Tue 25 Sep 2012
A TV Review by Michael Shonk: THE MOST DEADLY GAME (1970-71).
Posted by Steve under Reviews , TV mysteries[43] Comments
THE MOST DEADLY GAME. ABC / Aaron Spelling Productions. 10 October 1970 through 16 January 1971. Created by Mort Fine and David Friedkin. Executive Producer: Aaron Spelling. Cast: Ralph Bellamy as Mr. Arcane, George Maharis as Jonathan Croft and Yvette Mimieux as Vanessa Smith.
“Murder is the most deadly game. These three criminologists play it.†The Most Deadly Game featured three criminologists working together to solve only the most unusual crimes.
Before we get to the series itself, lets deal with its back story. The series original title was Zig Zag, and was listed as a pilot for ABC in Broadcasting (November 17, 1969). It was an Aaron Spelling production with no cast mentioned but the “key creative people†were listed as David Friedkin, Mort Fine, Joan Harrison and Aaron Spelling.
Over at the Thrilling Detective website, an article by Ted Fitzgerald cites Ric Meyers’ TV Detective (A. S. Barnes & Co., 1987) claim that Eric Ambler (Checkmate) created Most Deadly Game. Producer Joan Harrison was married to Ambler, but I have found no evidence that Ambler and not Mort Fine and David Friedkin created the series.
In Broadcasting (March 2, 1970), Zig Zag appeared on the announced ABC fall schedule for September 1970. It was to air on Saturdays at 9:30-10:30pm (Eastern) and listed Ralph Bellamy, George Maharis, and Inger Stevens as the cast.
The three were promoting the series when on April 30, 1970, Inger Stevens was found dead.
The series executive producer Aaron Spelling had produced a TV movie called Run Simon Run (December 1, 1970, ABC) that starred Burt Reynolds and Inger Stevens. During the picture the two stars became romantically involved.
Aaron Spelling wrote (with Jefferson Graham) in his book Aaron Spelling: A Prime Time Life (St. Martins, 1996):
Inger, George Maharis, and Ralph Bellamy starred as a trio of great criminologists who dealt only in unusual murders (i.e., the most deadly game). After we completed the pilot and sold the show, Burt and Inger broke up, and a few days later, Inger, who had a history of personal problems and had attempted to commit suicide in 1959, tried again, and this time she was successful.
We recast the part with Yvette Mimieux, reshot the pilot, and missed our September airdate, premiering instead a month later than usual, but we were dead on arrival. The show just had a feeling like it was damned. We couldn’t recover from the negative publicity.
While a fifteen-minute presentation film of Zig Zag (with Stevens) still exists, no completed pilot has been found. Currently, YouTube has an early ABC promo that may be from the presentation reel:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXsjEAqIfVA
In Broadcasting (April 3, 1970), the series was still called Zig Zag. Stevens’ obit in Broadcasting (May 11,1970) called the series The Most Deadly Game.
Another problem facing the series before it even began was its time slot, opposite the popular NBC Saturday Night at the Movies and CBS’s Mary Tyler Moore Show and the first half hour of Mannix.
ABC was last in the ratings. Broadcasting (November 16,1970) noted that in the “latest Nielsen report†nine of the bottom twelve series in the ratings were on ABC and one of them was The Most Deadly Game. After just a month on the air, ABC cancelled the series.
I have seen four of the twelve episodes (thirteen if you count the missing pilot “Zig Zagâ€):
“Breakdown” (10/31/70) Written by Leonard B. Kaufman. Directed by George McCowan. Produced by Joan Harrison. Guest Cast: Jessica Walters, Tom Bosley, Joe Don Baker, and Terry Carter. *** A corporate psychiatrist is murdered. The company boss hires Arcane to solve the murder so the company can get rid of the nosy cops. Conveniently that weekend there was a psychological retreat scheduled where the five most likely suspects would spend seventy-two hours role-playing and talking about themselves. Jonathan and Vanessa go undercover. It ends with an unbelievable role-playing confession, then a chase and fight.
Opening of the episode “Breakdownâ€:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J1V3VW0yTE4
Early scene from “Breakdownâ€:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u7V8vLv7IYI
“Photo Finish.” (11/14/70) Written by John McGreevey. Directed by Norman Lloyd. Produced by Joan Harrison. Guest Cast: Marlyn Mason, Eileen Brennan, and Stephen Young *** Someone named ‘Scorpio, Mars In The Eighth House’ is sending Arcane pictures of murder victims and begging Arcane to stop him or her.
The astrology gimmick is used for act break graphics, but the killer never mentions astrology, not even during the cliché nut-job confession scene at the end. Arcane does not tell the police about the photos he is receiving from his murderous Pen-pal despite the fact people keep dying. Three victims and they figure out motive, but a missed guess of identity of the killer puts Vanessa and friend in danger.
