Fri 25 Jan 2013
A TV Review by Michael Shonk: CASABLANCA (1983).
Posted by Steve under Reviews , TV mysteries[16] Comments
CASABLANCA. NBC, 1983. David L. Wolper Production in association with Warner Brothers Television. Cast: David Soul as Rick Blaine, Hector Elizondo as Captain Louis Renault, Reuven Bar-Yotam as Ferrari, Ray Liotta as Sacha, Scatman Crothers as Sam, Arthur Malet as Carl, Patrick Horgan as Major Strasser, and Kai Wolff as Lt Heinz. Executive Producer: David L. Wolper, Supervising Producer: Howard Gast. Producer: Charles B. Fitzsimons. *** There was no on screen credit for who created or developed the series nor was there any on screen credit for the film or the play it was loosely based on.
This was Warner Brothers second attempt to make a TV series based on the movie CASABLANCA (1942). The first attempt was in 1955 with the first TV program produced by Warner Brothers. WARNER PRESENTS was an early example of a wheel series with CASABLANCA rotating with CHEYENNE and KINGS ROW. For more information, read the informative article by Christopher Anderson at The Museum of Broadcast Communications site.
CASABLANCA (1983) was a limited series of five episodes and served as a pilot for a possible weekly series. But bad ratings resulted in NBC removing the series from its schedule after the third episode. The final two episodes were shown months later.
OK, I am going to assume everyone has seen the film CASABLANCA that starred Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman, Claude Rains, and Dooley Wilson. If not, do so. As far as I am concerned, CASABLANCA is the best movie ever made.
The setting remains the same, Casablanca French Morocco. The time is 1941, before Ilsa would return to Rick’s life. Rick Blaine, owner of Rick’s Café Americain, Casablanca’s most popular nightclub, has no interest in the War or politics. All he wants to do is run his saloon and mind his own business, something the rest of the world has no intention of letting him do.
The casting was a problem with this series. David Soul as Rick Blaine? I always enjoy watching Hector Elizondo and here he is a good Claude Rains. But that was the problem the cast faced, none of the actors could match our memories of their characters as played by the original cast of the film.
The most appealing aspect of the series was the look, thanks to Oscar award winner director of photography Joseph Biroc (TOWERING INFERNO, IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE, HAMMETT) and Oscar winning production designer E. Preston Ames (GIGI, AN AMERICAN IN PARIS, LADY IN THE LAKE). The exterior scenes were weak in comparison and obvious studio lots. The costumes, transportation and heavy use of period music kept us in the time and place, though the original background music rarely helped.
EPISODE INDEX:
“Who Am I Killing?” April 10, 1983. Sunday at 10-11pm (Eastern). Written by James M. Miller. Directed by Ralph Senensky. Guest Cast: Trisha Noble and Christopher Mahar *** Nazi Major Strasser’s romantic crush on Café Americain’s British born singer causes her problems. Like Rick, she doesn’t want to get involved with the politics of the day. Meanwhile, a recently shot down British pilot is wounded and being hunted by the Nazis. The pilot may die without special medicine available only on the Black Market.
Looked great but with no substance. Predictable. Not one original twist or thought in entire episode. Director Senensky discusses the behind the scene filming of this episode here at his blog.
Ratings: 13.5 with a 24 share. Opposite: ABC SUNDAY NIGHT MOVIE (“Altered Statesâ€) 14.2 with a 23 share (average for the two hours) and CBS aired repeat of TRAPPER JOHN 19.8 with a 34 share.
“Master Builder’s Woman.” April 17, 1983. Sunday at 10-11pm. Written by Bob Foster. Directed by Robert Lewis. Guest Cast: Madolyn Smith and Martina Deignan. *** Nazi top Engineer and his female companion arrive in Casablanca. His plans could change the war in Northern Africa. An American woman reporter wants Rick’s help in finding French Resistance fighter Andre Andre.
The story had its moments but was fatally limited by its predictability and weak acting from some of the guest cast especially Martina Deignan as the female reporter. This episode won the Emmy for Best Cinematography in a Series for Joseph Biroc. A deserving choice.
Ratings: 8.6 with a 15 share (ranked 72 out of 74 series). Opposite: ABC SUNDAY MOVIE (“Mountain Menâ€) 17.5 with a 28 share (#18) and CBS aired (repeat) of TRAPPER JOHN 21.5 with a 38 share (#8).
“Jenny.” April 24, 1983. Sunday at 10-11pm. Written by Chester Krumholz. Directed by Mel Stuart. Guest Cast: Shanna Reed and Daniel Pilon *** Rick falls for a whore that reminds him of Ilsa. A Gestapo agent believes someone in Casablanca is selling German war secrets to the British.
This episode was the best of the series. It had spies, murder, political intrigue, humor, and a love story, everything you’d want from a TV series called CASABLANCA.
