IMDb RATING
7.2/10
3.3K
YOUR RATING
San Francisco Police Commissioner Stewart "Mac" McMillan and his amateur detective wife keep their marriage unpredictable while solving the city's most baffling crimes.San Francisco Police Commissioner Stewart "Mac" McMillan and his amateur detective wife keep their marriage unpredictable while solving the city's most baffling crimes.San Francisco Police Commissioner Stewart "Mac" McMillan and his amateur detective wife keep their marriage unpredictable while solving the city's most baffling crimes.
- Nominated for 7 Primetime Emmys
- 3 wins & 17 nominations total
Browse episodes
Featured reviews
As other reviews note, logic isn't a major part of many of this series' scripts, and some of them didn't age well. But keep in mind this was close to a half-century ago, and TV audiences were used to these kinds of plots and writing. (Some of the cars are very cool to see, but the clothing styles are straight out of Barnum and Bailey-guys in every pastel color under the sun, and women wearing huge stiff wigs and dressed in what looked to be upholstery.)
St. James went on to a solid tv career, and Hudson was a better actor than some may remember. Despite the plot and dialogue implausibility they sometimes had to deal with, their characters played well off each other, and that's largely what kept us coming back for several seasons. For many of us teen guys, Susan had enough drawing power to do that by herself--cute, spunky, funny, and just the right amount of kooky. However, I could never figure out why the city brass didn't make Mac--who, after all, was the Police Commissioner--work out of his office instead of running around getting into gunfights.
The series isn't the top of the TV-detective heap, but it represents the era....a comfortable and friendly revisit to a more innocent time.
Used to watch this series a long long time ago.Loved it so much that I promised myself I will visit beautiful San Francisco(I did and loved it). Although the series bore no resemblance to "real" people: how many of us know of a police Cornish and his wife solving murders personally? Still it was an hour spent each week being entertained by Mrs McMillan,her funny and slightly "boozed"housemaid and the most overworked,underpaid and undernourished Sergeant.Watching the show let me escape in a world of thrills and spills,and all the beautiful people that only a TV show can present.Mrs McMillan never had to make the bed or run the vacuum or do the ironing,no no all she involved herself was crooks and more crooks some nastier than others.Pure simple escapism for my family and myself. So now comes the sixty four dollars questions: when are we going to see more releases on DVD of this TV show and others like McCloud. Millie
Re the comment: "I was surprised that posters mentioned Hudson's homosexuality as somehow influencing perception of this show in hindsight. Hudson was gay; Mac wasn't. If straight men can play gay characters, why can't the reverse be true? Why must someone's private life interfere with a role?" I was merely responding to the one reviewer citing Hudson being gay and then characterizing Mac & Sally's relationship as "sexless." After seeing the pilot again on the recently released DVD, I can say it was anything but! The two characters seem to be hugging, kissing, making out, etc., almost all the time (there's even a rather risqué - for 1971 TV - scene that has a clearly naked Susan St. James taking a shower behind a fogged stall window).
This show was one of the rotation of the NBC Mystery Movie which also featured Columbo, McCloud, Night Gallery, etc. It's two main stars made the show go.
Rock Hudson played Comissioner McMillan very well. Susan Saint James as his slightly goofy, sexpot wife Sally, added a spark that flew between her, Hudson, & the audience. Susan was the type of woman that teenage boys fell in love with. Good thing she didn't realize when this show was on or she'd have been in jail. All us teenage boys when this show ran wanted her (at least most of us).
Even when the scripts mystery was a little lacking, Susan & Rock would make it seem fresh. John Schuck & Nancy Walker both provided excellent cast support as well. Really enjoyed these years ago & now the DVD's are coming out. We never realized when we were young the privilege we had of watching this good a series.
I never took my eyes off Susan. This show always pleased its fans.
Rock Hudson played Comissioner McMillan very well. Susan Saint James as his slightly goofy, sexpot wife Sally, added a spark that flew between her, Hudson, & the audience. Susan was the type of woman that teenage boys fell in love with. Good thing she didn't realize when this show was on or she'd have been in jail. All us teenage boys when this show ran wanted her (at least most of us).
Even when the scripts mystery was a little lacking, Susan & Rock would make it seem fresh. John Schuck & Nancy Walker both provided excellent cast support as well. Really enjoyed these years ago & now the DVD's are coming out. We never realized when we were young the privilege we had of watching this good a series.
I never took my eyes off Susan. This show always pleased its fans.
This show definitely was inspired by the Thin Man. This was a very light hearted detective show and Rock Hudson and Susan St. James were a perfect match. Forget about all the revelations that came up after Hudson's death. Just look at the show for how well it was written. Also, Nancy Walker and John Schuck gave the show its perfect comic relief as Mildred and Enright respectively.
Did you know
- TriviaRock Hudson originally didn't like the series, but agreed to make it because of the bad films he was being offered. He said, "Television is the monster of all time that eats everything and everybody. When they wanted McMillan & Wife to go to two hours I said, 'Why? The thing doesn't even hold up for ninety minutes!'." After the series ended he saw an episode repeated on television and admitted, "It was better than I thought. Why didn't I put more into it?".
- GoofsPolice commissioners are administrators, not investigators. They would not have the time (and potentially lack the ability) to solve crimes. In fact, the involvement of the commissioner in an active investigation would likely be used by the defendant in any appeals if they were convicted.
- Alternate versionsThe DVD versions are each 1:16 in length, except for the pilot which is 1:35. The streaming versions, however, are each about 1:10 in length
- ConnectionsEdited into The NBC Tuesday Mystery Movie (1971)
- How many seasons does McMillan & Wife have?Powered by Alexa
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Language
- Also known as
- McMillan
- Filming locations
- 1139 Greenwich Street, San Francisco, California, USA(McMillan house)
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
- Runtime
- 2h(120 min)
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 4:3
Contribute to this page
Suggest an edit or add missing content