The Devlin Connection

The Devlin Connection is an American television crime drama starring Rock Hudson and Jack Scalia. The show aired on NBC for 13 episodes in 1982, premiering on October 2.

Premise
Hudson stars as Brian Devlin, a former military intelligence officer and ex-owner of a detective agency who is now the director of the Performing Arts Center in Los Angeles. Devlin meets racquetball pro and private investigator Nick Corsello (Scalia), who is revealed to be Devlin's son from a brief affair 28 years earlier. The accent of the show was put on the fun of investigating crimes instead of classic dramatic crime-solving procedure. Usually Nick would have a case and Brian — wanting to forge a relationship with his long-lost son, but also wanting his son to succeed independently — would unofficially help out with the investigation, sometimes surreptitiously and without Nick's prior knowledge. The duo would proceed to solve each mystery-of-the-week, along the way verbally sparring in a light-hearted fashion about their different investigatory methods and perspectives on life. Hudson's intent was to create "classy, sophisticated, educational, literate entertainment".

Hudson and Scalia had previously worked together on the film The Star Maker in 1981. The Devlin Connection was Harvey Frand's first job as a producer.

Main cast (all episodes)

 * Rock Hudson as Brian Devlin, director of Performing Arts Center
 * Jack Scalia as Nick Corsello, racquetball pro and private detective

Supporting cast, episodes 1–9 (as aired)

 * Leigh Taylor-Young as Lauren Dane, Brian's assistant
 * Louis Giambalvo as Lt. Earl Borden, Nick's friend and former colleague from New York
 * Takayo as Mrs. Watanabe, Brian's housekeeper
 * Melanie Vincz as Alice Arms, Nick's health club co-worker
 * Jack Kruschen as Max Salkall, orchestra conductor at Performing Arts Center

Supporting cast, episodes 10–13 (as aired)

 * Irene Tedrow as Margaret Hollister, Brian's assistant
 * Herbert Jefferson Jr. as Otis Barnes, Nick's friend and night club owner

Production changes
Original production started in 1981. After four episodes were filmed production was delayed a year due to Hudson's heart problems — heart surgery with five heart bypasses.

In the initial four episodes of The Devlin Connection (in production order, not broadcast order) the show is a slightly gritty P.I. drama. Brian has an older assistant (Irene Tedrow) and his office and apartment are modest. Nick is a Vietnam veteran who works as a small-time private detective operating out of a night club run by his friend Otis (Herbert Jefferson Jr.). The types of cases tackled by Brian and Nick usually involved ordinary people in dire, slightly seedy, and decidedly unglamorous circumstances.

When production resumed after about a year the entire supporting cast was replaced. Changes were made to the characters of Brian and Nick and to the tone of the show. The stories became much more upscale, usually involving rich, glamorous people. Brian's office and apartment are much larger and more sumptuous, and he lives a more conspicuously flashy lifestyle. Brian's assistant is an exceptionally stylish younger woman (Leigh Taylor-Young). At his home he has a housekeeper (Takayo). Nick is a former NYPD officer (instead of being a Vietnam vet) and is not a full-time professional P.I. but instead is a racquetball pro who works at a health club and investigates on the side. Nick has a friend/police contact from his days with the NYPD (Louis Giambalvo) who is a Lieutenant with the LAPD, and with whom Nick has a friendly but sometimes contentious relationship. At the health club where Nick works he often flirts with his shapely co-worker Alice (Melanie Vincz), who is nearly always seen in an extremely form-fitting leotard.

At Hudson's insistence the nine flashier episodes aired first. This meant, from the audience's perspective, that the series abruptly changed tone from flashy to mildly gritty after the first nine weeks and the show's supporting characters were dropped without explanation. Even more confusing, the episode where Nick and Brian actually meet, "Claudine", aired as the tenth episode.

Episodes
1 NBC burned off the final episode in early 1983. All 13 episodes aired on TV Land in the late 1990s.

Video releases
In the mid-1980s Trans World Entertainment officially released the first three episodes on VHS videotape cassettes. There are also bootleg DVDs of all the TV Land aired episodes.