Debuting 50 years ago, the show covered a series of detective in a more banal, day-to-day take on cop live when cops-and-robbers was all the craze.

The very next year, 1992, “Barney and the Backyard Gang” hit PBS as “Barney & Friends” and found its way into the homes of millions of kids. “Barney was a one off,” Rifkin said.