by Lee Goldberg
214. Our Man Flint (aka Our Man Flint: Dead on Target). ABC 3/17 /76. 90 minutes. Twentieth Century Fox Television. Director: Joseph Scanlon. Executive Producer: Stanley Colbert. Producer: R.H. Anderson. Writer: Norman Klenman.
Ray Danton takes over as superspy Derek Flint, originally portrayed by James Coburn in the theatrical 007 spoofs Our Man Flint and In Like Flint. This time Flint, an agent for Z.O.W.I.E. (Zonal Organization for World Intelligence and Espionage) is now a private investigator who searches for a kidnapped scientist. Filmed on the ultra-cheap in Vancouver, Canada.
Cast: Ray Danton (as Derek Flint), Sharon Acker (Sandra), Gaye Rowan (Benita), Donnelly Rhodes (LaHood), Lawrence Dane (Runzler), Fran Russell (Della Cieza).
215. The Owl and the Pussycat. NBC 12/29/75. 30 minutes. Rastar Productions and Screen Gems. Director: Paul Bogart. Producer: Marc Neufield. Writer: Buck Henry. Music: Lennie Starle.
A sitcom adaptation of Bill Manhoff's 1964 play and the 1970 motion picture starring George Segal and Barbra Streisand. Buck Henry and Bernadette Peters take over the roles of a frustrated writer and frustrated actress who become friends.
Cast: Buck Henry (Felix), Bernadette Peters (Doris), Liana Dunn (Mr. Crumley), Dorothy Neuman (Mrs. Crumley), Val Basiglio (The Man).
216. Pete 'n' Tillie. CBS 3/28/74. 30 minutes. Universal Television. Director: Jerry Belson. Producer/Writer: Carl Kleinschmitt, based on the novel Witch's Milk by Peter de Vries. Music: Michael Melvoin.
An adaptation of the 1972 movie, which starred Walter Matthau as a 48-year-old school teacher who marries a 38-year-old social worker, played by Carol Burnett. It's the first marriage for both, and adjusting to living with someone else after such a long single life gets some getting used to. Carmine Caridi and Cloris Leachman are the couple in this sitcom adaptation.
Cast: Cloris Leachman (as Tillie Schaefer), Carmine Caridi (Pete Schaefer), Mabel Albertson (Norma Jean Ryerson), Dick Balduzzi (Alan Kipeck).
217. Popeye Doyle. ABC 9/7/86. 2 hours. Twentieth Century Fox Television. Director: Peter Levin. Executive Producer: Robert Singer. Producer: Richard Dilello. Technical Consultant: Eddie Egan. Writer: Richard Dilello. Music: Brad Fiedel.
Another attempt to turn the adventures of real-life cop Eddie (The French Connection) Egan into a TV series. Now Ed O'Neill is Popeye Doyle, a tough narcotics detective absorbed in his job. Matthew Laurance is his partner, and James Handy is his boss.
Cast: Ed O'Neill (as Popeye Doyle), Matthew Laurance (Tony Parese), James Handy (Lt. Gregory Paulus), Audrey Landers (Jill Anne-yard), Elias Zarou (Fahoud Nazzin), Candy Clark (Corrine), Nicholas Kadi (The Weasel), George de la Pena (The Shadow), Gary Tacon (Deli Bandit #1), Phil Neilson (Deli Bandit #2), Elizabeth Lennie (Toni), Richard Monette (Patrick Henley), Peter Virgile (Pretty Boy), S.J. Fellows (Nurse #1), Guy Sanvido (Sammy), Phillip Williams (Patrolman # ). Linda Gambell (Nurse #2), Chick Roberts (Detective Bender), Jonathan Simmons (Park Patrolman), Richard McMillan (Apartment Manager), Joanna Perica (Connie Parese), Alexandria Innes (Maria Rodriquez), Tony Rosato (Wiseass Reporter), Todd Postlethwaite (Club Manager), Susan Diol (The Blonde).
218. Returning Home (aka The Best Years of Our Lives). ABC 90 minutes. 4/29/75. Samuel Goldwyn Productions and Lorimar Productions. Director: Daniel Petrie. Executive Producer: Lee Rich. Producer: Herbert Hirschman. Writers: Bill Svanoe and John McGreevey.
