By Sylvia Gurinsky
Last week's post about the original "Ironside" included a reference to the television movie that introduced the characters. The movie, while technically a pilot, originally aired in March, 1967, six months before the series went on the air. (Update: ME-TV will begin airing episodes of "Ironside" next Monday, June 3, at 11 a.m. Eastern time.)
This week, YesterTube's focus turns to the pilot movie - the grand introduction to many television shows. While many fit the "first episode" theme, some pilots actually aired long before the series did. (This list does not include theatrical films, such as "Buck Rogers in the 25th Century," which later became television series with the same cast.)
*Cagney & Lacey: CBS aired the two-hour film in October, 1981, with Loretta Swit as Christine Cagney and Tyne Daly playing Mary Beth Lacey, as she would throughout the entire series.
In the pilot movie, Christine and Mary Beth are promoted to detectives, but have to battle their assignments and the sexism of their colleagues.
Apparently Swit wanted to continue with the show, but there was the matter of a series called "M*A*S*H." Since Swit was not available, Meg Foster was initially cast as Cagney for the series. Foster did not find favor with audiences, and Sharon Gless was finally brought in for the role that would earn her two Emmys (to go with Daly's four). However, the show still had to go through cancellation and revival before it finally stuck.
*Columbo - Prescription: Murder, NBC (1968) and Ransom For a Dead Man (1971): The character Lieutenant Columbo went through a few incarnations on television and the stage before Peter Falk introduced the trenchcoat in the 1968 one-shot television movie. (Incidentally, Bing Crosby had been considered for a more urbane version of the detective in the 1968 movie.) "Prescription: Murder," in which Columbo nails a doctor (Gene Barry) for murdering his wife has a far more high-strung Columbo than the subsequent series would. But it was popular enough that it triggered "Ransom For a Dead Man," in which Lee Grant played the murderer, and the subsequent series that became part of the "NBC Mystery Movie." Falk would also star as Columbo in a number of made for television movies for ABC from the 1980s to a little more than a decade ago.
*Emergency: The Wedsworth-Townsend Act (NBC, 1972): The Wedsworth-Townsend Act was the name of the California Legislature bill that created the state's paramedic system. Jack Webb and Robert Cinader put their own spin on the real-life story in the movie pilot to the series "Emergency!". Other than more romance for Rampart Hospital's Dr. Kelly Brackett and Dixie McCall (Robert Fuller and Julie London) and less humor for paramedics John Gage and Roy DeSoto (Randolph Mantooth and Kevin Tighe), this excellent film would set the tone for the 6-season series:
Gage & DeSoto Meet
*Hawaii Five-0: Cocoon (CBS, 1968): Leonard Freeman's creation was a barrier breaker in terms of location and support casting. While some of the core cast would change from pilot to series (Richard Denning replaced Lew Ayres as the governor, and James MacArthur replaced Tim O'Kelly as Danny Williams.), the pilot established the McGarrett (Jack Lord) versus Wo Fat (Keigh Deigh) dynamic and set up the series:
Book 'Im!
*Kojak: The Marcus-Nelson Murders (CBS, 1973): Like "Ironside," the kickoff movie for "Kojak" actually aired months before the series debut. "Kojak" creator Abby Mann ("Judgment at Nuremberg") based the script on actual events; the result was a pretty accurate portrayal of the gritty New York of the 1970s. Incidentally, like James MacArthur with "Hawaii Five-0," Kevin Dobson was not a part of the pilot film as his famous character, Detective Bobby Crocker:
The Marcus-Nelson Murders
*The Love Boat (ABC, 1976 & 1977): Quite a different crew from the one viewers would come to embrace was in the 1976 television movie. It wasn't until the second pilot, which aired in May, 1977, that Gavin MacLeod (who was wrapping up "The Mary Tyler Moore Show"), Bernie Koppell, Fred Grandy, Ted Lange and Lauren Tewes would become the Pacific Princess captain and crew.
*Sidney Shorr: A Girl's Best Friend (NBC, 1981): The sitcom "Love Sidney" was not a major hit, running just two seasons. But the pilot film with Tony Randall broke barriers for the portrayal of the lead character as a gay man who was helping a single mother and daughter. The gay angle was considerably downplayed during the series.
*Miami Vice: Brother's Keeper (NBC, 1984): Brandon Tartikoff got his "MTV Cops" on the air thanks to Michael Mann and Anthony Yerkovich. The two-hour film introduces Miami vice cop Sonny Crockett (Don Johnson) and New York detective Ricardo Tubbs (Phillip Michael Thomas) to each other, and viewers, after their respective partners (one played by Jimmy Smits) are killed. An up-and-coming Miami is also introduced, as is the melding of pop music and plot. The major difference between the pilot and most of the subsequent series is the presence of Gregory Sierra as the boss; Edward James Olmos would come in as the powerful Lieutenant Castillo a little later in the first season.
In the Air Tonight
*Twin Peaks (ABC, 1990): Possibly the most buzzed-about television pilot movie in history, "Twin Peaks" began with the murder of homecoming queen Laura Palmer (Sheryl Lee). David Lynch's direction received as much attention as the plot. But the series, while a cult favorite, never quite lived up to the buzz and promise of the pilot.
Who Killed Laura Palmer?