“War Games.” (11/28/70) Written by Jack Miller. Directed by Lee Madden. Produced by David Friedkin and Morton Fine. Guest Cast: Barbara Luna, Pat Harrington Jr., Billy Dee Williams, Dan Travanty (later known as Daniel J. Travanti of Hill Street Blues) and Peter Brown. *** The police believe Jonathan killed his former military commander who had been shot while recreating battles with toy soldiers (the cops are looking for a 38 caliber gun, unaware the murder weapon was a toy cannon).
Four men, who with Jonathan had survived a suicide mission ordered by the Colonel, all confess to killing the old man. This ruins the cop’s day, as now he has to find actual evidence. Add the wife and you have your required five suspects. Heavy-handed clues make the motive obvious and the ending a major letdown.
“Lady from Praha.” (1/9/70) Written and Produced by David Friedkin and Mort Fine. Directed by Gene Nelson. Guest Cast: Bert Convy, May Britt, Brenda Benet, and Hank Brandt *** A foreign spy is killed during a foxhunt. His government hires our three because it believes the American government did it. They are given five suspects to check out.
The spy angle then is virtually ignored. Actions make little sense as the killer tries to kill Jonathan for no reason other than the writer needed an act break. There is a locked room mystery that lasts only a couple of scenes and has a lame solution. (No one would notice a bellboy leaving a hotel room.)
The clues are so clumsy and obvious we know who the killer is long before our brilliant criminologists. Then when they finally figure it out, no one tells the police. Instead Jonathan goes macho and runs off alone to get revenge and nearly gets killed. But all ends well, and Arcane happily looks on as Jonathan and Vanessa share a romantic moment.
Ralph Bellamy gave his usual professional if not exciting performance as Mr. Arcane, wise respected criminologist and father figure to his two young protégé.
George Maharis played Jonathan Croft as the typical condescending macho hero of the era. Jonathan was a widower with a growing romantic interest in his co-detective Vanessa.
Vanessa Smith had a growing romantic interest in Jonathan as well. As a young girl her father had been executed for a crime he had not committed. Arcane, who had been too late proving her father innocent, had taken Vanessa in and raised her. Vanessa was no Emma Peel. A girl’s girl but independent, she may let Jonathan handle the fights, but she insisted on doing her part taking on danger.
Watching Yvette Mimieux as Vanessa Smith walk through a room was the highlight of the series. They never used “that†camera angle on Joe Mannix, and for good reason.
The Most Deadly Game wanted to be a traditional mystery in a television world that depends more on characters than plot. It was a two-hour mystery shoved into a sixty-minute time slot. There were too many suspects, too many pointless red herrings, and too many series regulars to develop for any quality mystery to survive.
Clues such as the killer using an exotic astrology name need to mean something. Red herrings are fine but they still have to be explained.
We needed to believe in our main characters. They needed to be special, they should be brilliant criminologists, not bumbling around clueless or even worse wrong. They don’t have to work with the cops, but no one should die while they are withholding evidence.
The Most Deadly Game is available only in the collector market. The series is not worthy of recommendation, but worthy of regret that it could have been so much better.
Additional Sources:
September 25th, 2012 at 8:10 pm
I am not sure, but I have a faint recollection of sampling this series when it first aired, but no more than that. Certain aspects of the basic setup sound very familiar, but it could be several other series banging around in my head that sound very much the same.
I have a feeling that your last sentence is right on target, Michael. From your description, I don’t see much here to keep viewers coming back, week after week, not with MANNIX on opposite.
September 25th, 2012 at 8:41 pm
Its premise has been compared to CHECKMATE (CBS, 1960-62). That series featured three detectives and starred Anthony George, Sebastian Cabot, and Doug McClure, and was created by the famous spy novelist Eric Ambler.
The two series share little in common beyond the number of detectives. The tone of the series, the relationship between the three characters, the type of mysteries were all different.
The fact the series missed its air date in September was a big deal then. By October people had all ready settled in for their viewing habits for the fall, so even fewer sampled it than might have.
September 25th, 2012 at 8:51 pm
For those of us who were 13 in 1963, the bikini photo of Yvette Mimieux on the cover of the 10/25/63 issue of LIFE MAGAZINE was cheesecake nirvana. Pretty racy stuff for a mainstream magazine of the time.
I remember watching the earlier CHECKMATE with Sebastian Cabot as the criminologist and Anthony George and Doug McClure as his legmen, but I was in college and not catching much television when the 1970-71 series aired.
September 25th, 2012 at 9:49 pm
Let’s see if this link works:
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51ngh8r-6QL._SL500_AA300_.jpg
September 25th, 2012 at 9:00 pm
Ralph Bellamy and Louis Hayward worked together supporting Lana Turner in The Survivors. Louis said he had forgotten how tall and handsome Bellamy was. Not something easy to forget but Bellamy’s personality make it seem as if that might be easy.
