John,
Re your question below:
"Rarely do p.i. characters use Doc Savage-style gadgets. Any other examples besides Honey West on that TV show?"
There was a short-lived TV series called SEARCH back in the '70's in which Hugh O'Brien, Tony Franciosa, and Doug McClure rotated as investigators for a huge, worldwide private security firm.
Each investigator (called a "probe" rather than an "operative") had some kind of computer chip implanted in their brains that kept them in constant contact with a computerized dispatch center run by Burgess Meredith. Instant access to info and back-up. Plus the computer dispatchers could warn the probes of upcoming danger that they might not be able to discern using only human senses.
A little far-out, and, according to IMDb, it didn't last long and has never been syndicated.
JIM DOHERTY
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