TelevisionVanguard | 1972-73 Television Season 50th Anniversary: Search (and the rise of rotating 'wheel series') @TelevisionVanguard | Uploaded 1 year ago | Updated 4 hours ago
It's the 1972-1973 television season, and we're looking back fifty years ago to learn more about what television series were on the air... all the successes, the not so successful, and everything in between. Each May brings the Upfront network scheduling process and showcase to the media and advertisers in New York, and spring 1973 was no different.
Looking at what was successful during this season, no question about it, 'the wheel' concept that had been created by NBC a few seasons earlier with the rise of 'The Name of the Game', was now in full bloom. The network's primetime schedule was packed with various wheel series, and some were becoming very successful.
While the originator, The Name of the Game was no longer in production, one of the successors to that series, The Bold Ones, also by Universal and on NBC, had also become a hit series, and was now nearing their end of its production and primetime network run.
Following these two series, NBC hit pay dirt in a big way with the NBC Mystery Movie franchise wheel series of Columbo, McMillan & Wife and McCloud. That wheel had become a big success in the '71-'72 season, and had moved over to Sunday nights for a very long and successful run there in the fall of 1972... essentially replacing the iconic Bonanza as the anchor series for that important night.
Replacing Columbo, McMillan & Wife and McCloud on the NBC Tuesday Night Mystery Movie wheel was Banacek, Cool Millions and Madigan. We talked about that wheel in more detail earlier this month with our tribute to Banacek.
Not to be completely outdone by NBC, ABC gave 'the wheel 'concept a spin on Friday nights during the 1972-73 season with 'The Men' series. It featured rotating series: Assignment: Vienna, The Delphi Bureau and Jigsaw. All three series starred solid leading men and good concepts: 'Vienna' starred Robert Conrad as Jake Webster, a United States government undercover agent; 'Delphi' starred Laurence Luckinbill as Glenn Gregory, a research specialist in a top-secret U.S. intelligence agency; and 'Jigsaw' starred James Wainwright as Lt. Frank Dain, working in the Missing Persons Division Bureau in Sacramento California. All three of these series were quite compelling, particularly 'Vienna', but alas, all three were canceled in the spring of 1973 after this one season.
And that leaves us with the final 'wheel series' of the 1972-1973 season: Search. For this wheel series by NBC, much like The Name of the Game, there were three separate series headed by a big name television star, but each story line of the three individual shows were actually interconnected via a common over arching story line under the 'Search umbrella'.
For Search, the common denominator was The World Securities Corporation in Washington D.C. the headquarters of a detective agency known as 'Probe.' The three shows following the work of the agencies top three operatives ('Probes'): Hugh Lockwood ('Probe 1'), played by Hugh O'Brien of Wyatt Earp fame, Christopher Grove, played by Doug McClure of The Virginian fame; and Nick Bianco, played by Tony Franciosa of The Name of the Game fame.
The key to the operatives work was the ultimate in electronic gadgetry (back in 1972/73) - a super miniaturized two-way radio that is implanted in the ear of each agent, along with body detectors and a scanner, all transmitted back to Probe Control HQ, (Burgess Meredith, Angel Tompkins and company) who monitor their agents at all times.
A cool series that ran on NBC for one season, debuting on September 12, 1973, and wrapping up their rerun cycle on August 29, 1973. We love the story lines, as well as the cool theme music and opening credits and graphics. All top notch. That opening title sequence and theme feels like an awesome combination of Lost in Space (season 3) meets The Six Million Dollar Man meets The Name of the Game, with a dash of The Bold Ones tossed in for good measure. The theme songs and opening and closing title sequences of the majority of series on that 1972-1973 prime time schedule were just visually and audibly so strong, so well done. Perhaps the best season of all time in the totality of opening title sequences.
The actors on Search were all top notch, and we highly recommend (check Amazon for a copy for your 'agent files") the DVD set for the series. Early 1970's cool.
