Best movie of this year hands down!

Surprisingly incoherent and boring

Absolutely brilliant

In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

T.H.E. Cat is the lineal descendant of Peter Gunn as the King of Cool...no gadgets, no love drama, just a job well done each time. Both had background support, but ultimately came through on there own. I think Dave Grusin did the music, but cant find anything to support that, although Grusin and Lalo Shifrin were the two main sounders back in the day.... There were some of the usual themes, Bad Guy, not really a Bad Guy, gone Good...Peter Gunn had his continual spark Edie, but I cannot recall if Cat had one, but surely he did... they both had police nemeses/allies with RG Armstrong for CAT, and Herschel Bernardi for Gunn...

I was hooked on this show from the first episode. Robert Loggia's cool athleticism,the sinuous jazz theme, the film noir look of the exteriors and interiors, the secondary characters. Currently, there is an excellent video on YouTube which is the opening of what I believe was the first episode. Cat is intent on proving to a priest who was the witness to a crime that he is in grave danger. The priest is within the walls of his church with a few bodyguards stationed in various places inside and out. Cat sets out to get through these defenses in order to make his point. He vaults over a wall, scales to the roof and walks across a tight rope, then dispatches the guards with swift brutality. I actually owned a comic book which I certainly miss now. It had a terrific cover photo from this episode.

Allow me to add my voice to those who consider this T.H.E. COOLEST TV show ever. It's amazing, judging by the comments here, how many 9- and 10-year-olds took to this show, which was supposed to be for grown-ups. It is still my dream, at age 50, to open a small night club with a flashing neon sign, and call it "Casa Del Gato." Beaded curtains, waitresses dressed 60's go-go style, live jazz seven nights a week...and I would be in the corner booth wearing a black turtleneck, talking to some guy with an eye-patch, or missing a hand. Oh, yes, it would be a nominally private club, so that smoking would be allowed (yup, I'm in one of THOSE states).

I remember this series when I was a child. It had a cool opening. Also as I recall, a theme by Dave Grusin, which I've never seen included in any compilation of his musical works. IMDb, however, credits Lalo Schifrin, which I don't remember. (May be because it hit the scene about the same time as "The Name of the Game.") This series predated Robert Wagner's series "It Takes A Thief." I always thought T.H.E. Cat was by far the cooler. It was more working class than "Thief." Rather than the quasi spy genre set up of "Thief," "Cat" was blue collar (excuse the allusion to pet collars), and Cat had a gypsy blood brother. Contrary to what I've seen otherwise, seem to remember the initials standing for Thomas Huard (not Hewitt) Edward Cat. This series did not last long and wish they'd rerun it somewhere or make it available on VHS or DVD. Definitely one of the more interesting, though obscure shows to come out of the 60's.