Probe/Search (1970s)
Robert C. Phelps
"Probe") has ever been released on video (either the "pilot" or any of the
episodes)? I loved it then and would like to see it now for nostalgia
purposes, if nothing else. Starred Burgess Meredith, Hugh O'Brian and
Tony Franciosa, among others. Not to be confused with a later show of the
same name, starring (I think) Parker Stevenson.
I'd like to trade tapes with anyone who has this show!
-- Bob Phelps (rph...@holonet.net)
Gharlane of Eddore
> In <Cn003...@iat.holonet.net>, rph...@iat.holonet.net (Robert C.
> Phelps) writes:
>
> > Does anyone know if the 1970s show "Search" (originally called
> > "Probe") has ever been released on video (either the "pilot" or
> > any of the episodes)?
>
> one of (3? 4?) different agents equipped with a ring scanner/camera or
> pendant which beamed signals back to HQ where Meredith and his team would
> analyze data and give advice to the field agent. I have never seen the
> show on tape, but would like to.
>
"PROBE" was the pilot, primarily starring Hugh O'Brian, Burgess Meredith,
and Elke Sommer. At NBC's request, series title was changed to "SEARCH."
("'Probe' sounds like a medical show. Don't confuse the audience.")
Leslie Stevens was the principal perpetrator, but due to financial constraints,
he had to look farther for money. Hugh O'Brian, who'd very cagily put all of
his earnings from 1950's cowboy shows into oil-bearing property, had money to
put in, and ended up effectively owning half the show. This may have had
something to do with why Angel Tompkins ended up with a featured role, I
dunno; it sure couldn't have been her acting that got her the job.
O'Brian did the best he could with the role he was handed, and busted
his tail trying to do physical acting he wasn't in training for. As
a result, he played a good many scenes in knee braces and ace bandages...
His dressing room tended to be festooned with hanging ace bandages,
neatly hung in rows from most-recently-used to three-days-since-last-use.
(In those days, lycra-based athletic bandages worked better if you gave
them recovery time between use.)
The principal actor in alternate productions was Doug McClure, who may
have been having personal problems of a recreational-chemicals kind;
his performances were usually only slightly better than the shoddy scripts.
The scripts tended to be typical Leslie Stevens products; middle-aged macho
cutesiness at the expense of plot, logic, or drama. They were not good SF,
and not even good TV drama, which probably had a lot to do with why the show
got cancelled. In at least one instance, when production schedules got
tight, Stevens re-wrote an old "STONEY BURKE" script to use on "SEARCH."
(For those of you born in the last thirty years, "STONEY BURKE" was a
cowboy show Stevens also produced.)
Intriguingly, Anthony Spinner, who mainly functioned as script consultant
and co-producer, went on to do some pretty good work. (My favorite Spinner
script is a TV-movie called "THE PAPER MAN," which was a topnotch
'hacker' murder mystery / computer crime suspense story.... cogent, and
well-researched, for the era in which it was written.)
The very best part of the TV series "SEARCH" was the pilot movie, "PROBE,"
which occasionally still runs on late-night TV. It's still watchable,
although to today's more technically-literate audiences, it's a bit dated.
--
"The right confirmed by the Second Amendment is not a right granted
by the Constitution. Neither is it any manner dependent upon that
instrument for its existence."
--U.S. Supreme Court decision in "U.S. v. Cruikshank," 1876.