Thu 13 Feb 2014
TV SERIES NOT ON OFFICIAL DVD – ON YOUTUBE – AMERICAN EDITION, by Michael Shonk
Posted by Steve under TV mysteries[15] Comments
by Michael Shonk
When it comes to watching lost or forgotten television series not available on official DVD YouTube has become an alternative to dealing with the collectors market. Below are just a few series without DVD that as of February 2014 can be seen on YouTube.
MARKHAM – CBS -“Vendetta in Venice†(6/27/59)
Written by Jonathan Latimer. Directed by Robert Florey. Produced by Warren Duff and Joseph Sistrom. Cast: Ray Milland. Guest Cast: Paula Raymond and Robert Lowery. Markham Production. Revue Studio-MCA-TV.
When a woman confronts her blackmailer she is surprised to find him dead. She turns to world famous detective Roy Markham (Ray Milland) to prove she didn’t kill him. Production values are laughable but the cast and Jonathan Latimer’s script makes this episode worth watching.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s5ejOC71Zpo
PHILIP MARLOWE – ABC – “Ugly Duckling†(10/6/59)
Written and Produced by Gene Wang. Directed by Robert Ellis Miller. Cast: Philip Carey and William Schallert. Guest Cast: Virginia Gregg, Barbara Bain and Rhys Williams. Mark Goodman and Bill Todman Production in association with California National Production.
Bain makes a great femme fatale who is involved with a rich man’s son-in-law. The wife refuses to divorce her cheating husband so the rich father hires Marlowe to deliver a payoff to the bad girl. Check out Marlowe’s home, a place Peter Gunn would have approved, but I doubt Chandler would have.
EDITORIAL NOTE: Well, it didn’t take long. Here it is the same day that Michael’s post appeared, and the video that was linked to has already been removed. Wish us luck that the rest of the episodes will stay online longer than this!
THE NEW BREED –ABC – “Compulsion to Confess†(10/31/61)
Written by David Z. Goodman. Directed and Produced by Walter E. Grauman. Guest Cast: Telly Savalas and Sidney Pollack.
Followed by “The Deadlier Sex†(3/20/62)
Teleplay by Don Brinkley, from novel by Genevieve Manceron. Directed and Produced by Joseph Pevney Guest Cast: Paula Raymond and James Doohan.
Cast: Leslie Nielsen, John Beradino, John Clarke and Greg Roman. Narrator: Art Gilmore.
Created by Hank Searls. Executive produced by Quinn Martin. Quinn Martin Production in association with Selmur Production Inc.
These two episodes are different but both good examples of the QM production style that would prove popular during the 60s and 70s. Stars Leslie Nielsen as Lt. Price Adams, the head of a four-man special police unit called the Metropolitan Squad. The first story deals with how psychiatry can be used as a tool for the police to solve crimes such as the murder of a man working on a government project. The second is a story of a robbery gone wrong. The noir tale highlights include an evil femme fatale and thieves betraying each other with fatal consequences. The second episode begins around the 49:40 mark.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=insl9XeHOPM
CORONET BLUE – CBS – “Saturday†(7/31/67)
Written by Alvin Sargent. Directed by David Greene. Produced by Edgar Lansbury. Executive Produced by Herbert Brodkin. Created by Larry Cohen. CAST: Frank Converse, Joe Silver. Guest Cast: Charles Randall, Neve Patterson, David Hartman and Andrew Duncan. (Plautus Production. CBS Production – credits clipped, source: IMdb.com)
While mysterious men try to kill “Michael†(Frank Converse), he spends time with a young boy trying to deal with his father’s recent death.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VBeCjk9ttTc
TOMA – ABC – “50% of Normal†(1/18/74)
Teleplay by Zekia Marko. Story by Peter Salerno and Jane Sparkes. Directed by Jeannott Szwarc. Produced by Stephen J. Cannell. Created by Edward Hume. Executive Produced by Roy Huggins. Cast: Tony Musante, Susan Strasberg and Simon Oakland. Theme by Mike Post and Pete Carpenter. Guest Cast: Steven Keats, Louise Troy and David Toma as Doorman 1. Public Arts Inc and Universal TV
Toma is searching for a rapist when an old friend, who is having mental issues due to his service in the Vietnam War, returns home. The show deals with social issues more than mystery and now forty years later can be heavy handed, but the last act is a good example why fans still miss this series. After star Musante left the series it would evolve into BARETTA.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VTwlbb97HDw
NAKIA – ABC – “No Place to Hide†(10/19/74)
Written by Jim Byrnes. Directed by Nicholas Colasanto, Executive Produced by Charles Larson. Created by Christopher Trumbo and Michael Butler. Developed for TV by Sy Salkowitz. Cast: Robert Forster, Arthur Kennedy and Gloria DeHaven Guest Cast: Gabe Dell, Ray Dalton and Marc Singer. David Gerber Production, Inc in associations with (Columbia Pictures Television: credit clipped off video, source IMdb.com)
Deputy Nakia Parker (Forster) befriends an on the run accountant for the mob. A weak generic script that could have fit almost any cop show makes no use of the native heritage of Nakia (you know the premise of the series). Filmed on location.