Stephen Young, one of the leads in the Norman Lloyd episode is a friend of mine. Still a great guy and really good looking. In Steve’s case, impossible to forget.
September 25th, 2012 at 9:59 pm
Michael,
I’ve watched a few episodes of CHECKMATE on DVD in the past year or so, and you’re right. It’s the first series I thought of after I read your description of DANGEROUS GAME. (Obviously, since you mentioned it in connection with the possible Eric Ambler tie-in.)
Another is a British series called STRANGE REPORT, in which Anthony Quayle, Kaz Garas and Anneke Wills combined together to solve crimes.
There must be others. I hope I don’t lie awake all night trying to think of them.
September 25th, 2012 at 10:19 pm
Here’s one I was thinking of, CHRISTINE CROMWELL, a short-loved series which starred Jaclyn Smith as a defense attorney (I think) with Ralph Bellamy and Celeste Holm to aid and assist. There’s little information about it online, but it was one of a group of ABC MYSTERY MOVIE series in the late 80s. Other than Bellamy, I’m sure there’s no other connection.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1LOI5aHbiE
Ralph Bellamy had a long, excellent career, didn’t he? Best known for playing FDR, of course, but he was also in HUNTER, which you reviewed a while back, Michael, and so it’s another series DANGEROUS GAME reminded of, and I’ve just now thought of it. He was also Ellery Queen in a few 1940s movies, ones I’ve never seen but another lesser high point in his career.
September 25th, 2012 at 10:19 pm
Steve, as I searched for MOST DEADLY GAME, the internet kept giving me links to the endless variety of things called MOST DANGEROUS GAME.
At least the title MOST DEADLY GAME made sense, I have no idea why the original title was ZIG ZAG (which makes me think of a product sold in Head Shops).
STRANGE REPORT was British, but it also spent a short time on American TV.
September 25th, 2012 at 10:50 pm
Ralph Bellamy fans will find this link interesting.
http://www.museum.tv/eotvsection.php?entrycode=bellamyralp
September 26th, 2012 at 11:03 am
Joan Harrison was of course wrote several screenplays for Hitchcock and was a producer on Alfred Hitchcock Presents.
Regarding Inger Stevens: While she did have a history of depression and the official ruling was suicide, there are family members and friends who were firmly convinced that her death was accidental rather than intentional.
September 26th, 2012 at 11:46 am
Joan Harrison was nominated for two Oscars as a co-writer for REBECCA and FOREIGN CORRESPONDENT. She produced/executive produced the ALFRED HITCHCOCK HOUR (1962-65), a series that David Friedkin and Mort Fine also produced for a period.
The Inger Stevens memorial site has some interesting background about her death. It discusses her husband at the time, a marriage she kept secret because he was black and it would ruin her career. How she didn’t sound upset when she talked to her house guest, the last person known to talk to her. And much more.
http://ingerstevens.org/main.html
September 26th, 2012 at 11:50 am
Oh, I forgot to note one more point about Joan Harrison. Only two of the four episodes had her credited as producer, the other two credited David Friedkin and Mort Fine as producers. Either they split the episodes or she left the series at some point. I was also amused the most sexist episodes I saw were produced by her.
September 26th, 2012 at 11:51 am
I remember watching The Most Deadly Game – or at least trying to – during its initial run on ABC.
The awkward timeslot was one problem, and the delayed premiere was another.
This was Mary Tyler Moore’s first season, and many critics were predicting a flop; that MTM became one of the few new hits of that season threw everybody, CBS included: they ended up building Saturday night around it the next season.
Meanwhile, almost everything on ABC that fall flopped badly, so Most Deadly Game wasn’t alone; when it went off in January, ABC simply turned the hour back to the affiliates, in anticipation of the Prime Time Access Rule which didn’t take effect until the fall of ’71.
I do recall the final episode, which had Wilfrid Hyde-White and Mildred Natwick as guest stars; as part of the episode, their characters appeared on The Dick Cavett Show, the scenes filmed on Cavett’s set in New York. On the Friday night before the show aired, Cavett did a half-hearted plug for Most Deadly Game on his own show, for what little good it did either of them.
*****************************************
Meanwhile, at #8:
On Christine Cromwell, Jaclyn Smith’s character was somewhichway in the financial business (banker, investment counselor, something like that); Ralph Bellamy was her senior partner/mentor, and Celeste was her much-married mother.
This last was a series gimmick:
Christine would use the various ex-stepfathers in her investigations. They included a police captain (Richard Bradford), a society doctor (Mel Ferrer), and a psychiatrist (Theodore Bikel); since Celeste was supposed to have had at least seven exes, there might have been more in the offing, had the show lasted.
