Barbary Coast (TV series)

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 De Windt
Alexander Grasshoff
Don McDougall
Herb Wallerstein
Don Weis
Starring William Shatner
Dennis Cole
Doug McClure
Composer(s) John Andrew Tartaglia
Country of origin USA
Original language(s) English
No. of seasons 1
No. of episodes 13 (+1 TV movie)
Production
Executive producer(s) Cy Chermak
Producer(s) Douglas Heyes
Cinematography Robert B. Hauser
Running time 45 mins.
Production company(s) 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 is an American television series that aired on ABC. The pilot movie first aired on May 4, 1975 and the series itself premiered September 8, 1975; the last episode aired 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.

Series overview

Television movie

The series began as a two-hour television movie entitled The Barbary Coast that aired on ABC on May 4, 1975, and which served as a backdoor pilot.

Episodes

Episode # Episode title Original airdate
1 "Funny Money" September 8, 1975
2 "Crazy Cats" September 15, 1975
3 "Jesse Who?" September 22, 1975
4 "The Ballad of Redwing Jail" September 29, 1975
5 "Guns for a Queen" October 6, 1975
6 "Irish Luck" October 13, 1975
7 "Sauce for the Goose" October 20, 1975
8 "An Iron-Clad Plan" October 31, 1975
9 "Arson and Old Lace" November 14, 1975
10 "Sharks Eat Sharks" November 21, 1975
11 "The Day Cable was Hanged" December 26, 1975
12 "Mary Had More Than a Little" January 2, 1976
13 "The Dawson Marker" January 9, 1976

Awards and nominations

The pilot episode, an The ABC Sunday Night Movie, was nominated for an Emmy Award for Art Direction for the art director Jack De Shields and set decorator Reg Allen.[2]

DVD release

The series was released on DVD/Blu-ray in June 2014.[3]

Cultural references

The Mad Magazine 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 lyrics "Look at me now/At my old post/Happy that I can forget/Barbary Coast!"

References

  1. 1 2 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.
  2. Emmy Nomination Certificate
  3. Announcement
  4. 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


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