McCloud (TV series)

Starting in the fifth season in September 1974, most episodes were two hours long, but were dropped again to 90 minutes for the seventh and final season starting in the October 1976. Episodes 5 and 9 of season 5 were 90 minutes. The 46th, and last, episode, "McCloud Meets Dracula", was aired on April 17, 1977.

Weaver received

The executive producer was

Recurring themes and characters

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The westerner in New York City

The most enduring theme of the show was the conflict between the good-natured, clear-eyed buoyancy of McCloud and the metropolitan cynicism of the residents of New York City, including his fellow officers. McCloud's attire, typically consisting of a sheepskin coat or Western jacket, bolo tie and cowboy hat and boots, allowed for implied comic relief in many encounters with New Yorkers. That New Yorkers might mistake him for a "rube" because of his appearance occasionally worked to his advantage. He would often allay suspicion of his motives by insisting he was in New York "to observe and learn". Under his jacket or coat, he usually wore a khaki uniform shirt with a brown star-shaped uniform patch with gold trim on left sleeve, lettered "Marshal's Office Taos, N.M.". There was a yellow circle in the center with the number 33. He wore two collar pins one was "NM" and the other was "33". McCloud carried a blued .45 Colt SAA Western-style six-shooter with a 4¾" barrel.

The signature of McCloud's character was his Western unflappability and seeming inability to recognize an insult, especially from his NYPD superior, Chief of Detectives Peter B. Clifford, whose jibes ("send in the sagebrush Sherlock Holmes") he never would take personally. Weaver's grin and drawling twang represented McCloud as the embodiment of the American law officer who always sees the good in people but knows the real stakes and spares no pain to catch the bad guy. The character's signature catchphrase was "There ya go!", often received with bemusement or puzzlement by the listener. (One exception was a character played by John Denver; at the end of the show they traded catchphrases, Denver responding "There ya go!" to McCloud's "Far out!")

Antagonism with Chief Clifford

Another recurring theme in the show was the conflict between McCloud and Chief Clifford, who was played in every episode but the pilot by J. D. Cannon. In the first episodes, their relationship was portrayed as somewhat amiable, with Clifford showing a wary respect for the unconventional Westerner assigned to his command. The relationship quickly soured based mostly on McCloud's seeming disregard of authority combined with a charm that let him escape many of the consequences of his "cowboy-like" determination. Clifford's attitude to McCloud became one of cynical antagonism, bordering at times on extreme rage, but usually tempered with a grudging respect for McCloud's ability to solve the most difficult of cases. McCloud frequently interrupts a dressing-down from Clifford by saying "I 'ppreciate yer confidence, Chief!"

Friendship with Sgt. Broadhurst

In many episodes, McCloud was partnered with Sgt. Joe Broadhurst, played by Terry Carter. Broadhurst, a New Yorker, was portrayed with a certain existential pessimism to counter McCloud's high spirits. Like Chief Clifford, Broadhurst felt himself wise to McCloud's peculiarities, but was without the anger, and usually wound up resigned to being drawn into McCloud's schemes to solve particular cases, sometimes against direct orders. He would then sometimes play the role of voluntary lightning rod for Clifford's anger, and absorb as much of the blame for McCloud's initiative as McCloud himself. (Broadhurst served as acting Chief of Detectives three times during Clifford's absence, in "This Must Be the Alamo", "Return to the Alamo" and "'Twas the Fight Before Christmas...".)

Other characters

Other recurring characters on the show included the gravel-voiced Sgt. Grover, played by Ken Lynch, who seemed to be forever at his desk in the squad room. The ever-smiling but somewhat batty Sgt. Phyllis Norton was played by Teri Garr.

Love interests

McCloud was portrayed as something of a ladies' man, and the characters played by the frequent female guest stars would often fall for his protective charm. Chris Coughlin, played by frequent guest star Diana Muldaur, was McCloud's off-and-on lover throughout the course of the series. Chris was a journalist whose duties as newspaper writer ("never a reporter") sometimes came into conflict with McCloud's police work.

Portrayal of New York City in the 1970s

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The show, which was in some sense a big city western, was set in New York City during what was arguably

At the time, the city seemed to be on an inexorable downward slide into chaos, a theme that was explored in a more brutal fashion in movies such as William Friedkin's film The French Connection, which was released in 1971, the year after the pilot of McCloud, and Michael Winner's 1974 urban thriller Death Wish. In some episodes (such as "Walk in the Dark") the city was portrayed as particularly crime-ridden with the danger of muggings and bodily harm at every turn. Such lurking evil was often more in the dialogue than the pictures, however, and the show retained a somewhat whimsical and sunny flavor despite the subject matter.