All of this is from memory, so my details are fuzzy; anyone who can fill in the blanks, please do so.
*****************************************
All of this reminds me for some reason of another ABC flop from the ’70s, Bert D’Angelo-Superstar, which was written up here a while back (and was produced for Quinn Martin by Mort Fine [Coincidence? You decide]).
In the backdoor pilot that aired on Streets Of San Francisco, D’Angelo (Paul Sorvino) made frequent mention of having a wife and a girlfriend (not the same woman), who not only knew about each other but at least tacitly approved of the situation.
When D’Angelo went to series, the first few episodes continued to mention the wife and girlfriend, but this suddenly stopped around the fourth or fifth show, no explanation given.
Pity – I actually kind of looked forward to seeing how they might have resolved this
(and who they might have cast as the ladies in question).
Again, this is from memory; anybody who might know more, let me (us) know.
September 26th, 2012 at 12:15 pm
Mike
I had forgotten about Christine Cromwell’s many ex-stepfathers, and I will defer to you in saying she was in the financial business rather than a defense attorney. I watched only one episode and it was several years ago. I will have to see if I can’t locate my discs of the series.
As for BERT D’ANGELO, he may have come up here when someone (Michael, perhaps) references an online interview done with Robert Pine, one of the cast members.
http://classictvhistory.wordpress.com/tag/bert-dangelosuperstar/
Did you get to know Quinn Martin at all?
No. I don’t think I ever even met him, and I did a series for him!
That was Bert D’Angelo/Superstar, which ran for half a season in 1976.
It was a spinoff of Streets of San Francisco, with Paul Sorvino and [Dennis Patrick] as the captain. We did it in San Francisco and I lived up there for six months. It was a tough shoot. What I’d rather you say with this is that the less said about that show the better, and leave it at that.
There’s not much other information about the series anywhere on the Internet. It’s strange that series like this can be on the air for 10 to 12 weeks and then be all but forgotten.
September 26th, 2012 at 1:16 pm
Last night, I watched the British TV series DIRK GENTLY (on YouTube under Svlad Cjelli). Based on Douglas Adams detective, the pilot captured the spirit of the books. Dirk believes in the fundamental interconnectedness of all things. Certainly, the way this comment thread is going is proof of that.
BERT D’ANGELO SUPERSTAR (QM Production, ABC, Saturday 10-11pm, Feb. 1976- July 1976). NY cop transfered against his will to the San Francisco police department to learn their methods. A wannabe MCCLOUD with a reportedly temperamental lead actor who made life for those on the set unhappy.
CHRISTINE CROMWELL (part of rotating series ABC MYSTERY MOVIE, 89-90) Shared with COLUMBO, BL STRYKER, and KOJAK (it replaced GIDEON OLIVER) She was a public defender who joined San Francisco’s most prestigious investment management firm. Public defender turned financial advisor to the rich sounds like a believable character.
September 26th, 2012 at 5:40 pm
Back to MDG. To me the greatest disappointment with the series can be seen in the promo video above. You see the murder of the Colonel in “War Games.” Then the client hands Arcane the murder weapon of the toy cannon and asks if the killing is bizarre enough for them. That was an interesting idea that was dropped for some reason.
The toy cannon was the weapon in “War Games.” But Arcane was not given it and hired, instead a cop blames Jonathan for the killing and the weapon becomes a minor plot point. It took the bizarre out of the murder story. They had the four ex-soldiers confessing and turned the story into just another procedural cop show.
I still am not sure why the death of Stevens on April 30th set back the series so much. It had been in development since November 1969. Didn’t they have scripts or ideas ready? It takes six days to shoot a TV episode. Given time to mourn, recast and shoot the first episode should not have taken over five months.
September 27th, 2012 at 4:34 pm
It takes six days to shoot a TV episode.
Which Commandment is that one, again?
More to the point, was it in effect in 1969-70?
Also, you’re leaving out little things like pre- and post-production, which have always added days and weeks to the schedule of any given TV show.
The “rules” here have been in frequent flux for as long as filmmaking (not limited to TV) has been in existence.
All manner of variables come into play, not least the humanity of the people involved, on both sides of the camera.
Everything I’ve ever read about Inger Stevens indicates that she was well-liked and highly regarded among her co-workers. Her death, for whatever cause, shocked just about all of Hollywood. What surprised everyone was that Most Deadly Game wasn’t postponed at least to mid-season or Fall ’71, which was closer to the custom of that time. As it was, re-gearing the show for another actress would require more than just running in somebody else; Yvette Mimieux wasn’t exactly the same type as Inger Stevens, so the scripts (which doubtless were in supply) would likely need extensive rewriting to reflect that difference.
