McCabe and Max

Max lives in a large Southern California city (presumably Los Angeles) until his owner retired as D.A. and moved to Hawaii and worked as an undercover investigator for the Honolulu prosecutor's office. A year later, McCabe and Max moved back to Los Angeles when J.L. was offered his old job back. Throughout the series, Max and McCabe were constant companions.

TRIVIA NOTE: One year prior to the series, William Conrad played a very similar lawyer named James L. McShane on a two-part episode "The Don" (10/26/1986) on the legal drama MATLOCK.

During these episodes, which were a blueprint for JAKE & THE FATMAN, McShane had a pet German Shepherd named Max. McShane helped Atlanta-based attorney Ben Matlock with the murder case involving Nicholas Baron (Jose Ferrer), a mobster accused of murder. His son, Paul Baron was played by Joe Penny (who would later become Jake Styles, the Fatman's special investigator).

Max sired a Bulldog son named Taker who has appeared in Kinko's and Pepsi commercials and on the sitcom EVERYONE LOVES RAYMOND. William Conrad died of a heat attack in 1994.