Ratings: 12.0 with a 20 share. Opposite ABC programming (unknown) and CBS repeat of TRAPPER JOHN 19.1 with a 32 share.
“The Cashier and the Belly Dancer.” August 27, 1983. Saturday at 10-11pm. Written by Nelson Gidding. Directed by Ralph Senensky. Guest Cast: Melinda O. Fee and Michael Horton *** Rick’s customers have left him for the new belly dancer at the Blue Parrot. The wife of Rick’s cashier believes her husband is doing more with the belly dancer than watch her dance.
A weak caper story with an ending that is unbelievable and reduces the threat of the Nazis to the level of Colonel Klink and HOGAN’S HEROES. Director Senensky did a better job than the writer and cast. You can read his experiences about this episode at his blog.
Ratings: 7.0 with a 14 share (66th out of 67). Opposite: ABC aired repeat of FANTASY ISLAND 16.5 with a 32 share (#6) and CBS NFL PRESEASON FOOTBALL 10.7 with a 22 shared (average over entire program).
“Divorce Casablanca Style.” September 3, 1983. Saturday at 10-11pm. Written by Harold Gast. Directed by Robert Lewis. Guest Cast: Persis Khambatta and Zitto Kazann. *** Rick finds himself in the middle between a husband and wife and the Muslim culture while trying to take care of smuggled guns for an old friend.
The series always featured two plots in each episode that would merge at the end of the hour. This episode took on the serious issue of women’s rights in 1940’s Muslim world and shoved it together with a gratuitous second story of Rick taking care of a friend, an old Ethiopian General who was apparently tricked into storing smuggled guns. Information was revealed heavy-handedly as there was no time to develop either story properly.
Ratings: 7.1 with a 15 share (#61 out of 62). Opposite: ABC College Football 10.2 with a 22 share (average over program) and CBS Saturday Night Movies (Country Gold) 11.8 with a 24 share.
I remember watching the first episode in 1983 and hating it. I am more forgiving now towards the cast, writers and directors, realizing how absurd the very idea is of attempting to recreate the magic of the film CASABLANCA as a TV series. But even by a different name, this remains a TV series that deserved to die.
January 26th, 2013 at 8:18 am
I watched these episodes a few months ago, mainly out of curiousity because I was puzzled that they had the nerve to try and do a TV remake. It was ok but nothing special and nowhere near the level of the 1942 film.
But reading this review reminded me of one of the more insane and crazy conversations that I’ve ever been involved in. I love the game of baseball and have attended many hundreds of major and minor league baseball games. While watching a game at Lakewood, NJ between two minor league teams at the single A level, a guy came over, sat next to me and started to talk to me about CASABLANCA.
Much to my amazement, he proceeded to attack the film as perhaps one of the very worse films he had ever seen. He called it boring and just a bunch of people standing around talking. He also said something about not liking black and white movies. There was more but I had to tune him out and I didn’t say anything until finally he took the hint and left.
I guess the shock of such ignorance and stupidity just stunned me into silence. If I had to pick my favorite film, CASABLANCA would be in the running.
I usually go to the games with a bunch of fellow baseball fans, who for the most part don’t watch the game and instead waste the time and beauty of a summer day blabbing about nothing. I’m just about the only one who concentrates on the action and suspense of the game. This time it saved me the embarassment of cussing the idiot or throwing my beer in his face.
January 26th, 2013 at 9:24 am
I did not watch any of this series when it was on. I was semi-tempted to, but I think like too many other possible viewers, I was put off of the sheer effrontery of anyone trying to cash in on the fame of the movie.
I know I wasn’t watching any of the shows that were on opposite it. Thanks to you, Michael, for listing them. I simply must not have been watching TV on Sunday and Saturday nights back in 1983.
What’s also surprising is that this series is available on commercial DVD. It’s available from Amazon, for example, and they have a nice feature there that reminded me that I’ve already bought the set, back when it was first released. It must have arrived, I shelved it away, and promptly forgot about it.
I’ll have to look to see if I can find it. I’m really tempted now!
January 26th, 2013 at 10:54 am
#1. Walker, what makes CASABLANCA such as great movie is all elements came together to tell a near perfect story.
One of the things that bothers me about directors such as Hitchcock is their use of the camera can call more attention to the picture angle than the story it should be telling. Michael Curitz work never put him before the story, yet the final shot is a visual icon of cinema.
The acting, despite the stars, never overwhelmed the characters. Few actors could do as Bogart and make us like the self-pitying jerk that is Rick Blaine through most of the movie.
The writing gave us some of the most remembered dialog of any movie.
The music, setting, look of the film all come together to tell the story.