FEATHER AND FATHER GANG – ABC – “Never Con a Killer†(5/13/77)
Written by William Driskill. Directed and Produced by Buzz Kulik. Executive Produced by Larry White. Produced by Bill Driskell & Robert Mintz. Cast: Stefanie Powers, Harold Gould, Joan Shawlee and Frank Delfino. Guest Cast: John Forsythe, Marc Singer, Bettye Ackerman, and Jim Backus. Larry White Production in association with Columbia Pictures Television.
The lips are out of sync in this video but beyond that (and how awful the two-hour episode is) it is watchable. Yet one more 70s detective who uses the con to trap the bad guy, brilliant female lawyer Toni “Feather†Danton (Stefanie Powers) who is honest and by the book and her con man turned PI father Harry (Harold Gould) who uses his skills and old friends to con killers into revealing themselves. We know the killer from the beginning and the action centers around the con.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NegfHHPl5Rw
OUTLAWS – CBS – TV Movie Pilot (12/28/86)
Written and Executive Produced by Nicholas Corea. Directed by Peter Werner. Produced by Stephen F. Caldwell. Cast: Rod Taylor, William Lucking, Charles Napier, Patrick Houser, Richard Roundtree and Christina Belford. Guest Cast: Lewis VanBergen and Windy Girard. (Mad Dog Productions. Universal Television: credits clipped, source: IMdb.com)
The video is a direct dub from the TV Movie’s original airing complete with commercials and promos of most of the 1986 CBS TV series lineup. Better than average TV movie. It is 1899 Houston, a gang of four bank robbers were running from their former leader, now Sheriff, who leads a posse to catch them. The five have a face off in an ancient Indian burial grounds during a thunderstorm. Lightning strikes the five and sends them into present day Houston (1986). There they struggle to adapt until they come together in the end and form the Double Eagle Ranch Detective agency. The weekly episodes are also available (at the moment) on YouTube.
OVER MY DEAD BODY – CBS – TV Movie Pilot (10/26/90)
Teleplay by David Chisholm. Television Story by David Chisholm and William Link. Suggested by Motion Picture LADY ON A TRAIN. Screenplay by Edmund Beloin & Robert O’Brien. Story by Leslie Charteris. Directed by Bradford May. Created and Executive Produced by William Link and David Chisholm. Consulting Producer Shaun Cassidy. Produced by Ken Topolsky. Cast: Edward Woodward and Jessica Lundry. Guest cast: Edward Winter, Ivory Ocean and Dan Ferro. Universal TV.
Included for William Link fans (COLUMBO). Nikki Page (Jessica Lundry) was the obit writer for a San Francisco newspaper who sees a woman murdered in the apartment across from hers. Before the cops arrive the killer takes the body and no one believe Nikki. So she turns to her favorite mystery writer, ex-Scotland Yard Inspector Maxwell Beckett (Edward Woodward). He refuses to help until she finally convinces him. Two of television’s most annoying characters join up and solve the crime.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ZI0ZmLQa40
THE HANDLER –CBS – “Street Boss†(9/26/03)
Written, Created and Executive Produced by Chris Haddock. Directed and Produced by Mick Jackson. Co-Produced by Larry Rapaport. Produced by Sean Ryerson. Cast: Joe Pantoliani, Anna Belknap, Lola Glaudini, Tanya Wright and Hill Harper. Guest Cast: Harry Lennix, Mary Mara, James Macdonald and Pruitt Taylor Vince. (Haddock Entertainment. Viacom Productions: credits clipped, source: IMdb.com).
