Cole’s biggest TV hit was a 1966-69 crime drama called The Felony Squad, in which he played
rookie detective Jim Briggs opposite partner Detective Sam Stone—who was
essayed by none other than “the greatest private detective of them all,” Howard
Duff (well, on radio, anyway). The two
men, mentor and protégé, worked the mean streets of an unnamed Western city
(though filmed in Los Angeles )
under the supervision of Captain Frank Nye (Frank Maxwell), and later Captain
Ed Franks (Barney Phillips). The other
main character on Squad was Jim’s
father Dan, a desk sergeant played by Dragnet
veteran Ben Alexander. (In fact, when
Jack Webb revived the classic radio-television series in January 1967, he had
wanted his old friend to rejoin him as Frank Smith—but since Alexander had
already committed to Squad Webb was
forced to call upon the services of Harry Morgan as Bill Gannon.)
Richard Murphy, a screenwriter who contributed to classic
film noirs like Boomerang! (1947), Cry of
the City (1948) and Panic in the Streets (1950), was the creator of
Felony Squad and also wrote and
directed The
Wackiest Ship in the Army (1960), the TV adaptation of which was
mentioned in a post by Jaime Weinman sometime back. In its planning stages, Squad was originally titled Men
Against Evil—which I have to admit, is a much dandier title. The concept
of the program was a sort of soap opera-ish look at the day-to-day routine of a
police captain. However, this idea was
soon scrapped and the show was reworked into your standard police drama with
the three main characters—and the title also went out the window when one of
the show’s sponsors objected to the “Evil” part. Squad
premiered on ABC-TV September 12, 1966
and for two seasons was a Monday night viewing staple that, while not ruling
the ratings roost, was a modest hit and had built a respectable following. However, at the beginning of its third season
in 1968, it was moved to Friday nights where it found itself pummeled senseless
by CBS’ still-popular Gomer Pyle, USMC. ABC then put the show out of its misery in
mid-season on January 31, 1969 .
Up until today, I had never seen an episode of Felony Squad—my curiosity in the series
was, of course, sparked by the presence of OTR veterans Duff and Alexander—so I
purchased an eight-disc set from one of those websites that advertise complete
seasons of shows (I won’t sully the blog by mentioning the word…but it rhymes
with “root peg”), thinking a series like Squad
is going to be pretty far down the totem pole in seeing a proper DVD release
anytime soon. I didn’t pay very much for
it but I will caveat emptor you right
now: the source of these shows would appear to be old VHS tapes and while the
video is watchable, the audio has an annoying hum that often makes it hard to
hear the dialogue. (I placed an order
for this set back in November, and when I called five weeks later to inquire on
its status, I couldn’t hear the person on the phone because it sounded as if
she were working in a laundry at the time.
I guess that’s what they call in the writing bidness “foreshadowing.”) Also, every site I’ve seen this set
advertised trumpets it as “The Complete Series”; Squad aired seventy-three episodes during its three-season run but
there are only fifty-two on the
set. Unless they’ve repealed some of the
laws of mathematics that does not constitute “complete.” (This is a shame, too, because the set
doesn’t have the final episode of Squad,
“The Law & Order Blues”—which guest-stars Carl Betz as attorney Clinton
Judd in a “crossover” episode continued on Betz’s series Judd For the Defense.)
As for the show itself, it’s darned good television—it’s a
shame you don’t see this one rerun much (I don’t know if FX ever showed it in
its early days of operation but one of the shows features a portion of a
commercial with Married with Children’s
David Faustino touting Fox t-shirts…so I suppose it’s possible). At the risk of sounding facetious, it’s sort
of a Reader’s Digest version of Naked City, telescoping everything that
was grand about that equally-neglected series (were it not for the DVD
sets released by Image Entertainment, I would have never even caught that one)
into an economical half-hour. Squad’s other connection to Naked City lies in the fact that Walter
Grauman served as the show’s executive producer; Grauman also directed one of City’s classic episodes, “Prime of
Life.” Many of Felony Squad’s episodes were directed by up-and-comers like Michael
Ritchie and Richard Donner, but also featured turns behind the camera from
series star Duff, future Cheers
player Nicholas Colasanto and OTR veteran
Lawrence Dobkin!
Duff, Cole and Alexander turn in exceptionally fine work,
and of course there are plenty future stars in guest parts (Ed Asner, Charles
Grodin, Ricardo Montalban, Beau Bridges, Carol Kane, Joan Van Ark, etc.). I’ve only watched the first disc but have
already viewed a couple of very good episodes: the series’ premiere, “The
Streets are Paved with Quicksand,” guest-stars Darren McGavin as a sleazy attorney
who accuses Jim Briggs (Cole) of brutality, forcing Stone to defend his partner
in a nice little plot-twist. “Flame Out”
co-stars James Best as a slightly nutso punk (and believe me, when it comes to
playing flakes, Best was…well, the best)
who senselessly murders a manager in an all-night diner and then plots an
extortion scheme against a married woman (Pippa Scott). And of course, what dramatic series from the
1960s would be complete without an appearance from Robert Duvall? Bob’s a police snitch (a real geek with
Coke-bottle glasses) in “The Death of a Dream,” which finds Stone and Briggs on
the hunt for a pair of muggers who commit crimes while in drag. The lottery is at $25 million this week, so
if I get lucky you may soon be able to see Felony
Squad on an independent television station near you.
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