A TV-movie pilot based on 1946's Oscar-winning The Best Years of Our Lives, about three World War II soldiers—a married banker with two children, an air force hero with a bride he hardly knows, and an infantryman who lost both his arms (roles played by Fredric March, Dana Andrews, and Harold Russell in the film)—who return home to a small town and try to adjust to civilian life. Dabney Coleman is the banker, Tom Selleck the flying ace, and newcomer James Miller, handicapped in Vietnam, plays the permanently scarred soldier.
Cast: Dabney Coleman (as Al Stephenson), Tom Selleck (Fred Den-y). James Miller (Homer Parrish), Whitney Blake (Millie Stephenson), Joan Goodfellow (Peggy Stephenson), Sherry Jackson (Marie Deny), Laurie Walters (Wilma Parish), James A. Watson, Jr. (Capt. Will Tobey), Lenka Peterson (Mrs. Parrish), Patricia Smith (Mrs. Cameron), Booth Colman (Vern Milton), Lou Frizzell (Butch Cavendish), Jim Antonio (Avery Novak), Don Keefer (Mr. Parrish), James Beach (Henry "Wimpy" Jergens), Paul Lambert (Mike Harris), Tom Blank (Dave), Joseph DiReda ATC Sergeant), Ed Call (Hank), Allen Price (Rob Stephenson), Eileen McDonough (Luella).
219. The Seven Little Foys. NBC 1/24/64. 60 minutes. Universal Television. Director: Jack Laird. Executive Producer: Gordon Oliver. Music: Johnny Mandel.
Aired as an episode of Bob Hope Chrysler Theatre and based on the 1955 movie which starred Bob Hope as Eddie Foy, a widower vaudevillian raising seven performing kids, and James Cagney as George M. Cohan. In the pilot, Eddie Foy, Jr. plays his real-life father and Mickey Rooney plays Cohan, with the Osmonds portraying the Foy Sons.
Cast: Eddie Foy, Jr. (as Eddie Foy), Mickey Rooney (George M. Cohan), George Tobias (Barney Green), Naomi Stevens (Aunt Clara), Christy Jordan (Mary Foy), Alan Osmond (Bryan Foy), Wayne Osmond (Charley Foy), Merrill Osmond (Richard Foy), Donny Osmond (Irving Foy), Jay Osmond (Eddie Foy, Jr.), Elaine Edwards (Miss Williams).
220. Shamus (aka A Matter of Wife and Death). NBC 4/10/76. 90 minutes. Columbia Pictures Television. Director: Marvin J. Chomsky. Executive Producer: David Gerber. Producer: Robert M. Wellman. Writer: Don Ingalls. Music: Richard Shores.
Rod Taylor is the womanizing, freewheeling private eye Burt Reynolds played in producer Wellman's 1973 movie Shamus. Convenient name. He's lucky his name wasn't "Bricklayer." Shamus works out of a pool hall run by Dick Butkus and has a friend-on-the-force (Shamus is a lucky guy) played by Joe Santos, who became James Garner's friend-on-the-force in The Rockford Files. In the pilot, Shamus investigates the murder of a small-time private eye whose office was bombed.
Cast: Rod Taylor (as Shamus), Joe Santos (Lt. Vince Promuto), Eddie Firestone (Blinky), Luke Askew (Snell), John Colicos (Joe Ruby), Tom Drake (Paulie Baker), Anita Gillette (Helen Baker), Charles Picerni (Bruno), Anne Archer (Carol), Larry Block (Springy), Dick Butkus (Heavy), Marc Alaimo (Angie), Cesare Danova (Dottore), Lynda Carter (Zelda).
221. Six Pack (aka Brewster's Brood). CBS 7/24/83. 60 minutes. Twentieth Century Fox Television. Director: Rod Amateau. Executive Producer/Writer: Gy Waldron. Producers: Rod Amateau and James Heinz. Music: Lance Rubin.