This was also one of the more volatile periods in ABC’s programming department. They were backing up the truck twice a year, and projects couldn’t be postponed indefinitely.
By April, the spot sales were already done – Most Deadly Game had to go on that fall, ready or not.
Suppose for a moment that, against the odds, The Most Deadly Game had become at least a mild success on Saturday nights – enough to merit a try in another, less stressful time slot.
That’s what ABC did with Dan August and The Odd Couple in that same season.
In at least one case, that worked.
(And in the other, had Burt Reynolds started making the talk show rounds a little sooner …)
Those are some possible answers – by no means all. Corrections welcomed (sort of).
September 27th, 2012 at 5:19 pm
The six day production week dates back to as far as I can find. If the show had to go on it should not have taken over five months to do it. Remember, I am talking of filming an episode. As far as the rest, they had been working on this since November 1969. So everything but the shooting should have been set.
Spelling said they had to reshoot the pilot, which implies there had been an original pilot all ready finished (thus sets were built etc).
The actress would have been chosen to play the part with as little rewrite needed as possible. Remember the change in THE AVENGERS when Ian Hendry (as Dr. David Keel) left the series and was replaced by Honor Blackman (as Dr. Cathy Gale)? One of the reasons she beat up the bad guys was they used the same scripts that had been written for Hendry.
Lets give them a three month’s mourning period. That leaves August to get started. Shows such as THE OUTSIDER and BLUE LIGHT were filming with short period left to make air time. Missing your air date happens in TV. But it is usually after the show premieres.
What gets forgotten is the number of people who work for a series. My understanding is 100 to 200 people depend on the regular paycheck for a series. Would Spelling shut it down and put all those people out of work? ABC needed Spelling more than Spelling needed ABC, so this most likely was Spelling’s final decision.
My guess is everything went on hold. Aaron Spelling had left Paramount and was on his own. He tended to use the same group of crew, so they most likely went to work on his other projects.
But no one takes five months off work to mourn a co-worker friend. Did Burt Reynolds?
September 28th, 2012 at 9:48 am
Where did I say that they “took five months off”?
The production of prime time TV on a deadline involves far more time than the six days it took to do the actual filming.
Not only do scripts have to be prepared (this in itelf is a multi-stage operation), casting of many roles firmed up, studio facilities committed, and all the million-and-one things you need to do to get a weekly series running smoothly.
In the case of Most Deadly Game, Inger Stevens’s death occurred just at the point when production would have had to begin to make a September premiere date.
Just the recasting would have been cause for a delay; I’m pretty sure that Spelling didn’t just call Yvette Mimieux out of the blue and hire her for the part. More likely, he would have made up a shortlist of candidates for the role, which he then would have had to submit to ABC for possible use; both would have had to agree on somebody before production could start in earnest.
Then, once recasting was confirmed, the whole physical production would have to be re-geared to the newcomer: costuming, dialogue, action, all would have to be tweaked to emphasize the strengths of Mimieux, which would not necessarily be the same as those of Stevens.
All of this would have had to take a certain amount of time, and at this point Aaron Spelling was not as importatnt to ABC as he would become in five years time; his only show on ABC was Mod Squad, one of the net’s few hits back then, and selling shows to ABC meant that they had to be ready when needed.
Nobody took any kind of five months off, for mourning or any other reason.
That they were able to get Most Deadly Game on the air as early as October indicates that everyone was busting their asses.
Bottom line: The Most Deadly Game flopped for the Most Obvious Reason:
Nobody watched it.
That might have happened if Inger Stevens had lived, or if ABC had given it a better timeslot, or if they hadn’t changed the title (Zig-Zag might have attracted an early stoner crowd by mistake, or something), or any number of other intangibles.
We’ll never know.
We can only guess.
So there too. :-p
September 28th, 2012 at 1:04 pm
Mike, the set for Arcane home was done before Stevens’ death. The pilot, even if only fifteen minutes had that set.
No, they would not rewrite, redesign etc for the actress; the actress would have been chosen to fit the character all ready done.
They had been developing this six months before Stevens death.
It should not take that long to replace one actress when you have an air date.
But it really doesn’t matter. The series failed in ratings due to time slot and the weak network. It failed in quality because somewhere along the line the premise of three criminologists solving unusual and dangerous crimes was abandoned and it became a bad procedural PI series.
September 28th, 2012 at 3:19 pm
It wouldn’t have just been the pilot.
There would have had to be at least several completed scripts in the hopper, and more at various stages of development, when full scale production kicked off.
You seem to believe that actresses are somehow interchangeable – that if one actress drops out for whatever reason, just run another one in and no one will be the wiser.
I remember Inger Stevens and Yvette Mimieux from many of their roles. They were not interchangeable: Stevens was tall and athletic, Mimieux was more ethereal – not the same kind of actress at all.