McCloud was filmed partially on location (the unit was in New York for "

A recurring theme in many episodes was the incorporation of a plot device from Hollywood cinema, particularly at the climax of an episode. Examples included chases on horseback to lasso cattle rustlers ("The Colorado Cattle Caper"), a 1930s-style gangster shoot-out (the film-within-a-film shot on location in "The Gang That Stole Manhattan"), a Jesse James-style train hold-up on the Long Island Rail Road ("Butch Cassidy Rides Again"), and a showdown with a vampire on the Third Street Bridge ("McCloud Meets Dracula").

The Return of Sam McCloud

Weaver, Cannon and Carter later reprised their roles in a made-for-television movie, The Return of Sam McCloud, which premiered on November 12, 1989 on CBS. McCloud, who is now a United States Senator for New Mexico, faces off against a villainous chemical manufacturer after he kills McCloud's niece. Diana Muldaur also returned to reprise her role as McCloud's love interest, Chris Coughlin.

Episodes

Home media

Universal Studios released Seasons 1 & 2 of McCloud on DVD in Region 1 and Region 2 in 2005/2006. Season 1 as released by Universal were not the original episodes but conflated "TV Movie" re-creations by Universal producer Harry Tatelman and editor Jean-Jacques Berthelot to extract additional revenues from a series considered too short of episodes to produce useful syndicated material. By editing together pieces from multiple episodes in season 1 it made it appear that McCloud solves two mysteries in each "movie". Subplots and some characters were edited out. This process was made easier by the fact that McCloud's uniform remained the same in each episode. The results were disjointed enough that at least one original writer, Douglas Heyes, required his name being changed in the credits to a pseudonym. These hybrid episodes were at one time considered all that was left of the original six programs of season 1 (Universal could not locate them when it issued the U.S. DVD set). The originals, located after a diligent search by the Australian independent label Madman Entertainment, were found in good condition stored in a vault at a station in London.

In Denmark (region 2) where McCloud was a hit when it was new, all 7 seasons have been released on DVD.[5]

In Region 4, Madman Entertainment has released all seven seasons on DVD in Australia. Seasons 6 & 7 were released on June 19, 2013.^[6][7] The Season 7 release includes the reunion television film The Return of Sam McCloud.

The show is rated PG for Parental Guidance in Australia and PG in New Zealand for violence and drug references.

In popular culture

McCloud became the basis for a recurring joke on the movie-mocking TV series Mystery Science Theater 3000: whenever one character in the featured movie would call out to someone else, host characters Joel Robinson, Tom Servo, and Crow T. Robot would chime in by calling out to other unrelated fictional characters such as Mr. Drysdale and "Mr. Eddie's father". Invariably, these exchanges ended with Servo calling "Chief?" and Crow responding with "McCloud!" The gag was most prominently featured in episode 303, "Pod People".^[8]

On an episode of The Simpsons, "The Lastest Gun in the West", Weaver guest-stars as an old-time cowboy star named Buck McCoy, who in the 1970s had starred on a detective show called "McTrigger", about which McCoy admits, "Seems all I did was shoot hippies." A clip showed McTrigger driving through New York in a convertible shooting at random members of the hippie crowd that covered the sidewalks. McCoy mentions the show was retooled after his character was written out to become Room 222.

McCloud was also parodied by British comedian Benny Hill in a skit on The Benny Hill Show “Murder on The Oregon Express” in March, 1976. In typical Hill fashion, Benny portrayed a host of characters for comic effect from American Crime-dramas of the time such as Cannon, Ironside, and Kojak.

Weaver played a version of himself in The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries, in an episode set on the Universal back lot (where much of McCloud was actually shot), in which he rides out of nowhere and saves Pamela Sue Martin's Nancy Drew character by drawing her up on his horse when she is in a tight spot. His small bit of dialogue makes clear that he is an actor on a break from a shoot, and his costuming and horse suggest that he is Weaver on a break from McCloud, but like several other celebrity guest spots in the episode, it's never made explicit that he is playing himself.

Syndication

McCloud has aired in reruns on local stations in the past, and continues to do so on some to this day.

External links

• McCloud at
  IMDb
• McCloud: Who Killed Miss U.S.A.? at
  IMDb
• McCloud titles and air dates