This video clip is presented here on YouTube for the entertainment and informational value of the viewer, and no copyright infringement is intended.
Enjoy.
It's the 1972-1973 television season, and we're looking back fifty years ago to learn more about what television series were on the air... all the successes, the not so successful, and everything in between. Each May brings the Upfront network scheduling process and showcase to the media and advertisers in New York, and spring 1973 was no different.
Looking at what was successful during this season, no question about it, 'the wheel' concept that had been created by NBC a few seasons earlier with the rise of 'The Name of the Game', was now in full bloom. The network's primetime schedule was packed with various wheel series, and some were becoming very successful.
While the originator, The Name of the Game was no longer in production, one of the successors to that series, The Bold Ones, also by Universal and on NBC, had also become a hit series, and was now nearing their end of its production and primetime network run.
Following these two series, NBC hit pay dirt in a big way with the NBC Mystery Movie franchise wheel series of Columbo, McMillan & Wife and McCloud. That wheel had become a big success in the '71-'72 season, and had moved over to Sunday nights for a very long and successful run there in the fall of 1972... essentially replacing the iconic Bonanza as the anchor series for that important night.
Replacing Columbo, McMillan & Wife and McCloud on the NBC Tuesday Night Mystery Movie wheel was Banacek, Cool Millions and Madigan. We talked about that wheel in more detail earlier this month with our tribute to Banacek.
Not to be completely outdone by NBC, ABC gave 'the wheel 'concept a spin on Friday nights during the 1972-73 season with 'The Men' series. It featured rotating series: Assignment: Vienna, The Delphi Bureau and Jigsaw. All three series starred solid leading men and good concepts: 'Vienna' starred Robert Conrad as Jake Webster, a United States government undercover agent; 'Delphi' starred Laurence Luckinbill as Glenn Gregory, a research specialist in a top-secret U.S. intelligence agency; and 'Jigsaw' starred James Wainwright as Lt. Frank Dain, working in the Missing Persons Division Bureau in Sacramento California. All three of these series were quite compelling, particularly 'Vienna', but alas, all three were canceled in the spring of 1973 after this one season.
And that leaves us with the final 'wheel series' of the 1972-1973 season: Search. For this wheel series by NBC, much like The Name of the Game, there were three separate series headed by a big name television star, but each story line of the three individual shows were actually interconnected via a common over arching story line under the 'Search umbrella'.
For Search, the common denominator was The World Securities Corporation in Washington D.C. the headquarters of a detective agency known as 'Probe.' The three shows following the work of the agencies top three operatives ('Probes'): Hugh Lockwood ('Probe 1'), played by Hugh O'Brien of Wyatt Earp fame, Christopher Grove, played by Doug McClure of The Virginian fame; and Nick Bianco, played by Tony Franciosa of The Name of the Game fame.
The key to the operatives work was the ultimate in electronic gadgetry (back in 1972/73) - a super miniaturized two-way radio that is implanted in the ear of each agent, along with body detectors and a scanner, all transmitted back to Probe Control HQ, (Burgess Meredith, Angel Tompkins and company) who monitor their agents at all times.
A cool series that ran on NBC for one season, debuting on September 12, 1973, and wrapping up their rerun cycle on August 29, 1973. We love the story lines, as well as the cool theme music and opening credits and graphics. All top notch. That opening title sequence and theme feels like an awesome combination of Lost in Space (season 3) meets The Six Million Dollar Man meets The Name of the Game, with a dash of The Bold Ones tossed in for good measure. The theme songs and opening and closing title sequences of the majority of series on that 1972-1973 prime time schedule were just visually and audibly so strong, so well done. Perhaps the best season of all time in the totality of opening title sequences.
The actors on Search were all top notch, and we highly recommend (check Amazon for a copy for your 'agent files") the DVD set for the series. Early 1970's cool.
This video clip is presented here on YouTube for the entertainment and informational value of the viewer, and no copyright infringement is intended.
Enjoy.
