Thu 22 Oct 2015
TV Review: B.A.D. CATS “Pilot Episode” (1980).
Posted by Steve under Reviews , TV Adventure[11] Comments
B.A.D. CATS. “Pilot episode.” ABC-TV, 90m, 4 January 1980. (Season 1, Episode 1). Asher Brauner (Officer Nick Donovan), Steve Hanks (Officer Ocee James), Michelle Pfeiffer (Samantha ‘Sunshine’ Jensen), Vic Morrow (Capt. Eugene Nathan). Guest cast: LaWanda Page, Jimmie Walker, Charles Cioffi. Producer: Aaron Spelling.
According to Wikipedia, the acronym B.A.D Cats stood for “Burglary Auto Detail, Commercial Auto Thefts.” Now that’s nice to know, since after watching this pilot episode, I couldn’t have told you. I might have missed it, but other hand, I was deliberately looking and listening, and I really don’t think it ever came up.
But I admit I may have snoozed off. This is a TV show that makes you wonder why some shows ever manage get on the air. It is Not Very Good. It lasted six episodes before being deep-sixed, with four more ready to go and never aired.
It is a wonder, though, that with very young Michelle Pfeiffer in it as the handy girl around the office, answering phones and looking pretty and the like, that no one has come out with an official set of DVDs for the series. Perhaps she has a good lawyer.
This first episode has to do with a gang of crooks trying to smuggle a fortune of gold out of the country, and do to so they come up with a plan that involves faking the cops out by stealing a fleet of high-priced automobiles and shipping them overseas, while they are really…
The fact that Jimmie Walker is in this as an inveterate car thief tells you right away that the story is played as much for laughs as anything else, along with one of the two stars’ infatuation with a water bed, with a worried downstairs lady neighbor who thinks the floor will give way. I don’t think it gives anything away to say that it does, to the hilarity of all.
What should you expect to see otherwise? Lots of long car chases, that you bet your bottom dollar on. The last one I will concede is a doozy, but I should also warn you that it takes a long time to get there.
October 22nd, 2015 at 10:11 pm
I didn’t make it through this the first time. In fact I edited it out of my viewing cycle with the TV GUIDE description. Vic Morrow was enough to turn me off, never a favorite actor with his second rate Brando imitation.
October 22nd, 2015 at 10:23 pm
David wanted to protect you but here is the pilot to the Starsky & Hutch ripoff B.A.D. CATS
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8UcVYiVqi8I
October 22nd, 2015 at 10:24 pm
Re #2 Sorry Steve I missed that this was your brave review.
October 22nd, 2015 at 10:47 pm
Yes, you can blame me for bringing this one up, but thanks for the link, Michael. I think if anyone watches the first five minutes, they will see everything they need to see. The rest is pure bonus.
October 23rd, 2015 at 1:07 am
B.A.D. Cats only ran six shows on air.
Most of them I didn’t see.
One of them, though, I did see.
Maybe the last or next-to-last that aired.
Follow:
There’s this strangler, see, who’s targeting prostitutes, and Jimmie Walker asks his pals the cops to look into this (I think; I didn’t happen to see the opening minutes, but there had to be some reason that an auto-theft detail gets involved in a hooker murder).
So anyway …
(This is one of those shows where you begin every sentence with “So anyway …”.)
So anyway, this an “open form” show, meaning the audience knows who the culprit is; this time around, it’s a wimpy mama’s boy who still lives with her (Mama is played by Virginia Gregg, Jack Webb’s resident harpy for years).
Meanwhile, the local hookers, who are better organized than the United Auto Workers, don’t care for how slowly the investigation is going, and they want the BAD-catters to speed things up.
Grumpy Capt. Vic Morrow tells them to take what they’ve found out to the homicide lieutenant who’s running the case …
… and he turns out to be …
So anyway, the Hookers Union decides to stage a mass rally, where they threaten to publicly identify their most socially prominent clients; they plan to hang them in effigy, using store mannequins.
From here on, it starts to get complicated …
So anyway, one of the BADcatters figures what Lt. Strangler is up to, but Lt. Strangler in his turn catches him out …
The day of the Rally, a massive crowd shows up, in solid support of the Hookers Union, cheering wildly as the store dummies are dropped through the trap …
… except that one of the dummies is the BADcatter that Lt. Strangler captured …
So anyway, the Rally turns into a full-scale riot, and it ends up that the Hookers have to rescue the cops from the crowd.
Or something like that.
(This was many years ago …)
So anyway, in the succeeding years I have tried to convince other people that this episode actually ran on the ABC network in prime time, in front of God and everybody.
If anybody knows of a DVD (even a bootleg), it would be kinda nice after all these years to have proof …
October 23rd, 2015 at 3:20 am
Steve, if this show is remembered at all, it will be because of your review.
October 23rd, 2015 at 6:10 am
5. Mike…aw, life’s precious memories.
October 23rd, 2015 at 7:53 am
Mike Doran
For what it’s worth, IMDb has synopses for all the shows. This one sounds the closest to the one you remember:
S1, Ep3, 18 Jan. 1980, I Want It or You
“Sam poses as a hooker to catch a car thief who is stealing cars from prostitutes and leaving them threatening letters.”
It is news to IMDb that Jimmie Walker’s character was a recurring one. I thought he might be, but since they didn’t know about it, I included him in the credits as part of the Guest Cast. I suspect that LaWanda Page might have been one of the regulars too, and maybe even the lady who plays the downstairs neighbor.
October 23rd, 2015 at 11:24 am
Steve:
Take a closer look at the opening titles on the video.
Lawanda Page and Jimmie Walker are both front and center, on either side of Vic Morrow’s box billing “starring as Captain Nathan”.
As to IMD(um)b’s “synopses”, I’ll go and check, but I have my doubts, based on past experiences.
October 23rd, 2015 at 11:55 am
I guess Vic Morrow will be remembered for 3 things:
1–The TWILIGHT ZONE movie that killed him.
2–Playing punk in BLACKBOARD JUNGLE throwing around LP’s that were collector items.
3–But mostly for the excellent TV series about WW II, COMBAT.
October 23rd, 2015 at 4:10 pm
According to “Complete Directory To Prime Time Network and Cable TV Series 1946-Present” by Earle Marsh and Tim Brooks…
Michelle Pfeiffer character was a police officer.
Nick and Ocee were ex-race car drivers hired as cops to chase car thieves.
LaWanda Page played Ma, a restaurant owner.
Jimmy Walker was the comic relief car thief turned “auto-repossessor.”
It was cancelled after 5 episodes.
A quote from series producer Everett Chambers, “It was an ill-conceived and ineptly executed series. The network is responsible for some of it and I’m responsible for some of it. We bought $40,000 worth of cars to smash up, and never got a chance to smash them up. I think that’s kind of immoral, $40,000 worth of cars to smash up when people are starving in India…I’m not putting this on my credits.”