Cheesy TV Show Title Wanted

February 26, 2007 12:45 PM

Okay TV trivia folk, here is a question that has me and my wee cadre of TV nerds completely stumped. In the late 80s or early 90s there was a show that loosely followed that old tried-and-true Moonlighting formula, you know the template, roguish man and a girl solving crimes together. However, this drama took place in a tropical locale and the lead male had a number of distinguishing characteristics: he was handsome, he always wore his hair tightly pulled back in a ponytail and he generally wore his tropical-style shirts open in the front, displaying a hairy chest. The show was cheesey and quite laughable, and always seemed to be on later in the evening. Ringing any bells?
posted by ChaoticIndustry to Media & Arts (14 answers total)

Silk Stalkings? Starring Rob Estes and Mitzi Capture.

http://www.tv.com/silk-stalkings/show/330/summary.html
posted by sneakin at 12:51 PM on February 26, 2007

Although Rob Estes didn't have a ponytail. Fits all the other criteria though.
posted by sneakin at 12:52 PM on February 26, 2007

Magnum PI?
posted by unreasonable at 12:52 PM on February 26, 2007

Response by poster: Not Silk Stalkings, but VERY good answer! I forgot all about that show!
posted by ChaoticIndustry at 12:57 PM on February 26, 2007

Sweating Bullets?
posted by cm at 12:59 PM on February 26, 2007

Riptide?
posted by iconomy at 1:00 PM on February 26, 2007

Oh yeah it has to be Sweating Bullets....whoa. That's really bad. Never heard of it...weird.
posted by iconomy at 1:02 PM on February 26, 2007

Response by poster: Sweating Bullets it is! Bravo, mystery has been solved. Thanks everyone!
posted by ChaoticIndustry at 1:04 PM on February 26, 2007

Tropical Heat' -- a Canadian series also known as 'Sweating Bullets' (as per cm above).
posted by ericb at 1:04 PM on February 26, 2007

Yep, gotta be Tropical heat. Was filmed in Durban, South Africa if I remember right... it was just that cheap. Huge hit in South Africa at the time. Shit I had no taste as a kid!
posted by twistedonion at 1:49 PM on February 26, 2007

Sweating Bullets it is! Bravo, mystery has been solved. Thanks everyone!

lrn2bstanswrplzkthx.
posted by The God Complex at 2:32 PM on February 26, 2007 [1 favorite]

Although the OP's question has been answered, I would be remiss if I did not take this opportunity to draw attention to the remarkably similar-sounding übercheesefest (ultima fiesta de queso) that was Acapulco H.E.A.T.:

a short-lived 1993 syndicated television series which followed the Hemisphere Emergency Action Team, a group of "specialists" based in Acapulco.... Ashley Hunter-Coddington (Catherine Oxenberg), a former MI6 operative, team[ed] up with former CIA agent, Mike Savage (Brendan Kelly), to form the H.E.A.T. team, ... a group of specialists funded by the government and recruited to fight against international terrorism. They operate throughout the Caribbean and around the world behind the unlikely cover of being the owners and models for a fashion company specializing in beachwear.

Although Kelly's Mike Savage had close-cropped hair, oleaginous tress-pian Fabio did play the part of the hotel owner.
posted by rob511 at 2:57 PM on February 26, 2007

God. I devoted way too much of my childhood to Sweating Bullets and various other terrible late night shows.
posted by atomly at 8:55 PM on February 26, 2007

I thought it was made in Israel for some reason, one episode was set in Jerusalem so maybe it was that confusing me. Wikipedia says it was a Canadian production with co-operation from Mexico and Israel however.
posted by biffa at 6:57 AM on February 28, 2007