As for Arcane’s apartment set – you’re talking about one set, in a series whose format would have required the building every week of new sets (or use of standing sets at whatever studio they were shooting at), plus location work where needed, plus use of a studio back lot where they could get by with it. In the case of that pilot, reshooting parts of it to place Mimieux where Stevens was might well have required the rebuilding of such sets or the rescouting of locations, plus matching shots, dubbing (the character’s name was apparently changed at some point), and a whole lotta other stuff, before the film would be airable.
In theory, you’re right – it shouldn’t take that long to replace one actress.
Especially in a series that no one’s seen yet.
But we’re not talking about Ziv in the ’50s, with no money and an almost adlib production.
By the ’70s, networks expected a certain level of slickness which took time and money to achieve.
Replacing the lead actress in a series would not be done as offhandedly as your comment would make it seem.
I’m writing this off a murderous sinus headache, so please excuse the testy tone.
And by the way –
– already is one word. 🙂
September 28th, 2012 at 3:53 pm
Mike, testy never bothers me. I am used to giving as much as receiving. I hope you feel better soon.
September 28th, 2012 at 5:04 pm
Any fans of ESPN Radio’s Mike & Mike Show out there? I feel like we are being treated to Mystery*Files’s very own version. Very entertaining.
September 28th, 2012 at 6:42 pm
David, it is nice to hear from our “fans.”
This is one of those discussions where the truth probably disagrees with both of us Mikes.
Speaking of Mikes, I just found an item in “Broadcasting” (3/28/55) and repeated in another issue, that has me scrambling for better research sources.
Listed under film production: Charles Michelson Inc,NY has completed 26 half hour programs of THE NEW ADVENTURES OF MICHAEL SHAYNE featuring Jeff Chandler. It was to be offered in the syndication market of April 1955.
Mystery fans should remember the nearly three dozen episodes of the radio series THE NEW ADVENTURES OF MICHAEL SHAYNE that starred Jeff Chandler and aired on Mutual Broadcasting in 1948.
By 1955, it was not unusual for radio series to be adapted for TV.
Common knowledge has only one TV series of Michael Shayne, the 1960 hour series on NBC staring Richard Denning.
David, anything at Paley or Variety around March-April 1955 about a half-hour TV series called THE NEW ADVENTURES OF MICHAEL SHAYNE?
September 29th, 2012 at 11:04 am
Michael, I’m aware of Chandler starring in a syndicated RADIO version of The New Adventures of Michael Shayne, but not TV.
September 29th, 2012 at 11:23 am
Michael and I have been discussing the possibility of a MICHAEL SHAYNE TV series starring Jeff Chandler in the comments following another post:
https://mysteryfile.com/blog/?p=19703#comments
As much as I’d like to believe there was such a series, I think that first announcement in BROADCASTING was placed in the wrong section: TV syndication, when it should have been radio.
Charles Michelson was the best known syndicator of radio shows of his day.
September 29th, 2012 at 11:35 am
Thanks, David.
I looked over at Billboard and saw a list of TV shows Michelson was offering and SHAYNE was not on it. But this was an era where hundreds of syndicated shows were offered and over two hundred and fifty were on the air somewhere. Lost series, promised series that were never made from that era are not unheard of.
I’ll add it to my search of most likely mythical series such as Street & Smith’s syndicated radio show that was adapted from Paul Ernst’s books (no, not THE AVENGER radio show that is available and has no connection to Ernst’s Richard Benson).
September 29th, 2012 at 11:50 am
#26. Steve, Michelson did both. His first TV series was CAPSULE MYSTERIES (2/54). He was a leader in transcribed radio shows and later was the American representative of Australian programs in TV. But he also was interested in syndicating TV series.
As for it being the radio show, I wonder why in 1955 it would be news he is offering a radio show that had been available since 1948.
As for Chandler, a TV series of 26 episodes shot over a couple of weeks would be great promotion for his singing career at the time.
That doesn’t mean I believe the item, just I can’t totally discount it yet.
October 1st, 2012 at 5:07 pm
First off, my sinus headache is all better now; thanx for the good wishes.
Whenever I go to my Tv Guide collection, I always make a point of checking out the weekly TV Teletype feature, to see what was being worked on, talked up, or blue-skied in the programming biz.
When I first read these as a kid (10 or thereabouts), I took it all at face value: if TV Guide‘s Teletype said that this Big Star was going to do that New Show, I took it as sooth – it would happen.
Looking at those squibs 50-odd years later, with the added years of reading up on the business factored in, I can see that many of them were not so much reporting of fact as they were sending out messages – maybe if we say that Buck Wing and Angina Pectoris are looking to get into TV, this time they just might actually be interested.
