Barbary Coast (TV series)
Barbary Coast is an American television series that aired on ABC. The pilot film first aired on May 4, 1975 and the series itself premiered September 8, 1975; the last episode aired January 9, 1976.
| Barbary Coast | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Genre | Western/Spy-fi |
| Created by | Douglas Heyes |
| Written by | Howard Beck Michael Philip Butler Cy Chermak James Doherty William D. Gordon Douglas Heyes Harold Livingston Stephen Lord |
| Directed by | Hal DeWindt Alexander Grasshoff Don McDougall Herb Wallerstein Don Weis |
| Starring | William Shatner Dennis Cole Doug McClure |
| Composer | John Andrew Tartaglia |
| Country of origin | USA |
| Original language | English |
| No. of seasons | 1 |
| No. of episodes | 13 (+1 TV movie) |
| Production | |
| Executive producer | Cy Chermak |
| Producers | Douglas Heyes William Cairncross (assistant) |
| Cinematography | Robert B. Hauser |
| Editors | James Doherty William D. Gordon |
| Running time | 45 mins. |
| Production companies | Francy Productions Paramount Network Television |
| Distributor | CBS Television Distribution |
| Release | |
| Original network | ABC |
| Audio format | Monaural |
| Original release | May 4, 1975 – January 9, 1976 |
Barbary Coast was inspired by a similar 19th-century spy series, The Wild Wild West, and like the earlier program, Barbary Coast mixed the genres of Western and secret agent drama.
Synopsis
Barbary Coast features the adventures of 19th century government agent Jeff Cable (played by William Shatner), and his pal, conman and gambler Cash ("Cash makes no enemies") Conover (Doug McClure; played by Dennis Cole in the pilot) who is the owner of the Golden Gate Casino.[1] This was Shatner's first attempt at a live-action series since Star Trek (also produced by Paramount Television).
In their battle against various criminals and foreign spies, Cable and Conover operated out of the latter's saloon and casino located on San Francisco's notorious Barbary Coast. Like Wild Wild West's Artemus Gordon, Cable frequently donned disguises in the course of his investigations.[1]
The producers modeled the show's Byzantine plotlines/conspiracies on the Mission: Impossible paradigm (in fact, they hired a number of Mission: Impossible's writers). Other regulars on the series included recurring Wild Wild West villain actor Richard Kiel as Moose Moran and Dave Turner as Thumbs.
Episodes
| No. | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original air date | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | "The Barbary Coast" | Bill Bixby | Douglas Heyes | May 4, 1975 | |
| Two-hour TV-movie and backdoor pilot. | |||||
| 1 | "Funny Money" | Don Weis | Douglas Heyes | September 8, 1975 | |
| 2 | "Crazy Cats" | Don Weis | Harold Livingston | September 15, 1975 | |
| 3 | "Jesse Who?" | Bill Bixby | Howard Berk | September 22, 1975 | |
| 4 | "The Ballad of Redwing Jail" | John Florea | S : Douglas Heyes; T : William D. Gordon & James Doherty | September 29, 1975 | |
| 5 | "Guns for a Queen" | Don McDougall | S : Matthew Howard; T : William Putnam | October 6, 1975 | |
| 6 | "Irish Luck" | Alex Grasshoff | Harold Livingston | October 13, 1975 | |
| 7 | "Sauce for the Goose" | Don McDougall | S : Michael Lynn & George Reed; T : Stephen Lord | October 20, 1975 | |
| 8 | "An Iron-Clad Plan" | Herb Wallerstein | S : George Reed & Michael Lynn; T : L. Ford Neale & John Huff | October 31, 1975 | |
| 9 | "Arson and Old Lace" | Alex Grasshoff | Max Hodge | November 14, 1975 | |
| 10 | "Sharks Eat Sharks" | Bruce Bilson | James L. Henderson | November 21, 1975 | |
| 11 | "The Day Cable Was Hanged" | Alex Grasshoff | S : Howard Rayfiel & Kellam de Forest; T : Stephen Ford | December 26, 1975 | |
| 12 | "Mary Had More Than a Little" | Herb Wallerstein | Winston Miller | January 2, 1976 | |
| 13 | "The Dawson Marker" | Alex Grasshoff | William D. Gordon & James Doherty | January 9, 1976 | |
Home media
The series was released on DVD and Blu-ray in June 2014.[2]
Awards and nominations
The pilot episode, an ABC Sunday Night Movie, was nominated for an Emmy Award for Art Direction for Jack De Shields and set decorator Reg Allen.[3]
Cultural references
The Mad Magazine Star Trek musical satire "Keep on Trekkin'" (1976) depicts William Shatner as Captain James T. Kirk on the bridge of the U.S.S. Enterprise singing a version of Send in the Clowns[4] that includes the lyric "Look at me now/At my old post/Happy that I can forget Barbary Coast!"
References
- Tim Brooks; Earle Marsh (2003). "Barbary Coast, The (Western)". The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows 1946–Present (Eighth ed.). New York: Ballantine Books. p. 86. ISBN 978-0-345-45542-0.
- Announcement Archived 2014-10-18 at the Wayback Machine
- Emmy Nomination Certificate
- Mark Clark (April 1, 2012). Star Trek FAQ: Everything Left to Know About the First Voyages of the Starship Enterprise. Applause Theatre & Cinema. pp. 44–45. ISBN 978-1557839633.
External links
- Barbary Coast TV movie at IMDb (television movie)
- Barbary Coast (series) at IMDb
- Barbary Coast at TV.com