s ushered in something of a renaissance for American television. In a TV landscape dominated by male action heroes, the action-thriller "Honey West" broke the mold by bringing the adventures of a female detective to life in spectacular style. The ABC series debuted in 1965 as a spin-off of "Burke's Law" and starred Anne Francis as the titular private detective. The fact that Honey lent her name to the title was in itself significant. "Honey West" was notably one of the very first shows in the action genre to be named after a female protagonist.

Honey West was originally the brainchild of married authors Gloria and Forrest E. "Skip" Fickling, writing under the pen name G. G. Fickling. The character was first depicted on screen by Francis in "Burke's Law" Season 2, Episode 30, "Who Killed the Jackpot?," which served as a backdoor pilot for Honey's spin-off series. "Honey West" featured the novels' grittier private eye with a range of James Bond-like gadgets, including a microphone hidden in her lipstick, gas bombs in her earrings, and a gas mask on her garter belt. She also drove a flashy Shelby Cobra and was given a pet ocelot named Bruce. Despite a dedicated cult following, however, the ABC thriller was not destined for more than a single season.

To everyone watching at the time, "Honey West" looked like a series built for success. It captured the spirit of the decade, embraced the decade's love of spy shows, and wowed audiences with Anne Francis' performance as Honey. The series also attracted talent such as writing duo Richard Levinson and William Link, along with director Walter Grauman, all of whom would later work on another successful female detective series in "Murder, She Wrote." Levinson and Link would also go on to create "Columbo."

Despite the talent working on the series, "Honey West" would last nowhere near as long as its parent series, "Burke's Law." After just 30 episodes, the show was canceled by ABC. The decision had less to do with the series' popularity and was more about money. In an interview with The Rap Sheet, historian John C. Fredriksen, who authored "Honey West," a non-fiction book about the 1960s series, put the cancelation down to competition from "Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C." and the network's decision to buy the rights to U.K. spy series "The Avengers" for less than it would cost to make more "Honey West."

In an interview with Weekly Wire in 1997, Francis herself said, "It was shot in black-and-white and we were planning to go to color the following season. But ... ABC said, 'We can buy 'The Avengers' cheaper than we can make 'Honey West.” And that's exactly what happened." Episodes of "Honey West" can be streamed on Stirr.