Based on the 1982 movie Six Pack, starring Kenny Rogers as a race car driver who takes in five orphaned kids as his pit crew. Don Johnson takes over the role for the TV version. Markie Post is his girlfriend and Mae Marmy is the prim English nanny he hires to teach the kids on the road.
Cast: Don Johnson (as Brewster Baker), Markle Post (Sally Leadbetter), Jennifer Runyon (Heather Akins), Billy Warlock (Duffy Akins), Bubba Dean (Rebel Akins), Con Martin (Hank Akins), Leaf Phoenix (Tad Akins), Mae Marmy (Sybil Cadbury), Ralph Pace (Joe Apple), Terry Beaver (Jo Jo), Jerry Campbell (Red Lyles), Cliff Brand (D.C. Dempsey), Julian Bond (Judge), Wallace Wilkinson (Superintendent), C. Pete Munro (Luther).
222. Sidekicks (aka The Skin Game). CBS 3/21/74. 90 minutes. Warner Bros. Television. Producer/Director: Burt Kennedy. Writer: William Bowers. Creator: Richard Alan Simmons. Music: David Shire.
A television sequel to the 1972 movie Skin Game, which starred James Garner and Lou Gossett as two conmen roaming the pre-Civil War. West posing as master and slave. Gossett repeats his film role and Larry Hagman steps in for Garner in the pilot, which aimed for a style reminiscent of the old Maverick series. Unfortunately the charm of both Skin Game and Maverick was Garner, and he's missing from this.
Cast: Larry Hagman (as Quince), Lou Gossett (Jason), Blythe Danner (Prudy), Jack Elam (Boss), Harry Morgan (Sheriff Jenkins), Gene Evans (Sam), Noah Beery (Tom), Hal Williams (Max), Dick Peabody (Ed), Denver Pyle (Drunk), John Beck (Luke), Dick Haynes (Man), Tyler McVey (Jones), Billy Shannon (Carl).
223. Slither. CBS 3/21/74. 30 minutes. MGM Television. Director: Daryl Duk
e. Producer: Jack Shea. Writer/Creator: W.D. Richter.
Based on the 1973 film, which starred James Caan as Dick Kanipsia, a friendly, slightly hapless ex-con who has a tendency to meet strange people and get in over his head in outlandish schemes. Barry Bostwick has the role in this sitcom version.
Cast: Barry Bostwick (as Dick Kanipsia), Patti Deutsch (Ruthie), Cliff Emmich (Fat Stranger), Michael C. Gwynne (Stranger), Seaman Glass (Farmer), Louis Quinn (Seller #1), Robert Stiles (Seller #2), John Delgado (Driver).
224. Sounder. CBS 1975. Robert Radnitz-Mattel Productions. Producer: Robert Radnitz. Writer: Lonne Elder, based on her motion picture screenplay.
The folks who brought you the much-admired 1972 film Sounder adapted it as a one-hour television drama about a black family living in depression-oppressed Louisiana. Harold Sylvester, Eboney Wright, Darryl Young, Ronnie Bolden, and Ericha Young star.
225. State Fair. CBS 5/14/91. 60 minutes. Twentieth Century Fox Television. Director: David Lowell Rich. Executive Producers: M.J. Frankovich and William Self. Producer: Robert L. Jacks. Writers: Richard Fielder and Richard DeRoy, based on the novel by Phillip Strong and the three feature films it inspired. Music: Laurence Rosenthal. Songs: "Carousel Love," "Wind in the Trees," by Harriet Schock; "Everything Reminds Me of You," by Mitch Vogel.
The story of a family—a mother and father with a divorced daughter raising her child, a daughter studying to be a veterinarian and a son in high school who dreams of being a country music star—living on a dairy farm set against the backdrop of the annual State Fair that is the big event in their lives. This pilot was designed to launch a "family hour" series.
Cast: Vera Miles (as Melissa Bryant), Tim O'Connor (Jim Bryant), Mitch Vogel (Wayne Bryant), Julie Cobb (Karen Bryant Miller), Dennis Redfield (Chuck Bryant), Linda Purl (Bobby Jean Shaw), Jeff Coder (Tommy Miller), W.T. Zacha (Catfish McKay), Jack Garner (Mr. Grant), Virginia Gregg (Miss Detweiler), Harry Moses (Ben Roper), Joel Stedman (David Clemmans), Dina K. Ousley (Marnie), Rance Howard (Deputy), Ivor Francis (Judge).
