Search: The Curious TV Series That Should Have Been Named Probe

Burgess Meredith and Hugh O'Brien.

It was like Time Tunnel without the tunnel and the time travel. That's one way to describe Search, a 1972-73 TV series that combined science fiction elements, international settings, and handsome private eyes.

Burgess Meredith plays V.C.R. Cameron, a project director that provides intelligence data to three field operatives for the World Securities Corporation. Each operative is outfitted with high-tech devices that allow two-way communication with Cameron and his staff, one-way video surveillance, and the monitoring of health vitals. By accessing a powerful computer loaded with useful data, Cameron can provide any information the operatives may need--from a street address to a biography of someone they just met.

TV Guide cover with the stars.

It's an intriguing premise that sadly grew old within a few episodes. It didn't help that the show's structure--which focused on a single operative each week--made it difficult for viewers to identify with the hero. One week, the star was Hugh O'Brien as the cynical Hugh Lockwood. The next week, it was Tony Franciosa as tough guy Nick Bianco. And lastly, there was Doug McClure, who looked like he should still be playing Trampas on The Virginian. Of course, there have been popular shows with rotating stars, such as Maverick and The Name of the Game, but they also featured better-written characters.

DVD cover for Probe.

Leslie Stevens, who created The Outer Limits, wrote the pilot for Search, which aired as a made-for-TV called Probe in 1972. It was a cut above other telefilms of the era, thanks in part to guest stars Elke Sommer and John Gielgud. It also featured Angel Tompkins as one of Meredith's assistants, who bantered playfully with O'Brien (a more lighthearted version of Lee Meriwether;s character in The Time Tunnel). Tompkins remained for the first episode of Search, but then disappeared from the series after a second appearance. (Incidentally, the original plan was to call the TV series Probe, but that idea was scrapped to avoid confusion with a public television series).

While Search may be remembered mostly for what it could have been, its catchy theme by Dominic Frontiere still has its fans--including me. Here's a clip from Warner Archive featuring the opening credits to the first episode:

Family Discord in Edward Dmytryk's "Broken Lance"

The 1954 Western Broken Lance is a curious film that is both overly familiar and more nuanced than it first appears.

Father Tracy and sons Holliman, O'Brien, Widmark, and Wagner.

The plot focuses on the friction between cattle baron Spencer Tracy and three of his four sons (Richard Widmark, Hugh O'Brien, and Earl Holliman). It'd be easy to paint the brotherly trio as the film's villains and youngest son Robert Wagner as the hero. But the reality is that Richard Widmark's bitter son is smarter than his father; he understands the necessity for change and embraces it. His father, meanwhile, adheres to doing business the same way as usual--by bulldozing his way through all obstacles.

Wagner (sporting a Fabian hair-do) and Tracy.

Adding to the family discord, Tracy favors youngest son Robert Wagner with the fatherly affection he denied the other three. They grew up as he was building his empire. They toiled alongside their then-widowed father from an early age, rarely earning even a word of praise. Thus, their acrimony is understandable to an extent and it's hard to fault them when they take advantage of their father's folly.

As for their younger sibling, he has his heart in the right place. However, he is also too eager to play the hero. When Wagner's character rashly takes the blame for his father's actions and winds up in prison, it's hard to feel sorry for him. He also seems too eager to play the martyr willing to take the punishment for his dead old dad.

Edward G. Robinson in House of Strangers.

Yet, while the family relationships hold one's attention for awhile, Broken Lance can't overcome a pervasive feeling of familiarity. Perhaps, that's because you've seen House of Strangers, a 1949 film noir written by Philip Yordan and starring Edward G. Robinson as the headstrong family patriarch and Richard Conte as the good brother.

Just five years later, Yordan transplanted the same plot to the Old West and won an Oscar for Best Writing, Motion Picture Story, for Broken Lance. Yes, he won an Oscar for a writing a story based on a screenplay written for a previous film! This gets even more interesting, because some reliable sources consider both films to be adapted from Jerome Weidman's 1941 novel I'll Never Go There Anymore. Of course, one could also argue the influence of Shakespeare's King Lear.

Tracy and Katy Jurado.

The strong cast--which also includes Jean Peters and Katy Jurado--fails to inject much-needed excitement. Spencer Tracy could play a take-charge cattle baron in his sleep. As his wife--the calm voice of reason--Jurado earned an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress.

Director Edward Dmytryk, whom I tend to associate with film noir (e.g., Cornered) and tight dramas, sets the action against some breathtaking vistas. He teamed with Tracy and Wagner again two years later for The Mountain.

