The Mod Squad
The Mod Squad | |
---|---|
Crime drama | |
Created by | Bud "Buddy" Ruskin |
Developed by | Tony Barrett Harve Bennett Sammy Hess |
Starring | Michael Cole Clarence Williams III Peggy Lipton Tige Andrews |
Theme music composer | Earle Hagen |
Country of origin | United States |
Original language | English |
No. of seasons | 5 |
No. of episodes | 124 (list of episodes) |
Production | |
Executive producers | Aaron Spelling Danny Thomas |
Running time | 60 minutes |
Production company | Thomas-Spelling Productions |
Original release | |
Network | ABC |
Release | September 24, 1968 March 1, 1973 | –
The Mod Squad is an American
The
Plot
They were The Mod Squad ("One black, one white, one woman"), described by one critic as "the hippest and first young undercover cops on TV".[5] Each of these characters represented mainstream culture's principal fears regarding youth in the era:[6] long-haired rebel Pete Cochran (Michael Cole) was evicted from his wealthy parents' Beverly Hills home, then arrested and put on probation after he stole a car; Lincoln Hayes (Clarence Williams III), who came from a family of 13 children, was arrested in the Watts riots, one of the longest and most violent riots in Los Angeles history; flower child Julie Barnes (Peggy Lipton), the "canary with a broken wing,"[7]: 64 was arrested for vagrancy after running away from her prostitute mother's San Francisco home; and Captain Adam Greer (Tige Andrews) was a tough but sympathetic mentor and father figure who convinced them to form the squad.[1][8][9]
The concept was to take three rebellious, disaffected young social outcasts and convince them to work as unarmed undercover detectives as an alternative to being incarcerated. Their youthful, hippie personas would enable them to get close to the criminals they would investigate. "The times are changing," Captain Greer explained. "They can get into places we (the regular police) can't." Examples included their infiltrations of a high school to solve a teacher's murder, of an underground newspaper to find a bomber, and of an acting class to look for a strangler who was preying on blonde actresses.[1][9]
More than a year before the release of the film
The show was loosely based on creator Bud "Buddy" Ruskin's experiences in the late 1950s as a squad leader for young undercover
Impact
The shows
"You can't do that," I was told. "You can't have a black man kissing a white girl." I won and ABC agreed to let it in, but they warned me I'd receive thousands of complaint letters. I didn't get one.[7]: 68
Linc's famous "solid" and "keep the faith" were among the current-day slang used on the show, which included "pad", "dig it", and "groovy."[8][13]
The "kids" traveled in Pete's famous "Woody", an old green 1950 Mercury Woodie station wagon, until it burned up in a fire after going over a cliff during a chase at the end of the second-season episode "The Death of Wild Bill Hannachek".
Among the series guest stars were Spelling's ex-wife
Episodes
Season | Episodes | Originally aired | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
First aired | Last aired | |||
1 | 26 | September 24, 1968 | April 15, 1969 | |
2 | 26 | September 23, 1969 | April 7, 1970 | |
3 | 24 | September 22, 1970 | March 23, 1971 | |
4 | 24 | September 14, 1971 | March 7, 1972 | |
5 | 24 | September 14, 1972 | March 1, 1973 | |
Television film | May 18, 1979 |
Broadcast history and Nielsen ratings
Season | Time | Rank | Rating
|
---|---|---|---|
1 (1968–69) | Tuesday at 7:30-8:30 PM | #28 | 20.5 (tied with The Lawrence Welk Show) |
2 (1969–70) | #23 | 20.8 | |
3 (1970–71) | #11 | 22.7 | |
4 (1971–72) | #21 | 21.5 | |
5 (1972–73) | Thursday at 8:00-9:00 PM | #54 | 16.5 |
Syndication
In the U.S.,
Related productions
A television pilot was shot in 1968, with a running time of 74 minutes, but it was never aired in its entirety. The film was edited to 50 minutes and aired as the show's first episode. The uncut 74-minute version appears on the DVD set as the opening episode, with the title "The Teeth of the Barracuda."