It is a busy time for Joe Renato (Joe Pantoliani) who trains and handles FBI undercover agents. It’s the first night for a new female agent, one of his agents undercover in the Russian mob wants out, the local police need the FBI help finding someone new to go undercover in a possible murder investigation, and Joe’s brother is just out of prison. The episode is a dark drama with a fast pace, interesting characters and some nice twists.
February 14th, 2014 at 7:46 pm
Coronet Blue was an interesting variation on The Fugitive that sadly didn’t prove to have legs (sorry about that).
If you didn’t notice go back and look at the credits on those shows, Sidney Pollack, Jonathan Latimer, Hank Searls, Alvin Sargent, Joseph Pevney, Leslie Charteris (though second hand) Robert Florey …
Of course today we have producers like Ridley Scott and J.J.Abrams, but most of them don’t contribute directly in the same way.
I’m not talking about quality or entertainment always, but I will say some of the people involved provided a depth and dramatic structure that isn’t always present today. At least in some of them somebody other than the least likely suspect or best known guest star did it once in a while.
February 14th, 2014 at 9:18 pm
As far as the talent behind these I was most disappointed by William Link and OVER MY DEAD BODY. The opening titles gave away the killer so there was no mystery. This from part of the team that gave us COLUMBO, ELLERY QUEEN, and MURDER SHE WROTE.
The story behind Coronet Blue was an early example of a network canceling a series too quickly and not giving the viewers closure. It was a show that had sat on CBS’ shelf for awhile. CBS had stopped production before the final episode revealing who Michael was was filmed. The network dumped it on air the next summer. The audience loved it, especially young audiences. But it was too late to go back as star Frank Converse had all ready moved on to another show on another network. The mystery of Coronet Blue was a big thing. Even after creator Cohen told what the ending would have been it did not totally stop the demand for more and final episodes.
February 15th, 2014 at 9:10 am
The director of the NAKIA episode should be Nicholas Colasanto – later Ernie ‘Coach’ Pantusso in ‘Cheers’
February 15th, 2014 at 10:13 am
Thanks, Jamie. I’ll make the change. (I hadn’t realized before that Colasanto had had a second career as a director — or did it come first?)
February 18th, 2014 at 3:52 pm
I remember really enjoying The Feather & Father Gang, even though it was an obvious derivative of The Sting (as was CBS’s Switch, at least for a while before it morphed into a generic detective show). I think it was the two leads in TF&FG and how well they played off against each other that made it fun to watch. I seem to recall that the title was changed before the series premiere; the original, “Feather and Father” (without the gang), probably sounded too much like a sitcom.
An even shorter-lived Sting wannabe was McCoy, a Tony Curtis Mystery Movie element. Like all the Mystery Movies, I enjoyed McCoy.
February 18th, 2014 at 6:09 pm
5. David don’t forget the best con man PI, James Rockford. The con man TV series does date back before THE STING with THE ROGUES but the movie really inspired a lot more on American TV during the 70s.
I have the series on collector’s DVD but have yet to watch any episodes beyond this one. The one problem the series had was having daughter and Dad live together for the sitcom twist of Dad having to sneak around daughter who acts like a strict parent. That got old during this episode, so I hope it changed over the series.
February 19th, 2014 at 3:44 pm
The Rogues…yes, I agree. I also think that Col Humphrey J Flack (w/ Alan Mobray) was a con-artist series though more of a straight-out comedy. My memory’s really dim on this one; I can only remember the odd fact (I hope it’s a fact!) that when they decided to syndicate the show, they went back and refilmed all the episodes for technical reasons that escape me after all these years. I must say I can’t remember F&F well enough to know if they still lived together; I can remember the two accomplices they used in the cons however, one of them Dad’s barber.
February 19th, 2014 at 9:38 pm
You can watch THE ROGUES on YouTube with first episode here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O5V86vrH9cY
Colonel Flack began as a series of short stories in the Saturday Evening Post by Everett Rhodes Castle. It would first be adapted for radio than move over to TV. First at ABC as a failed pilot that aired on PLYMOUTH PLAYHOUSE in 1953.
