Barbary Coast (TV series)

Last updated
Barbary Coast
Barbary Coast Title Card.jpg
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
Starring
ComposerJohn Andrew Tartaglia
Country of originUnited States
Original languageEnglish
No. of seasons1
No. of episodes13
Production
Executive producerCy Chermak
Producer
  • Douglas Heyes
CinematographyRobert B. Hauser
Editors
  • James Doherty
  • William D. Gordon
Running time45 mins.
Production companies
Original release
Network ABC
ReleaseMay 4, 1975 (1975-05-04) –
January 9, 1976 (1976-01-09)

Barbary Coast is an American television series that aired on ABC. The pilot film first aired on May 4, 1975, and the series itself premiered September 8, 1975; the last episode aired January 9, 1976. [1]

Contents

Synopsis

Doug McClure in Barbary Coast Doug McClure.JPG
Doug McClure in Barbary Coast

With an 1870s setting, [2] Barbary Coast features the adventures of 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. The title was taken from the setting, "a square-mile section of San Francisco called the Barbary Coast, a wide-open, rip-roaring district whose inhabitants ranged from flashy ladies to sourdoughs." [3]

This was Shatner's first live-action series since Star Trek (also produced by Paramount Television). [4]

Cable and Conover battled against various criminals, and Cable frequently donned disguises in the course of his investigations. [3]

Cast

In addition to Shatner and McClure, regulars on the series included:

Schedule and production

Barbary Coast was broadcast initially on Mondays from 8 to 9 p.m. Eastern Time. Beginning October 31, 1975, it moved to Fridays from 8 to 9 p.m. ET and stayed there for the rest of its run. Its competition included Rhoda , Phyllis, Big Eddie , M*A*S*H , and films on CBS. Competing shows on NBC were The Invisible Man, Sanford and Son and Chico and the Man . [6]

Because the show was broadcast during the Family Viewing Hour, on-screen violence was kept to a minimum. Reduction of shootings and visible deaths required revisions in scripts. At one point before it went on the air, ABC changed the title to Cash and Cable because "ABC decided the name conjured up a violent image," Shatner said. [7] After some testing, however, executives determined that people preferred Barbary Coast. [7]

Production was delayed for 10 days after Shatner's ankle was broken when a horse kicked him. After his return, rains collapsed tarpaulins that protected segments of the set, causing two crew members to nearly drown. Mosquitoes attacked the set "and a wide variety of illnesses appeared and spread from one worker to another." [8]

Douglas Heyes was the series's creator. Cy Chermak was the executive producer. [1] Directors included Bill Bixby, John Florea, Alex Grasshoff, and Don McDougall. [6]

ABC had plans for a similar show seventeen years earlier. The trade publication Billboard reported in its January 20, 1958, issue, "ABC-TV — Set Barney Girard to produce and direct Barbary Coast, Adventure story laid in early San Francisco." [9]

Critical response

Alex McNeil, in the book Total Television, described the program as a "limpid western". [1]

John J. O'Connor, in a review in The New York Times , commented after the first episode that Barbary Coast and another show that premiered the same night "seem reasonable candidates for the disaster bin." [2] He specified that production was "bad throughout" and referred to segments that featured dancing girls in Cash's casino with the comment, "But the entire Bolshoi Ballet would have difficulty salvaging Barbary Coast." [2]

Alvin H. Marill, in the book Television Westerns, said the series "may or may not be considered a true Western" and went on to describe it as "an adventure/spy series". [10]