This was his sixth film following his return to the U.S. in 1951 after four years overseas. He left the country after refusing to testify before the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) as one of the "Hollywood Ten." When Dmytryk returned to the States, he was arrested and served six months in a West Virginia prison before agreeing to name names before the HUAC in 1951. In his 1996 book Odd Man Out: A Memoir of the Holywood Ten, he explains his change of heart about testifying: "[If] I were going to be a martyr, I wanted the privilege of choosing my martyrdom. . . ."

I met Dmytryk in the late 1970s when he gave a guest lecture at Indiana University. He signed his name alongside the entry about him in my copy of The Filmgoer's Companion.

This post is part of the Classic Movie Blog Association's Banned and Blacklisted Blogathon. Check out all the entries on the blogathon schedule by clicking here.

The Case of the Perry Mason Substitutes

With 271 cases over nine seasons, it’s safe to say that Perry Mason was television’s most successful attorney. I’m not even counting Perry’s court appearances in the “revival” made-for-TV movies nor the 1973-74  New Perry Mason TV series (with Monte Markham taking over for Raymond Burr). Yet, out of those 271 cases on the original series, six of them were won by lawyers other than Perry!

Raymond Burr did not appear in four consecutive episodes in the 1962-63 season and was missing in two more during the 1964-65 season. (Note that some of these episodes included brief scenes of Perry talking with other lawyers from his hospital bed—scenes that Burr filmed before his hiatus.) The reason given for his first absence was “minor surgery.” Some sources, such as Raymond Burr: A Film, Radio, and Television Biography, state that the surgery was to remove intestinal polyps. Other sources (e.g., Encyclopedia of Television Law Shows) maintain that this explanation has never been confirmed. Burr’s absences during the 1964-65 season were attributed to infected teeth (according to Associated Press columnist Cynthia Lowry) and an unspecified illness. Fatigue may have played a role as well, since Burr averaged almost 30 episodes during each of the show’s nine years. A full season order these days for a prime time series is 24 episodes.

Here are the six Perry Mason episodes without Raymond Burr:

Bette Davis visits a client.

The Case of Constant Doyle (Season 6 Episode 16)– Bette Davis plays Constant (not Constance) Doyle, a recently widowed attorney who defends a young man (Michael Parks) accused of breaking into a factory and assaulting a night watchman.

The Case of the Libelous Locket (S6 E17) – Law school professor Edward Lindley (Michael Rennie) takes on the case of student Janie Norland (Patricia Manning), who thinks she killed someone, gets blackmailed, and then is arrested for a real murder. Professor Lindley’s attitude toward trial attorneys must have amused Perry: “Someone once said, if you could cross a parrot with a jackass, you’d have the perfect trial lawyer.” This episode also guest-starred Patrice Wymore, Errol Flynn’s widow.

Hugh O'Brian knew about the law...
from his days as TV's Wyatt Earp.

The Case of the Two-Faced Turn-a-bout (S6 E18)- Hugh O'Brian stars as playboy lawyer Bruce Jason, who defends a political refugee in a homicide case brimming with international intrigue. Interestingly, O’Brien also plays another character in this episode (no spoilers here!).

The Case of the Surplus Suitor (S6 E19) – Corporate lawyer Sherman Hatfield (Walter Pidgeon) defends an indecisive young woman (Joyce Bulifant), who is accused of murdering her wealthy uncle. Alas, this subpar outing wastes Pidgeon’s talents.

Mike Connors a few years later as Mannix.

The Case of the Bullied Bowler (S8 E7)- Paul Drake takes a (well-earned) vacation and visits the town of Tesoro with attorney friend Joe Kelly (Mike Connors). A powerful woman tries to close the bowling alley owned by Paul’s friend Bill Jaris. When a health inspector is murdered, Bill becomes the prime suspect. The Perry Mason producers were impressed with Connors. When Raymond Burr hesitated on returning for season 9, Connors was allegedly considered as a replacement attorney. Of course, he later found TV fame in his own long-running private eye series Mannix (1967-75).

The Case of the Thermal Thief (S8 E16) -  Only recently returning to law practice, Ken Kramer (Barry Sullivan) gets involved in a complex case involving a stolen necklace and the death of a wealthy yachtsman four years earlier. Sullivan does a fine job in an above-average episode—he should have gotten his own lawyer show! It’s interesting to note that Kramer doesn't get a courtroom confession at the episode’s climax; it takes place offscreen.