226. The Sunshine Boys. NBC 6/9/77. 60 minutes. MGM Television. Director: Robert Moore. Executive Producer: Michael Leves. Producer: Sam Denoff. Writer/Creator: Neil Simon.
Simon scripted this adaptation of his 1972 play, which became a hit movie in 1975 starring Walter Matthau and George Burns as Willie Clark and Al Lewis, two ex-vaudevillians who dislike each other but, deep down, have a great deal of affection for one another. In the proposed TV series version, Red Buttons and Lionel Stander are a geriatric odd couple forced by circumstances to share an apartment together. Michael Durrell is Willie's nephew and agent, Sarina Grant is Willie's nurse, Barra Grant is Al's daughter and George Wyner is his son-in-law..
Cast: Red Buttons (as Willie Clark), Lionel Stander (Al Lewis), Michael Durrell (Ben Clark), Bobbie Mitchell (Myrna Navazio), Sarina Grant (Muriel Green), George Wyner (Ray Banks), Barra Grant (Sylvia Banks), Philip Taniini (Gary Banks), Danny Mora (Julio), Belle Bruck (Mrs. Kraise), Ann. Cooper (Anita DeVane).
227. Supercops. CBS 3/21/75. 30 minutes. MGM Television. Director: Bernard L. Kowalski. Executive Producer: Bruce Geller. Producers: James David Buchanan and Ronald Austin. Writers: Austin Kalish and Irma Kalish. Music: Jack Urbont.
Based on the true-life exploits of N.Y.P.D. cops Greenberg and Hantz, known on the force and on the streets as "Batman and Robin." Their adventures filled two books and were dramatized in the previous year's movie Supercops, starring Ron Leibman and David Selby. In the pilot, cut from sixty minutes, these unorthodox officers hunt down a brutal thief.
Cast: Steven Keats (as Dave Greenberg), Alan Feinstein (Bobby Hantz), Dick O'Neill (Capt. McLain), Peggy Rea (Bessie), Byron Morrow (Lt. Gorney), Tony Brande (Lt. Vanesian), Lou Tiano (Sgt. Falcone), George Loros (Delgado).
228. Take Her, She's Mine. ABC 1965. 30 minutes. Twentieth Century Fox Television. Producer: Richard Murphy. Based on the 1961 play—and subsequent 1963 Jimmy Stewart movie—by Henry and Phoebe Ephron.
Van Johnson is a widower trying to raise his mischievous daughter, a college freshman, who always has one scheme after another—and gets her dad involved in all of them.
229. Three Coins in the Fountain. NBC 1967. 8/10/70. 30 minutes. Twentieth Century Fox Television and General Foods. Director: I !al Kanter. Executive Producer: Hal Kanter. Producer: Robert L. Jacks. Writers: Hal Kanter and Melville Shavelson. Music: Jeff Alexander.
This pilot, based on the popular 1954 film, sat on the shelf for four years before being aired. Cynthia Pepper, Joanna Moore, and Yvonne Craig star as three American girls living in Rome.
Cast: Cynthia Pepper (as Maggie Wilson), Yvonne Craig (Dorothy), Joanna Moore (Ruth), Antony Aida (Gino), Nino Castelnuovo (Count Giorgio).
230. Three-Way Love (aka Handle With Care; aka Citizen's Band). CBS 1978. 30 minutes. Paramount Television. Producer/Writer: Gail Parent. Creator: Paul Brickman.
Based on the 1977 movie Handle With Care, which was originally released as Citizen's Band, with Ann Wedgeworth and Marcia Rodd recreating their roles as two women, one from Texas and one from South Dakota, who discover that they are married to the same man when he is hurt in an auto accident in Portland, Oregon. He deserts them both, so, pooling their resources and their children (Robbie Rist, Shannon Terhune, and Poindexter), the women decide to live together. Alix Elias reprises his role as their neighbor and friend.
