Robert Urich stars as Robert B. Parkers famous Beantown gumshoe-with-a-difference, Spenser. Spenser is cut from an extremely different cloth than the typical round of TV detectives, a renaissance man who isn't terrified to mix up a premium salad or simply blend it up. Full-time bookworm and previous boxer, the elegant Spenser drives a vintage Mustang that calls out his own sense of time and place - a yearning for an easier time of requirements and principles, and diplays an appreciation of the very best of the past in the present. Keeping Spenser in touch with his complicated inner life is his psychologist soulmate, Susan Silverman (Barbara Stock), while the street-savvy Hawk (Avery Brooks) guides Spenser securely through Bostons labyrinthine underworld. Richard Jaeckel costars as Spensers friend on the force, Lt. Quirk. Noteworthy first season visitors include William H. Macy, Chuck Connors and Shirley Knight.