A TV reunion movie, The Return of the Mod Squad, was transmitted on ABC on May 18, 1979, featuring the entire original cast. Tom Bosley, a guest star during the original run, also participated as an antagonist targeting Julie Barnes herself. Peggy Lipton said she participated in it as a favor to Aaron Spelling.[citation needed]
In 1999, the series was adapted into a feature film with the same title by MGM; however, this film, which starred Giovanni Ribisi, Omar Epps, Claire Danes, and Dennis Farina reprising Cole's, Williams III's, Lipton's, and Andrews's roles respectively, was not a box-office success.
Home media
CBS DVD (distributed by Paramount) has released the first two seasons of The Mod Squad on DVD in Region 1.
On August 20, 2013, it was announced that
DVD name | Ep # | Release date |
---|---|---|
Season 1, Volume 1 | 13 | December 18, 2007 (US & Canada) |
Season 1, Volume 2 | 13 | March 11, 2008 (US & Canada) |
Season 2, Volume 1 | 13 | November 25, 2008 (US & Canada) |
Season 2, Volume 2 | 13 | May 26, 2009 (US & Canada) |
Season 3, Volume 1 | 12 | September 24, 2013 (US)September 17, 2013 (Canada) |
Season 3, Volume 2 | 12 | September 24, 2013 (US)September 17, 2013 (Canada) |
Season 4, Volume 1 | 12 | October 1, 2013 (US)October 8, 2013 (Canada) |
Season 4, Volume 2 | 12 | October 1, 2013 (US)October 8, 2013 (Canada) |
Season 5, Volume 1 | 12 | December 17, 2013 (US)November 19, 2013 (Canada) |
Season 5, Volume 2 | 12 | December 17, 2013 (US)November 19, 2013 (Canada) |
Complete Series | 124 | November 12, 2013 (US & Canada)[18] |
References elsewhere in popular culture
The term "Mod Squad" had been introduced the previous year in
In 1990 on the TV series Twin Peaks, in which Lipton was a regular, Williams appeared in two episodes. The pair shared a brief scene that appears to have been an intentional reunion.[19]
References
- ^ a b c d "The Mod Squad". St. James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture.
- ^ a b Lovece, Frank (16 December 2007). "Groovy kind of law". Newsday. Archived from the original on February 15, 2008.
- ^ "Awards for The Mod Squad". Internet Movie Database. Retrieved April 28, 2017.
- ^ "Special Collectors' Issue: 100 Greatest Episodes of All Time". TV Guide (June 28-July 4). 1997.
- ^ Hutchings, David (April 4, 1988). "Can You Dig It? the Mod Squad's Peggy Lipton, One Marriage and 15 Years Later, Returns to Acting". People. Vol. 29, no. 13. Retrieved April 28, 2017.
- ISBN 9781440801020. Retrieved June 10, 2014.
- ^ ISBN 9780312313449.
- ^ a b c Madden, Joanne (17 May 2011). "The Coolness of The Mod Squad". TV Banter. Retrieved 8 February 2015.
- ^ a b "The Mod Squad - Season 1, Volume 1". Amazon. 18 December 2007. Retrieved 8 February 2015.
- ^ Blythe, Kambur O. "The Mod Squad: The Second Season, Volume One". GameVortex.com. GameVortex Communications. Retrieved 8 February 2015.
- ^ Allen, Steve. "Television in the United States". Britannica.com. Retrieved 8 February 2015.
- ^ The Star Trek episode "Plato's Stepchildren", often cited as a controversial 'first' of this kind, was not until 1968.
- ^ "'Mod Squad' Star Returns to TV". Los Angeles Times. Times Wire Services. 19 October 1990. Retrieved 8 February 2015.
- ^ "No. 12: Classic TV Beauties 1960s Countdown: Peggy Lipton as Julie Barnes in "The Mod Squad"". ClassicTVBeauties.com. Retrieved 8 February 2015.
- ^ Half-Season Sets Scheduled for 'Season 3' and 'Season 4' Archived August 23, 2013, at the Wayback Machine at TVShowsonDVD.com
- ^ The Mod Squad Season 5, Volume One at Amazon.com
- ^ The Mod Squad Season 5, Volume Two at Amazon.com
- ^ a b The Mod Squad: The Complete Collection at VisualEntertainment.tv
- ^ Thomlison, Adam. "Q&A". TV Media. Retrieved September 24, 2015.