The Defenders (1961 TV series)
The Defenders | |
---|---|
CBS Television Network | |
Original release | |
Network | CBS |
Release | September 16, 1961 May 13, 1965 | –
The Defenders is an American
Plot
Lawrence Preston (Marshall) and Kenneth Preston (Reed) are father-and-son
Cast
- E. G. Marshall as Lawrence Preston
- Robert Reed as Kenneth Preston
- Polly Rowles as Helen Donaldson, the Prestons' secretary (24 episodes 1961–1962)
- Joan Hackett as Joan Miller, Kenneth's girlfriend (5 episodes 1961–1962)
Several other actors appeared numerous times over the course of the series. John Boruff,
Episodes
Season | Episodes | Originally aired | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
First aired | Last aired | |||
1 | 32 | September 16, 1961 | May 26, 1962 | |
2 | 34 | September 15, 1962 | May 25, 1963 | |
3 | 36 | September 28, 1963 | June 27, 1964 | |
4 | 30 | September 24, 1964 | May 13, 1965 |
Production
Development
The series was a slight reworking of Rose's 1957 two-part drama, The Defender, from the anthology series Studio One. In the original program, Ralph Bellamy played the father and William Shatner played his son. Shatner guest-starred in various roles in the later series, and the original drama later was incorporated into an episode of his series, Boston Legal.
According to creator Reginald Rose, "the law is the subject of our programs: not crime, not mystery, not the courtroom for its own sake. We were never interested in producing a 'who-done-it' which simply happened to be resolved each week in a flashy courtroom battle of wits."[1] And unlike Perry Mason, which also ran on CBS, victory was "far from certain on The Defenders—as were morality and justice."[1]
Topics featured in the series included abortion, capital punishment, "no-knock" searches, custody rights of adoptive parents, the insanity defense, the "poisoned fruit doctrine," immigration quotas, the Hollywood blacklist, jury nullification, and Cold War visa restrictions.[1]
Writers for the show included Rose in many early episodes, with later episodes by Albert "Al" Ruben and Ernest Kinoy – both Jewish Americans holding socially liberal views.[2] It was thought the move to “ratings graveyard” Thursday nights after a successful prime time reign on Saturday evenings, was a conservative corporate device to force the socially conscious program into cancellation, which it ultimately did.
Controversial episodes
A 1962 episode entitled "The Benefactor"—in which the father–son legal team defended an
The December 7, 1963 episode, "Climate of Evil," was originally titled "The Gentle Assassin" but was changed two weeks earlier in the aftermath of the
Broadcast history
Note: The most frequent time slot for the series is in bold text.
- Saturday at 8:30–9:30 p.m. on CBS: September 16, 1961 – May 25, 1963; November 30, 1963 – June 27, 1964
- Saturday at 9:00–10:00 p.m. on CBS: September 28 – November 16, 1963
- Thursday at 10:00–11:00 p.m. on CBS: September 24, 1964 – May 13, 1965
Reception
Awards
The Defenders won 14 Primetime Emmy Awards (including three in a row for Outstanding Drama Series) and received an additional eight nominations.
Year | Category | Recipient | Episode | Result |
---|---|---|---|---|
1962 | Outstanding Program Achievement in the Field of Drama | Won | ||
Outstanding Continued Performance by a Lead Actor in a Series | E. G. Marshall | |||
Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Drama | Franklin J. Schaffner | |||
Outstanding Writing Achievement in Drama | Reginald Rose | |||
1963 | Outstanding Program Achievement in the Field of Drama | |||
Outstanding Continued Performance by a Lead Actor in a Series | E. G. Marshall | |||
Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Drama | Stuart Rosenberg | "The Madman" | ||
Outstanding Writing Achievement in Drama | Robert Thom Reginald Rose | |||
Outstanding Single Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role | Don Gordon (for playing "Joey Tassili") |
Nominated | ||
Outstanding Single Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role | Sylvia Sidney (for playing "Adela") | |||
The Program of the Year | ||||
Outstanding Achievement in Art Direction and Scenic Design | Willard Levitas | |||
Outstanding Achievement in Film Editing for Television | Sid Katz | Won | ||
1964 | Outstanding Program Achievement in the Field of Drama | |||
Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Drama | Paul Bogart | "Moment of Truth" | Nominated | |
Stuart Rosenberg | "Blacklist" | |||
Outstanding Writing Achievement in Drama - Original | Ernest Kinoy | Won | ||
Outstanding Single Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role | Jack Klugman (for playing "Joe Larch") | |||
The Program of the Year | Nominated | |||
1965 | Outstanding Program Achievements in Entertainment | Bob Markell | ||
Outstanding Individual Achievements in Entertainment - Directors | Paul Bogart | "The 700 Year Old Gang" | Won | |
Outstanding Individual Achievements in Entertainment - Writers | David Karp |
The Museum of Broadcast Communications called it "perhaps the most socially conscious series the medium has ever seen", a show "singularly resonant with New Frontier liberalism".[1]
In 2002, The Defenders was ranked #31 on TV Guide's 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time,[7] and in 2013 TV Guide ranked it #8 in its list of The 60 Greatest Dramas of All Time,[8] while the Writers Guild of America ranked it – and Gunsmoke – #84 on their list of the 101 Best Written TV Series.[9]
Ratings
- 1961–1962: #26 (22.4)
- 1962–1963: #18 (23.9)
- 1963–1964: N/A
- 1964–1965: N/A
As a top 30 series, The Defenders has an average rating of 23.2.