But it is the story that makes CASABLANCA great. No movie has ever captured a moment in time better. It was 1942. The audience always enjoys the well done tragic love story, but there is more here. Watching Rick and Ilsa sacrifice true love for the good of the world was something that meant something to the audience of 1942 that we today will never totally understand. Suddenly, gas rationing, food stamps, etc the audience was dealing with at home wasn’t as hard.
You can copy the plot, the characters, the music, the title, but you can never recapture 1942. But as long as Warners owns the title they will continue to try and find ways to make more money from it.
January 26th, 2013 at 10:58 am
#2. Steve, I have long given up trying to figure out why some titles make it to DVD when others don’t. But I suspect WB thought people would buy it for its title. I am not sure why, TV audiences rejected it when it was on free TV. But the fact this got a fancy DVD while HARRY O gets a overpriced cheap MOD of only one season tells us life is not fair.
January 27th, 2013 at 10:58 am
Michael, was this series shot in black and white, or are we just looking at black and white stills?
I agree with everyone here that trying to turn Casablanca into a TV series — with Kenneth “Hutch” Hutchinson in the Bogart role, no less — is an act of staggering hubris, which of course had never stopped David Wolper before. (Sidebar: I once had to meet Wolper at his Napa Valley estate for work purposes, and he couldn’t have been nicer or more cooperative, but he had a golf course in his backyard and a mini-museum in his basement.)
I see that Ray Liotta was one of the regular cast members, which I don’t believe anyone else has commented on. I also see that Mel Stuart, who directed some of Wolper’s better-known documentaries, has a director’s credit, as does Ralph Senensky, who has one of the best websites about classic TV I have ever encountered, though it does not include any articles specific to Casablanca: http://senensky.com/age-of-consent/
January 27th, 2013 at 11:53 am
#5. David, the series was in color.
The Senensky website is as informative as it is impossible to navigate. The links I used were to his website but seem to have been forgotten by the home page table of contents.
January 27th, 2013 at 12:03 pm
Oops, forgot to mention Ray Liotta. He played Sacha, the bartender. His version of the character was a young man from New York. He was basically a background character with little to do. The change in character’s nationality (wasn’t Sacha Russian in the film?) was a mistake. Rick’s Place should be multi-national to illustrate Rick’s distance from America in miles and soul. Having three of the four main workers at the saloon (Carl was the exception) was too many.
January 27th, 2013 at 1:52 pm
David’s comment in #5 about the picture being in black and white suddenly reminded me that during that time nearly all publicity stills the networks supplied the newspapers were in black and white. This was because the use of color in the newspaper was so expensive and difficult it was done only in the Sunday paper if then.
Looking back to my days at the Baton Rouge “Enterprise” (long gone) all the stills I received were black and white.
January 27th, 2013 at 6:10 pm
Oddly, about all I remember from seeing this series in the 1980’s was how good Ray Liotta was. He was little known at the time.
The series was an attempt to put some glamour on TV. It wasn’t great. But it was part of an effort to make some historical programs: Private Eye, Bring Em Back Alive, Tales of the Gold Monkey, Tales from the Hollywood Hills on PBS, etc. Much of this was pleasant, if mild, escapism, with an emphasis on glamour and heroics.
January 27th, 2013 at 6:54 pm
#9. Mike, I don’t know if I would use the word glamour, but I know what you mean.
Tales of the Gold Monkey and Bring Em Back Alive were both inspired by the success of Raiders of the Lost Ark.
But Dynasty was popular and there were series such as Remington Steele debuting.
Thanks for mentioning Tales From the Hollywood Hills. PBS went through a short unsuccessful period trying to create American made scripted TV. Most were embarrassingly bad. I need to find and watch Tales From the Hollywood Hills again.
January 27th, 2013 at 8:16 pm
I was a huge David Soul fan…when I was fourteen.
I cringe at the thought of him playing Rick, but the idea of Ray Liotta as a barman in wartime North Africa is intriguing.
January 27th, 2013 at 11:16 pm
David Soul was better than I expected, but he was still a limited actor trying to recreate one of the greatest iconic roles in film history. Seriously, I can not name one actor from that period that could have succeed in the role.
Ray Liotta was a very young actor at the time. There were some signs of his talent but it was still very much in development.
February 4th, 2018 at 5:53 pm
Ralph Senensky’s site does now include his memories of directing his two episodes of the “Casablanca” TV series.
http://senensky.com/category/casablanca/
July 9th, 2021 at 11:41 pm
“I can not name one actor from that period that could have succeed in the role.”
I can see Harrison Ford not embarrassing himself in the part. But he was already way too big a movie star by this time to do TV.
January 3rd, 2022 at 12:28 pm
Stacey Keach might have done a
passable job in the role.
January 23rd, 2025 at 11:19 pm
Anyone knows where i can watch the full series please?
I cannot find it anywhere about this series and the series with the same name in 1955!