*The Waltons - The Homecoming: A Christmas Story (CBS, 1971): Based on Earl Hamner's novel about his own youth in Virginia, "The Homecoming" introduced the Waltons, anchored by Patricia Neal as Olivia, Edgar Bergen and Ellen Corby as Grandpa and Grandma, and Richard Thomas as John-Boy. The young actors and actresses who played the other Walton children would continue in the series, as would Thomas and Corby.
"The Homecoming" Trailer
The "Cagney & Lacey" movie with Swit and Daly, the 1976 "Love Boat" movie and "Sidney Shorr: A Girl's Best Friend" are not available on DVD as of yet. "The Homecoming: A Christmas Story" and "Kojak: The Marcus-Nelson Murders" are available on separate DVDs from their series. The rest are available with Season 1 of their respective series.
See you next week. Until then, Happy Viewing!
Tuesday, May 28, 2013
Tuesday, May 21, 2013
Week of May 21: Burr's "Ironside" Was a Barrier Breaker
By Sylvia Gurinsky
As it continues to muddle around in search of past glories, NBC has decided to revive a past glory, casting Blair Underwood ("L.A. Law") in a new version of "Ironside."
Everything from the casting of able-bodied Underwood in the role of the wheelchair-bound Ironside to a change in scenery (from San Francisco to yet another NYPD show) to a perception the character will be changed to a corrupt cop has raised plenty of hackles - which it should.
We already know about the reboot concept paling a new show in comparison to the original ("Hawaii Five-O," anyone?). It has to happen in the case of "Ironside," simply because the original show was such a barrier breaker.
The casting of the able-bodied Raymond Burr as paralyzed Chief Robert Ironside mattered less in 1967, because wheelchair-bound leading characters were almost non-existent to that point, anyway. (Ironically, Burr had played a bad guy in the 1954 movie "Rear Window," which had Jimmy Stewart's lead character recovering from a broken leg in a wheelchair.) Burr's Ironside would open doors for the portrayal of disabled characters in primary roles on television.
Before the series went on the air, a two-hour movie showing the shooting that left the chief of detectives paralyzed premiered on NBC. The movie teamed all the people who would be carried over to the series: Besides Burr, there was Don Galloway as Detective Sergeant Ed Brown; Barbara Anderson as Officer Eve Whitfield; Don Mitchell as Ironside's aide Mark Sanger and Gene Lyons as Police Commissioner Dennis Randall.
Mitchell's character would develop the most through the run of the series. The African-American Mark Sanger went from juvenile dropout to lawyer. By the 1993 reunion movie, he was Judge Mark Sanger.
The movie got high ratings and achieved something else: Letting viewers accept Burr in a role other than Perry Mason. They would embrace the crusty-but-tender-hearted Ironside for eight seasons.
Halfway through the series run, Anderson (who had won an Emmy) left and was replaced by Elizabeth Baur as Fran Belding. Except for Lyons, who died in 1974, the rest of the cast would appear in the 1993 movie, "The Return of Ironside."
Also making a mark was Quincy Jones with his memorable theme. Here's the theme and a few minutes of the first one-hour episode:
Message From Beyond
The first two seasons are available on DVD (Get them complete and avoid the annoying partial-season releases.); the first three seasons can be viewed at Hulu.com. The new show may prompt the release of more seasons.
See you next week. Until then, Happy Viewing!
As it continues to muddle around in search of past glories, NBC has decided to revive a past glory, casting Blair Underwood ("L.A. Law") in a new version of "Ironside."
Everything from the casting of able-bodied Underwood in the role of the wheelchair-bound Ironside to a change in scenery (from San Francisco to yet another NYPD show) to a perception the character will be changed to a corrupt cop has raised plenty of hackles - which it should.
We already know about the reboot concept paling a new show in comparison to the original ("Hawaii Five-O," anyone?). It has to happen in the case of "Ironside," simply because the original show was such a barrier breaker.
The casting of the able-bodied Raymond Burr as paralyzed Chief Robert Ironside mattered less in 1967, because wheelchair-bound leading characters were almost non-existent to that point, anyway. (Ironically, Burr had played a bad guy in the 1954 movie "Rear Window," which had Jimmy Stewart's lead character recovering from a broken leg in a wheelchair.) Burr's Ironside would open doors for the portrayal of disabled characters in primary roles on television.
Before the series went on the air, a two-hour movie showing the shooting that left the chief of detectives paralyzed premiered on NBC. The movie teamed all the people who would be carried over to the series: Besides Burr, there was Don Galloway as Detective Sergeant Ed Brown; Barbara Anderson as Officer Eve Whitfield; Don Mitchell as Ironside's aide Mark Sanger and Gene Lyons as Police Commissioner Dennis Randall.
Mitchell's character would develop the most through the run of the series. The African-American Mark Sanger went from juvenile dropout to lawyer. By the 1993 reunion movie, he was Judge Mark Sanger.
The movie got high ratings and achieved something else: Letting viewers accept Burr in a role other than Perry Mason. They would embrace the crusty-but-tender-hearted Ironside for eight seasons.
Halfway through the series run, Anderson (who had won an Emmy) left and was replaced by Elizabeth Baur as Fran Belding. Except for Lyons, who died in 1974, the rest of the cast would appear in the 1993 movie, "The Return of Ironside."
Also making a mark was Quincy Jones with his memorable theme. Here's the theme and a few minutes of the first one-hour episode:
Message From Beyond
The first two seasons are available on DVD (Get them complete and avoid the annoying partial-season releases.); the first three seasons can be viewed at Hulu.com. The new show may prompt the release of more seasons.
See you next week. Until then, Happy Viewing!
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