Home media
On July 12, 2016,
Sequel and spin-offs
A re-envisioned version of the series debuted on the Showtime network in 1997. Still called The Defenders, it featured E. G. Marshall in his original role as Lawrence Preston. However, the three Showtime films focused on Beau Bridges as Don Preston, a previously unmentioned second son of Lawrence, and Martha Plimpton as M.J., the daughter of Ken Preston, who is said to have died (as had Reed in 1992). Don and M.J. worked as lawyers and carried on the family legacy. However, Marshall died after the completion of the second episode ("Choice of Evils"). Production was halted, and the remaining episode, "Taking the First," aired as a movie special in 1998.
Episodes | Date of Release |
---|---|
The Defenders: Payback | October 12, 1997 |
The father of a child rape victim (John Larroquette) kills the rapist, who was freed from prison after only a few years. The victim was admitted to a mental health facility after several failed suicide attempts, the older daughter ran away, and the father became fixated on revenge. The Prestons need to devise a defense strategy that takes into account his and his family's mental health. | |
The Defenders: Choice of Evils | January 8, 1998 |
Don Preston defends a journalist charged in a wrongful death.Although he is found guilty, a bureaucratic error causes him to be inadvertently released from prison, sending him on the run and leading to an event where a police officer is killed trying to apprehend him again. | |
The Defenders: Taking the First | October 28, 1998 |
After attending a protest given by a visiting professor and organized by a racist organization, a group of college boys beat a young Latino to death. The Prestons are hired to defend one of the boys, the grandson of Lawrence's old friend. The victim's brother, a law student, convinced Don to bring a wrongful death lawsuit against the bigot and his group after persuading their client to accept a plea and testify against the others, despite accusations that they may be violating the First Amendment. |
References in other media
The second season of Mad Men contains an episode named "The Benefactor" that featured a brief clip from The Defenders' episode of the same name.[10] In the Mad Men episode, the Sterling Cooper advertising agency is trying to secure sponsors for The Defenders' episode, which contains a plot involving abortion (originally telecast on April 28, 1962), after the regular sponsors pulled out because they claimed the episode (and subject matter) was too controversial. The episode also offers a fictional backstory for the episode; that it was written for the third season of the series but rejected by the network for the usage of abortion as a plotline. The following season, the writers produced a script that revolved around the theme of cannibalism but the episode was rejected by the director who was assigned to film the episode due to the content. The director's refusal led to the network being forced to film the abortion-centric script, which an executive assigned to find advertisers for the show proclaims was the plan all along.
References
- ^ a b c d e f Mark Alvey. "The Defenders: U.S. Legal Drama". Museum of Broadcast Communications. Retrieved 2009-09-30.
- ISBN 9781859845981.
- ^ Alvey, Mark. "The Defenders U.S. Legal Drama". Encyclopedia of Television. Museum Of Broadcast Communications. Archived from the original on 6 November 2014.
- ^ Battaglio, Stephen (31 August 2016). "'The Defenders' finally gets justice with DVD release". Los Angeles Times.
- The Montreal Gazette. p. 12 – via Google News.
- ^ Melendez, Tanya (14 October 2021). "How TV lied about abortion". Vox.
- ^ TV Guide Names Top 50 Shows
- ^ Roush, Matt (February 25, 2013). "Showstoppers: The 60 Greatest Dramas of All Time". TV Guide. pp. 16–17.
- ^ "101 Best Written TV Series". Writers Guild of America West. June 2, 2013.
- ^ Episode 3: The Benefactor[unreliable source?] from the AMC TV network website