Riptide is an American detective television series that ran on NBC between January 3, 1984 and April 22, 1986, starring Perry King, Joe Penny, and Thom Bray. A midseason replacement, it debuted as a two-hour TV movie in early 1984.
By September 1985, domestic distribution rights to the series were sold to Columbia Pictures Television. Its successor, Sony Pictures Television, still holds these rights to this day.
After its cancellation, CPT put the series in syndication on the USA Network in the late 1980s. The series previously appeared on MeTV+, a sister network of MeTV.
Premise
Cody Allen (Perry King) and Nick Ryder (Joe Penny) are two former Vietnam War Army buddies who decided to open the Pier 56 Detective Agency (later known as the Riptide Detective Agency) in Los Angeles, California. Realizing that computers and technology play a major role in many investigations, they recruit the help of Murray "Boz" Bozinsky (Thom Bray), a brilliant but nerdy scientist and computer hacker whom they met while serving in the Army.
The team operates out of Cody's boat, the Riptide, moored at Pier 56 at King Harbor Marina in Redondo Beach. The men have several other tools in their fight against crime and injustice, including Murray's robot, The Roboz (which, unlike most television robots, does not speak); Nick's aging Sikorsky S-58T helicopter, The Screaming Mimi, which Nick occasionally used for his sideline business, aerial harbor tours; and Cody's speedboat, the Ebb Tide. Nick also owns a classic red Chevrolet Corvette, and in early episodes, Cody drives an orange "Woodie" station wagon which is later replaced by a four-wheel drive custom GMC Jimmy.
Lt. Quinlan (Jack Ging) is a local police officer who continually harasses the trio. Lt. Parisi (June Chadwick), the agency's police contact during the final episodes, is more cooperative. During the first few episodes, Mama Jo (Anne Francis) is the crusty skipper of the Barefoot Contessa, a tourist boat with an all-female crew. Introduced later in the first season is Max, a comedian at a local club. Second-season episodes also feature Dooley (Ken Olandt), a dock boy who occasionally assists the team in their escapades.
The show's penultimate episode, "If You Can't Beat 'Em, Join 'Em", shows Cody and Nick acting as consultants to Rosalind Grant (Annette McCarthy) and Cary Russell (H. Richard Greene), the bickering stars of a television detective show pilot that closely resembles and parodies Moonlighting, Riptides former primetime competition on Tuesday nights.
Although local mobsters were depicted in most episodes, some reflected sensitive topics, such as corruption within the U.S. Army, high-level cover-ups, and black operations by corporate America. The third season's "Home for Christmas", with a performance by James Whitmore, has a strongly emotional tone.
Cast
- Perry King as Cody Allen
- Joe Penny as Nick Ryder
- Thom Bray as Murray "Boz" Bozinsky
Episodes
Series overview
Season 1 (1984)
Season 2 (1984–85)
Season 3 (1985–86)
Reception
Critical response
For the first season, on the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 30% of 10 critics' reviews are positive. The website's consensus reads: "Cobbled together from the spare parts of just about every other action series preceding it, Riptide isn't fun enough to make up for its complete lack of originality."
Home media
United States
Sony Pictures Home Entertainment released a three-disc DVD set of Riptide: The Complete First Season on February 14, 2006.
Canada
Visual Entertainment has released all three seasons of Riptide. However, several episodes have music replaced and sequences edited out due to copyright issues. On October 14, 2008, VEI released Riptide: The Complete Series, a 13-disc box set featuring all 58 episodes of the show. This set was initially scheduled to be released on September 9, 2008, but was delayed for unknown reasons. As of 2013, these releases have been discontinued and are out of print.
{| class="wikitable"
!DVD name !!Ep. # !!Release date
|-
|Riptide: The Complete First Season ||align="center"|14 ||November 7, 2006
|-
|Riptide: The Complete Second Season ||align="center"|22 ||October 30, 2007
|-
|Riptide: The Complete Third and Final Season ||align="center"|22 ||February 12, 2008
|-
|Riptide: The Complete Series ||align="center"|58 ||October 14, 2008
|}
Germany
The series was known as Trio mit vier Fäusten (Trio with Four Fists) in this country.
Universum Films has released all three seasons of Riptide on May 29, 2009 (Season 1), July 31, 2009 (Season 2) and September 25, 2009 (Season 3).
The DVD sets feature a bonus episode of 21 Jump Street (Season 1). The Season 2 sets contain an episode not broadcast in Germany, "The Twisted Cross", in English with German subtitles. The German box sets have the original music of the U.S. series, unlike the Canadian box sets 2 and 3.