Just after that DuMont picked it up as a series in 1953-54. Then four years later it resurfaced for syndication in 1958-58.
Both TV versions were produced by William Stark and Jerry Layton for CBS TV Films (that mainly did series for syndication). DuMont was know to take syndicated series such as CBS TV Films CASES OF EDDIE DRAKE , FILES OF JEFFREY JONES, etc, as well as other network’s rejects. Reportedly, a dozen DuMont episodes still exist at the Paley Center.
In 1958 CBS TV Films was selling many series and made a major deal about the quality of its programs (DuMont and most syndication series were of low production values). So this could be one reason the producers spent $1.5 million (in 1958) to reshoot the series with much the same cast and producers.
The series was liked if not well watched. Broadcasting magazine in its 11/02/53 issue gave a great review to the first Dumont episode.
In 1959 a group of over 350 business, civic, and professional leaders with tongue in cheek protested the Detroit TV station dropping the series (CBS TV Films stopped production due to low viewership).
Here is the opening theme:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5nIJA32BsHA
February 26th, 2014 at 10:08 pm
Thanks for all that info. Coincidentally I came across an old reel audio tape the other day that had some shows and stuff on it that my older brother had recorded. One of them was an episode of HJFlack, though I haven’t listened to hear if it’s all there or not. Back then getting a tape recorder was a big deal and we both recorded most anything just to record something. This was one of about a dozen reels my brother sent me. I’m surprised he still had them and pleased they are (mostly) still playable.
February 27th, 2014 at 4:09 pm
I still have cassettes of 70s TV series such as TOMA that was pre-home VCRs. They make interesting listening.
But are the Flacks of its radio series or TV series on Dumont or the later syndicated series? Audio recordings of old radio series (OTR) still have a market and would be of interested to many OTR fans and collectors.
March 8th, 2014 at 6:15 pm
Fall 1976 was when each of the networks had a series about a reformed con man who now used his skills in the name of justice. Obviously, this was due largely to the great success of “The Sting.” Another reason was that one of the periodic uproars over violence on TV was underway. The Western being mostly defunct at that time, detective shows were the focus of the criticism; having heroes who relied on their wits rather than their fists and guns thus had an obvious appeal to the networks.
“The Feather and Father Gang” was ABC’s entry. It had the distinction of actually having one of the cast from “The Sting” (Harold Gould), but the scripts were sub-par. They were practically textbook demonstrations of the concept of the “idiot plot”–one moment of clear thinking from any of the intended targets, and the cons would have fallen apart. It was the first to be cancelled.
NBC had “McCoy” with Tony Curtis and Roscoe Lee Browne, which ran as part of “The NBC Sunday Mystery Movie,” alternating with “Columbo,” “McCloud,” and “McMillan and Wife.” I remember this as having some very clever scripts (especially the episode “New Dollar Day”), but it was gone in a year. Perhaps its problem was that it did not really fit in with the other police-themed parts of the show.
CBS was the only one to have any success at this, with “Switch” starring Eddie Albert and Robert Wagner as, respectively, a retired bunco cop and a reformed con man who form a private detective agency. This ran three years–though, as I recall, as it went on the conning-the-cons aspect faded, and it became more of a conventional private eye show.
March 11th, 2014 at 10:38 pm
11. Bill, you were right about SWITCH eventually dropping the con man focus. WHITE COLLAR would prove more successful with cop and con artist team-up.
January 12th, 2015 at 1:06 am
Bill Fisher: I think maybe McCoy faded so fast because (if I remember correctly) they were paying Tony Curtis three-quarters of a million dollars for each episode. Kinda pricey for back then!
January 12th, 2015 at 4:19 pm
13. Dan Hughes, I suspect NBC was paying Rock Hudson and Peter Falk more. The series featured only one 90 minute pilot and four 2 hour TV Movies. No doubt his salary played a major role in its quick cancellation. Five times $750,000 for a year programming would equal a little over $34,000 per episode for 22 episodes for a weekly series such as James Garner’s ROCKFORD FILES (I bet Garner made more than that, though he had to sue Universal (who also did MCCOY) to get it).
When it comes to money the Hollywood accountant is the most creative artist in town.
April 13th, 2020 at 11:28 pm
[…] Michael Shonk covered this episode very briefly on this blog quite some time ago. The accompanying video disappeared from YouTube very […]