M Squad
| M Squad | |
|---|---|
|
Lee Marvin as Lt. Frank Ballinger, from NBC's 'M-Squad' in 1959. | |
| Genre | Crime drama |
| Starring |
Lee Marvin Paul Newlan |
| Composer(s) |
Main theme by Count Basie Stanley Wilson Incidental music and arrangements by Sonny Burke Pete Carpenter Benny Carter John T. Williams Orchestra conducted by Stanley Wilson |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language(s) | English |
| No. of seasons | 3 |
| No. of episodes | 117 (list of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) |
John Larkin Richard Lewis |
| Producer(s) |
Robert Bassler Maxwell Shane |
| Editor(s) |
Lee Huntington John B. Moss Stanley Rabjohn |
| Running time | 30 minutes |
| Production company(s) |
Latimer Productions Revue Studios |
| Distributor |
Universal Television NBCUniversal Television Distribution |
| Release | |
| Original network | NBC |
| Original release | September 20, 1957 – June 28, 1960 |
M Squad is an American crime drama television series that ran from 1957 to 1960 on NBC. It was produced by Lee Marvin's Latimer Productions and Revue Studios. Its main sponsor was the Pall Mall cigarette brand; Lee Marvin, the program's star, appeared in its commercials during many episodes.[1][2] Alternate sponsors were General Electric (GE), Hazel Bishop and Bulova watches.
Episodes
| Season | Episodes | First aired | Last aired | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 38 | September 20, 1957 | June 13, 1958 | |
| 2 | 40 | September 19, 1958 | July 3, 1959 | |
| 3 | 39 | September 18, 1959 | June 28, 1960 | |
Set in Chicago, Illinois, it starred Marvin as Detective Lieutenant Frank Ballinger, a member of "M Squad", a special unit of the Chicago Police, assisting other units in battling organized crime, corruption and violent crimes city-wide. Paul Newlan co-starred as his boss, Captain Grey. Although Marvin had been appearing in feature films since 1951, it was this series that made him a star, and he later went on to an even bigger film career afterward. Nelson Case was the announcer.[3] The popularity of M Squad was proven in the ratings wars by the NBC network choosing a Thursday night time slot opposite Frank Sinatra's ABC variety show in the fall of 1957 and Phil Silvers' long running CBS comedy, Sgt.Bilko, in 1958. Both series were eventually cancelled.
Guest stars
- Roscoe Ates
- Joanna Barnes
- Charles Bronson
- Mike Connors
- Russ Conway
- Walter Coy
- Whitney Blake
- Paul Burke
- James Coburn
- Francis De Sales
- Angie Dickinson
- Joe Flynn
- Alan Hale, Jr.
- Ron Hayes
- Werner Klemperer
- Robert Knapp
- Tom Laughlin
- Ruta Lee
- DeForest Kelley
- Nan Leslie
- Dayton Lummis
- Tyler McVey
- Walter Maslow
- Carole Mathews
- Joyce Meadows
- Sid Melton
- John Mitchum
- Ed Nelson
- Leonard Nimoy
- J. Pat O'Malley
- Burt Reynolds
- Don Rickles
- Janice Rule
- Barbara Stuart
- Mary Treen
- H. M. Wynant
Music
- The theme music for the first season was composed by Stanley Wilson, who won the 1959 Grammy Award for the Best Soundtrack Album and Background Score from Motion Picture or Television. In the second and third seasons, the new theme was composed by Count Basie.
- A soundtrack album, Music from M Squad, with liner notes by Lee Marvin, was released by RCA Victor Records in 1959 during the first season of the show.[4]
Trivia
- The TV series Police Squad! was a spoof on police series in general, and M Squad in particular. The opening sequence of Police Squad! spoofed both the opening sequence of M Squad, and the openings of Quinn Martin's various police shows, and the closing credits from the first season of Hawaii Five-O.
- Similarly, the 1994 music video directed by Spike Jonze for the song "Sabotage" by the Beastie Boys directly parodies the opening sequence of M Squad, amongst other police shows.
- A novel was published in 1962, M Squad: The Chicago Cop Killer, by David Saunders. It was published by Belmont Books, New York.
- Lee Marvin carried two Colt Cobra revolvers, the lightweight variant of Colt's "Detective's Special" revolver, which was popular with detectives at the time.
DVD releases
Timeless Media Group released M Squad: The Complete Series on DVD in the Region 1 on November 11, 2008.[5] This release has been discontinued and is out of print.
On November 4, 2014, Timeless Media re-released the complete series on DVD in a new 16-disc special edition collection that contains an entire disc of bonus content.[6]
References
- ↑ Pall Mall Presents M Squad – Tobacco Videos.
- ↑ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M49GEdFObos
- ↑ Alicoate, Charles A., Ed. (1960). The 1960 Radio Annual and Television Year Book. Radio Daily Corp. P. 1198
- ↑ http://www.shoppbs.org/sm-pbs-buy-the-m-squad-the-complete-series-dvd-on-http--pi-3414379.html
- ↑ Official Press Release for M Squad - The Complete Series
- ↑ Package Art Arrives for TMG's 'Complete TV Series: Special Edition'
External links
- M Squad at the Internet Movie Database
- M Squad at TV.com