My mother got a big pack of old detective shows from the 1950s, some of them famous ones, Dragnet, some very popular on DVDs, Racket Squad, Public Defender, Mr. and Mrs. North, a lot of them though are ones most people have probably never heard of.

Tonight we're watching an episode of Martin Kane, Private Eye, and it opens up in the courtroom, of course this being the 50s no metal detectors, and there's an inmate testifying that another prisoner is innocent in a shooting. Then, out of nowhere, he takes out a gun and blows away the district attorney who prosecuted both men...and I'm watching this and just thinking how did they ever do THAT one in the 50s with the production code or Hays office or whatever? That is NOT something you'd expect to see on squeaky clean 50s TV even on a detective show...AND, I would think a moment like that would've granted the show more popularity than it seems to have been left with. I don't know of any other show from that era that did or WOULD show that.