[Avengers] Behind the Scenes: Tara King Era

[Ubiquitous]

Since Diana Rigg was essentially out of the picture even before the
first color season was completed, the producers had started a search for
a replacement. Several guest actresses were considered, and some hush-
hush screen tests were being done (Patrick Macnee for one was kept in
the dark during the whole affair). But it all came apart when the new
season drew near and utter chaos slowly engulfed the studio.

ABC Television Films (set up by Associated British Corporation after it
had merged with Associated-Rediffusion to form Thames Television)
decided to make a substantial stylistic shift from fantasy back toward
reality, and in a mysterious power play ostensibly involving John
Steed's characterization, Brian Clemens and Albert Fennell were shown
the door. John Bryce, who produced three-fourths of the Cathy Gale
episodes, was appointed the new producer. Macnee contemplated ending his
tenure with the show, but hung in there long enough to see the tables
turn yet again.

Barely completing three episodes ("Invitation To A Killing," "The Great
Great Britain Crime" and "Invasion of the Earthmen") and falling behind
schedule, Bryce found himself in way over his head, so Clemens and
Fennell were asked back and granted complete control. Well, almost...
they had to live with Diana Rigg's replacement, who was allegedly
recommended by actor John Huston and booked under the approval of Don
Boyle, head of ABC in America. Selected out of 200 applicants and told
to lose weight and go blonde, Linda Thorson was Steed's new partner,
much to the frustration of Clemens and Fennel.
http://theavengers.tv/forever/king-prod3.htm

Fresh out of school, the 20-year-old Thorson (who chose the name Tara
King for herself) had never stepped in front of a camera, yet she was
given a very demanding part—made more so by the legacy of her
predecessors—in a cutthroat industry. Worse, her character appeared to
have just a wee bit less "backbone," which made Emma Peel fans all the
more heartbroken. Ironically, when John Bryce was sacked, Thorson spoke
of leaving, but Macnee talked her out of it—something he wishes he'd
done with Diana Rigg.

Pressed for time by the contract with ABC in America, Clemens and
Fennell were forced to rework the material Bryce left behind, rather
than start anew. Tara was introduced in "The Forget-Me-Knot" (claimed by
some sources to have been an unfinished Rigg episode) instead of the 90
-minute pilot "Invitation To A Killing" Bryce had created. "Invitation"
was chopped down to become "Have Guns - Will Haggle," and a leftover
Emma Peel script, "Split!," was recycled.

Representing an uneven mix of Bryce and Clemens/Fennell material, the
first seven new Tara King episodes were shipped, together with the last
eight Rigg episodes, to the US, just in the nick of time. Subsequently
the US ordered a full season of 26 episodes, and so the studio pressed
on, without a break—although the production crew experienced one last
major overhaul before getting back to work.

This era of the series played very differently between the US and UK
markets. Americans were not only the first to see Tara King, they also
saw two completely different titles. The initial seven episodes featured
the "shooting gallery" opening and closing sequence (in homage to Diana
Rigg, "The Forget-Me-Knot" received modified Emma Peel color opening
titles and Tara King shooting gallery closing titles), and the 26
episodes that followed had the all-new "fields of armor" opening and
"card trick" closing titles. READ MORE

The British chose to wait until all 33 Tara King episodes were completed
before airing them; they also replaced the shooting gallery titles with
the suits of armor version (with the apparent exception of "Split!" for
reasons unknown). To make matters rather confusing for UK viewers, the
order of the episodes was jumbled, and since Tara was subtly re-tooled
between the two production sets, she suffered inexplicable character
changes during the course of the season.

Further evidence of the production turmoil abounds as stylistic
direction changed like the wind. The return to realism mandated by the
studio at the outset clashed with the more whimsical approach Brian
Clemens seemed to prefer, and so episodes often swung wildly from
serious to silly—the latter personified by Patrick Newell's character,
Mother, and his goofy-headquarters-of-the-week running gag.

Despite having to deal with any number of dire circumstances, Clemens
and Fennell made a valiant effort, and although they varied considerably
in quality, the shows were generally enjoyable. But the deck was stacked
against them, and it was hardly Tara's fault. In the US, the The
Avengers was faced with the unbeatable competition of Laugh-In. Rather
than jeopardize one of their own costlier in-house shows, ABC chose to
"sacrifice" a cheaper import.

With no further orders forthcoming from the US, it all came to an abrupt
end in February 1969. The irony is that, had it not been for the US,
there might never have been a color Emma Peel season, because the UK
never ordered any episodes after the Emma Peel monochromes! And so the
country that kept it alive, the US, also killed it, while the country
that gave birth to it, the UK, orphaned it.

Many attempts were made to revive the corpse...

November 1971 saw the debut of a short-lived stage play. There was also
a radio series produced for the South African Broadcasting Company in
1972. Then The New Avengers made its abbreviated run in 1976. But that
wasn't the end of the story, either, as a series of bizarre, convoluted
events took place—as if things up to this point weren't knotty enough...


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Dems & the media want Trump to be more like Obama, but then he'd
have to audit liberals & wire tap reporters' phones.