Watch the Opening Credit of an Imaginary 70s Cop Present Starring Samuel Beckett

Samuel Beck­ett: avant-garde drama­tist, brood­ing Nobel Prize win­ner, poet, and…gritty tele­vi­sion detec­tive?

Unhappy­ly, no, however he had the mak­ings of a terrific one, no less than as lower togeth­er by play­wright Dan­ny Thomp­son, cofounder of Chicago’s The­ater Oobleck.

Some 35 years after Beckett’s dying, Thompson—whose cred­its embody the Com­plete Misplaced Works of Samuel Beck­ett as Present in a Mud­bin in Paris in an Enve­lope (Par­tial­ly Burned) Labeled: Nev­er to Be Per­fashioned. Nev­er. Ever. Ever! Or I’ll Sue! I’ll Sue From the Grave!!!-–repur­posed Rosa Veim and Daniel Schmid’s footage of the moody genius wan­der­ing round 1969 Berlin into the open­ing cred­its of a nonex­is­tent, 70s period Quinn Mar­tin police professional­ce­dur­al.

The title sequence hits all the correct peri­od notes, from the jazzy graph­ics to the pre­sen­ta­tion of its sup­port­ing solid: Andre the Large, Jean-Paul Sartre, and Jean “Hug­gy Bear” Cocteau. (Do you know that Beck­ett drove a younger Andre the Large to high school in actual life?)

Thomp­son ups the verisimil­i­tude by cop­ping Pat Williams’ theme for The Streets of San Fran­cis­co and nam­ing the imag­i­nary pilot episode after a col­lec­tion of Beckett’s brief sto­ries.

He additionally jok­ing­ly notes {that a} DVD launch of the primary, solely and, once more, complete­ly non-exis­tent sea­son has been held up by the Beck­ett property. Alas.

Relat­ed Con­tent:

Watch Samuel Beck­ett Stroll the Streets of Berlin Like a Boss, 1969

The Books That Samuel Beck­ett Learn and Actual­ly Favored (1941–1956)

Hear Samuel Beckett’s Avant-Garde Radio Performs: All That Fall, Embers, and Extra

An Ani­mat­ed Intro­duc­tion to Samuel Beck­ett, Absur­dist Play­wright, Nov­el­ist & Poet

When Samuel Beck­ett Drove Younger André the Large to College: A True Sto­ry

Ayun Hal­l­i­day is an writer, illus­tra­tor, and Chief Pri­ma­tol­o­gist of the East Vil­lage Inky zine. Fol­low her @AyunHalliday