Theory about Michael Shayne-1955:
Mr. Michelson, holding the rights to his various radio shows, and looking to get into TV as his competitor Fred Ziv had with so much success, would speculate with buyers on which of his radio properties would translate best to TV. Part of this speculation would naturally involve the stars of the radio series, with the possibility of their involvement in the TV version.
(When Ziv started shopping Bold Venture to TV, you don’t supposed he might have at least – you know, maybe hinted that he could have talked Bogart and Bacall into doing it? (Or at least maybe Bacall, after Bogie’s death?)
Anyway, if Michelson is selling Shayne as a future, Jeff Chandler’s name obviously would come up, because of his existing association with the property.
So far, all talk, nothing even on paper.
But somebody overhears it, passes it along to somebody else, it’s in the pipeline, and after several more somebodies get through with it, the Shayne story arrives at BROADCASTING as a completed series, ready for market – even when it never got past the talk part.
A lot of those TV GUIDE Teletype items saw print in much this same way.
Theory offered; what do you all think?
October 1st, 2012 at 8:56 pm
#29. I agree with you, Mike.
It is very unlikely the 1955 SHAYNE TV series was filmed or it would have been listed with Michelson’s other TV production in “Billboard.”
But lost programs are being rediscovered everyday (someone just found more radio episodes of AMAZING MR MALONE). So no researcher should ever give up on the possibilities, no matter how crazy.
October 1st, 2012 at 10:10 pm
i love the Amazing Mr. Malone. 1950s radio really was the golden age of smartass crimefighters. Malone, the Falcon, Barrie Craig.
October 1st, 2012 at 10:26 pm
Mike Doran, Comment #29
What you are talking about is a well-known phenomenon that has its own name in the computer industry: Vaporware
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vaporware
It’s a good an explanation as any (except for mine, which was that the editors of BROADCASTING goofed and put the item in the wrong section).
I loved those bits of info about upcoming stuff in TV GUIDE too. I turned to that page first. We must be two of a kind. (Maybe it was because they always made the upcoming stuff more appealing than what was actually on.)
October 1st, 2012 at 10:31 pm
Michael, Comment #30
Whatever is the explanation of that squib you found, I agree that’s unlikely that there was any actual filming done. Jeff Chandler was too well known for a big chunk of his time to have gone unreported.
That’s a different kind of “lost” though, than either radio or TV episodes that aactually aired but no copies are known to exist.
PS. I agree with Clem. The MR. MALONE radio show is a good one, and that’s great news about new episodes being found. Do you have any links that might list titles and dates? I’ve been so far away from the hobby to keep up with new finds. (Back to the reel-to-reel days.)
October 1st, 2012 at 11:23 pm
#33. Don’t know the story but there had been 11 episodes available and now there are 16.
You can buy the 16 for $5 at:
http://www.otrcat.com/amazing-mr-malone-p-1039.html
As for the original 11 surviving titles, you can find all about them here:
http://mysteryfiles.com/blog/?p=10076
October 2nd, 2012 at 8:23 am
http://img2.bdbphotos.com/images/orig/e/j/ejzgvry6910x19xr.jpg
Fairly rare for a LIFE photo in that it displays the healthy Ms. YM not only overly dressed, alas, but also charmingly disheveled.
October 2nd, 2012 at 9:56 am
Last night at home, I checked out my 1955 TV Guides,with special reference to the YV Teletype pages. I’m missing a week or two here and there, so I backed it up with my various refeence books on detectives in film/radio/TV, as well as TV projects that went nowhere for sundry reasons.
Results: No reference to any Michael Shayne TV series, with or without Jeff Chandler, until the 1960 NBC-Richard Denning show.
I did find many examples of what I referred to above; i.e., proposals for projects that either got nowhere, or not as far as hoped for.
One example that will serve for many:
Early in ’55, Sax Rohmer signed a deal with Republic Pictures wherein he sold the rights to Dr. Fu Manchu for use in all media, for (it says here) $5,000,000.The Teletype reported that Republic (Studio City TV Productions) was to start filming 78 episodes of a Dr. Fu Manchu TV series forthwith, for the worldwide syndication market.
As it happened, this series did get produced, but Republic fell somewhat short of their goal – 65 episodes short.
The 13 Dr. Fu shows that did get filmed found their way into the syndie marketplace. Channel 7 here in Chicago put them on in 1957, pairing them off with The New Adventures Of Charlie Chan, then just released, in a weeknight late slot after prime time. With only 13 Fu films, this team-up didn’t last long, but I remember it as an early “guilty pleasure” (would you let a 7-year-old stay up to watch Chan and Dr. Fu?).
The TV Guide for the pairing notes that Chan is “all-new!”, while Dr.Fu is “just filmed!” (Two years old wasn’t mentioned … out of politeness, no doubt.)
