[Retrospective] Get Christie Love!
To kick off my new retrospective series, I figured the underrated gem of a show, Get Christie Love!, was the perfect candidate. It’s a shame the show isn’t readily available anywhere on streaming or physical media; only its television movie is readily available.
Get Christie Love! came onto the scene during the peak years of the Blaxploitation era, which lasted from 1971-1975.
Get Christie Love! was developed from a novel called The Ledger by the American novelist Dorothy Uhnak. The novel was first adapted into a television film starring the actress Teresa Graves before it was made into a television series.
Television Film
Synopsis: Teresa Graves stars as a shapely sleuth in Get Christie Love! Action
scenes abound as the female police detective tries to get the goods on a
huge drug empire.
The Get Christie Love television film aired on January 22, 1974, on the ABC network as part of its ABC "Movie of the Week" programming.
The premise of the Get Christie Love television series is the following: the show is centered around the adventures of an African-American female police detective named Christie Love.
It’s difficult to find anywhere that has all of the first season’s episodes. However, a good number of the episodes can be found on YouTube and also here.
Season 1 First Half
Personally, I enjoyed the first half of the season more than I did the second half of the season. I thought Christie and her boss, Lt. Matt Reardon, played by Charles Cioffi, had a great rapport. I felt like he truly respected her and valued what she brought to the police department.
After the end of the first twelve episodes, Charles Cioffi exited the series due to creative changes and the retooling of the show that took place in order to boost its declining ratings.
Notable Episodes: Ep 04 "Pawn Ticket for Murder", Ep 05 "Death on Delivery", and Ep 10 "Bullet from the Grave"
Season 1 Second Half
Like I mentioned before, I didn’t enjoy the second half of the season as much as I did the first. However, there are things that I did like about it. Christie’s new boss, Capt. Arthur Ryan was played by actor Jack Kelly. I found him overall to be meh or whatever. Also, Sergeant Pete Gallagher Christie’s partner, who was played by Michael Pataki, came across as annoying or irksome sometimes, and brought the episodes down for me.
The series was cancelled due to these key factors: the show’s budget, declining viewership, and Teresa Graves’ religious influence; she was a Jehovah’s Witness, and the show’s scripts had to align with her religious convictions, which restricted what the show could do narratively.
Notable Episodes: Ep 20 "A High Fashion Heist" and Ep 22 "I'm Your New Neighbor"
Theme Songs
The Get Christie Love theme songs are great. The one that I love the most is the third one; it sounds epic. However, the other two are great in their own ways as well. "You're under arrest, Sugah!"
Closing Thoughts
Get Christie Love was a groundbreaking television show at the time it aired. The show was a crime drama that aired during prime time on network television, and it featured an African-American woman in the main leading role who was portrayed in a non-stereotypical manner.