231. To Sir, With Love. CBS 4/19/74. 30 minutes. David Gerber Productions and Screen Gems. Director: Jay Sandrich. Executive Producer: David Gerber. Producer: Ronald Rubin. Writers: Ronald Rubin and Michael Zagor, from the screenplay by James Clavell, based on the book by E.R. Braithwaite.
The 1967 movie starred Sidney Poitier as a high school teacher who, as part of a foreign exchange program, ends up in a school in a working-class section of London. Hari Rhodes assumes the role in the pilot.
Cast: Hari Rhodes (as Paul Cameron), James Grout (Headmaster Hawthorne), Rosemary Leach (Philippa), Roddy Maude-Roxby (Walter), Jane Anthony (Cheryl), Jane Carr (Ruby), Marc Harris (Trevor), Leonard Brockwell (Terry), Brinsley Forde (Charles), Paul Eddington (Moran).
232. Topper. ABC 11/9/79. 2 hours. Cosmo Productions and Robert Papazian Productions. Director: Charles S. Dubin. Executive Producers: Andrew Stevens and Kate Jackson. Producer: Robert A. Papazian. Writers: George Kirgo, Mary Anne Kascia and Michael Scheff, from the novel by Thorne Smith. Music: Fred Karlin.
An attempt to update Topper for television. It already had been a series in the 1950s and there was an earlier pilot in 1973 with Roddy McDowall as Cosmo Topper and Stefanie Powers and John Fink as Marion and George Kerby. This time, Kate Jackson and her then-husband Andrew Stevens are Marion and George Kerby, two carefree ghosts who haunt their lawyer Cosmo Topper (Jack Warden) to bring some fun into his life.
Cast: Kate Jackson (as Marion Kerby), Andrew Stevens (George Kerby), Jack Warden (Cosmo Topper), Rue McClanahan (Clara Topper), James Karen (Fred Korbel), Macon McCalman (Wilkins), Charles Siebert (Stan Ogilvy), Larry Gelman (Mechanic), Gloria LeRoy (Saleswoman), Lois Arcno (Charlene), Jane Wood (Nurse), Mary Peters (Marsha), Marsha Ray (Mrs. Quincy), Gregory Chase (Steve), Ellen Marsh (Hostess), Marshall Teague (Man at Disco), Tom Spratley (Jailer).
233. True Grit (aka True Grit: A Further Adventure). ABC 5/19/78. 2 hours. Paramount Television. Director: Richard T. Heffron. Producer/ Writer: Sandor Stern, from characters created by Charles Portis. Music: Earle Hagen.
Based on the book True Grit, a Western which inspired the 1969 movie of the same name, and the 1975 sequel Rooster Cogburn, both of which starred John Wayne as a rough, grizzled, hard-drinking, one-eyed U.S. Marshal. Warren Oates, who the previous season attempted stepping into Bogart's shoes for The African Queen, has the equally uncomfortable task of sitting in the Duke's saddle. In the pilot, Cogburn agrees to take an orphaned free-spirited teenage girl named Mattie Ross from Arkansas to her relatives in California. The proposed series would follow their adventures along the way.
Cast: Warren Oates (as
Rooster Cogburn), Lisa Pelikan (Mattie Ross), Lee Meriwether (Annie Sumner), James Stephens (Joshua Sumner), Jeff Osterhage (Chris Sumner), Lee Montgomery (Daniel Sumner), Ramon Bieri (Sheriff Ambrose), Jack Fletcher (Clerk), Parley Baer (Rollins), Lee DeBroux (Skorby), Fredric Cook (Chaka), Redmond Gleeson (Harrison), Gregg Palmer (Slatter), Derrel Maury (Creed), Roger Frazier (Moses Turk), John Perak (Toni Lacey), Dom Spencer (Doc Wade), Burt Douglas (Bast), Simon Tyme (Udall), Charles Burke (Hopkins).
234. Used Cars. CBS 5/15/84. 30 minutes. Can't Sing, Can't Dance Productions and Columbia Pictures Television. Director: Victor Lobl. Executive Producer: Barbara Corday. Producer/Writer: Bob Gale. Creators: Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale. Music: Norman Gimbel and Charles Fox. Singer: Roy Clark.