I don’t know if the Republic-Fu Manchu has ever been written up here, but some of the shows can be found on dollar-store DVDs. I’ve looked at a few of them, and they’re the kind of slightly moldy cheese that appeals to many of us here,and so I mention that.
…Think I’ll take a peek at the archive …
October 2nd, 2012 at 10:11 am
Just after I hit Submit, I remembered that there’s supposedly a pilot for Fu Manchu with John Carradine as the Dr. and Cedric Hardwicke as Nayland Smith; I don’t know if this was part of the Republic deal (I’m guessing not).
The series had Glen Gordon, a youngish second lead from Republic’s Westerns, under a metric ton of makeup as Fu and Lester Matthews from the Hollywood British outpost as Nayland Smith, with Clark Howat, later of Jack Webb Repertory, as Dr. Petrie.
All this from the bits ‘n’ pieces I have at home, and I’m always looking to add ‘new’ old stuff all the time.
Pathetic, isn’t it?
October 2nd, 2012 at 10:24 am
Mike, my look at franchise characters in mystery mentions Fu.
https://mysteryfile.com/blog/?p=19550
Click on the link below the Fu part. The links I put in that post will lead you to some great stuff about each character.
October 2nd, 2012 at 5:03 pm
I was already aware of the Fu Manchu site that you linked to; I first visited it some years back, when I had added a couple of Fu videos to my wall at home.
Still, it is nice to know that grate minds such as ours run in the same cahnnel …
October 3rd, 2012 at 10:32 am
Call this “tying up loose ends”:
– I double-checked that Fu Manchu site, and found that the Carradine-Hardwicke pilot was an NBC production, predating the Rohmer/Republic deal by a couple of years.
Talk about a bygone era: that a TV network might even consider a Fu Manchu series is so unthinkable these days as to defy belief.
– Back in comment #28, michael mentions ” … a TV series of 26 episodes shot over a couple of weeks …”
Uh, Mr. Shonk …
.. sure you didn’t mean “a couple of months”?
I mean, Ziv used to do two half-hour Highway Patrols in five shooting days, and that was top speed.
Broderick Crawford used to tell this story on himself:
One day he was doing a dialog scene when the director cut and asked, “Hey Brod, what show yuh doin’?”
Crawford said “21-A.”
The director answered “We’re shooting 22-B.”
That was Ziv-style high-speed TV.
26 episodes would have taken a minimum of 13 weeks at the two-a-week pace mentioned above.
And that is what you meant, wasn’t it?
– We really ought to wrap this up by going back to the original subject, Most Deadly Game.
Nothing else to add about the show, but since the subject of tie-in novels has come up elsewhere, I ought to mention that there were two MDG novels published: Lancer paperbacks (60 cents each as memory serves) by (#1) Ed Friend and (#2) Richard Gallagher, the second released after the series had left the air. At one point I had both of these, but time and moves lost them for me. 🙁
It occurred to me as I perused a reference book on TV tie-ins ( and noted with a wince just how many of them I’d had at some point) that these books form a branch of the medium’s history right alongside the old magazines I’ve got – and how dumb I was to lose them.
October 3rd, 2012 at 11:36 am
Nice summing up, Mike.
Re. #28 “couple of weeks” I was thinking radio not TV. However, four a week was done (CASES OF EDDIE DRAKE), making 26 episode possible in seven weeks (so, you are right a couple of months is more accurate). More likely, if this series existed (which is unlikely) they would have done fewer (anywhere from one to 13) and offered 26. I have a review coming about a 1954/55 series that planned 117 episodes, offered 39 for sale and filmed 26. Its shooting schedule started May 1 and it was ready for air in September (four months).
Tie-in books remain popular (STAR TREK, STAR WARS, etc). There is even the International Association of Media Tie-In Writers (IAMTW) that includes many writers you would know.
http://www.iamtw.org
http://iamtw.blogspot.com
I would be curious to read the two MDG books. Which Vanessa was in the books (they had different last names)? What type of mystery?
October 3rd, 2012 at 4:58 pm
Confession: I don’t always find the time to read all the books I buy, especially the fiction.
I never got around to reading the MDG books. 🙁
I do remember that the covers showed Yvette Mimieux, and their release (at least the first one) was timed to coincide with the series premiere, so I’m faily that “Vaness Smith” was the character used therein.
As to their “type”, since these were originals and not script adaptations …
… well, as I said, I didn’t get around to reading them; anyone who might have, please let us know what we missed.
IAMTW is known to me, as is their highly informative and educative website.
Check it out whenever you get the chance.
February 13th, 2021 at 2:26 pm
Looked like a great show…
Is it available anywhere yet? I just noticed another short lived series from 1970 “The Immortal” with Christopher George is available in Amazon…