Episodes

No.TitleDirected byWritten byOriginal air date
0"The Barbary Coast" Bill Bixby Douglas Heyes May 4, 1975 (1975-05-04)
Two-hour TV-movie and backdoor pilot.
1"Funny Money" Don Weis Douglas HeyesSeptember 8, 1975 (1975-09-08)
2"Crazy Cats"Don Weis Harold Livingston September 15, 1975 (1975-09-15)
3"Jesse Who?"Bill Bixby Howard Berk September 22, 1975 (1975-09-22)
4"The Ballad of Redwing Jail" John Florea S : Douglas Heyes;
T : William D. Gordon & James Doherty		September 29, 1975 (1975-09-29)
5"Guns for a Queen"Don McDougallS : Matthew Howard;
T : William Putnam		October 6, 1975 (1975-10-06)
6"Irish Luck"Alex GrasshoffHarold LivingstonOctober 13, 1975 (1975-10-13)
7"Sauce for the Goose"Don McDougallS : Michael Lynn & George Reed;
T : Stephen Lord		October 20, 1975 (1975-10-20)
8"An Iron-Clad Plan"Herb WallersteinS : George Reed & Michael Lynn;
T : L. Ford Neale & John Huff		October 31, 1975 (1975-10-31)
9"Arson and Old Lace"Alex GrasshoffMax HodgeNovember 14, 1975 (1975-11-14)
10"Sharks Eat Sharks"Bruce BilsonJames L. HendersonNovember 21, 1975 (1975-11-21)
11"The Day Cable Was Hanged"Alex GrasshoffS : Howard Rayfiel & Kellam de Forest;
T : Stephen Ford		December 26, 1975 (1975-12-26)
12"Mary Had More Than a Little"Herb WallersteinWinston MillerJanuary 2, 1976 (1976-01-02)
13"The Dawson Marker"Alex GrasshoffWilliam D. Gordon & James DohertyJanuary 9, 1976 (1976-01-09)

Awards and nominations

The pilot episode, an ABC Sunday Night Movie, was nominated for an Emmy Award for Art Direction for Jack De Shields and set decorator Reg Allen. [11]

Cultural references

William Shatner in Barbary Coast WilliamShatner Barbary Coast.JPG
William Shatner in Barbary Coast

The Mad Magazine Star Trek musical 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" [12] that includes the lyric "Look at me now/At my old post/Happy that I can forget Barbary Coast!".[ citation needed ]

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References

  1. 1 2 3 McNeil, Alex (1996). Total Television: the Comprehensive Guide to Programming from 1948 to the Present (4th ed.). New York, New York: Penguin Books USA, Inc. p. 74. ISBN   0-14-02-4916-8.
  2. 1 2 3 O'Connor, John J. (September 8, 1975). "TV: 'Barbary Coast' and 'Phyllis' Bow" . The New York Times. p. 62. Retrieved March 25, 2023.
  3. 1 2 Brooks, Tim; Marsh, Earle F. (June 24, 2009). The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows, 1946-Present. Random House Publishing Group. p. 102. ISBN   978-0-307-48320-1 . Retrieved March 25, 2023.
  4. ↑ Edelstein, Robert (2021-07-03). "William Shatner Reflects on 'Barbary Coast' & Jeff Cable's Many Disguises". TV Insider. Retrieved 2023-09-22.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 Terrace, Vincent (January 10, 2014). Encyclopedia of Television Shows, 1925 through 2010, 2d ed. McFarland. p. 74. ISBN   978-0-7864-8641-0 . Retrieved March 25, 2023.
  6. 1 2 Hyatt, Wesley (October 6, 2015). Short-Lived Television Series, 1948-1978: Thirty Years of More Than 1,000 Flops. McFarland. pp. 240–241. ISBN   978-1-4766-0515-9 . Retrieved March 25, 2023.
  7. 1 2 Bednarski, P. J. (July 25, 1975). "Killing played down in 'Barbary Coast'". The Journal Herald. Ohio, Dayton. p. 59. Retrieved March 25, 2023– via Newspapers.com.
  8. ↑ Biggers, Buck (December 27, 1975). "'Barbary Coast': Trouble from the start". The Courier-News. New Jersey, Bridgewater. Gannett News Service. p. D-11. Retrieved March 25, 2023– via Newspapers.com.
  9. ↑ "Agency, web interest in shows on upbeat". Billboard. January 20, 1958. p. 6. Retrieved March 25, 2023.
  10. ↑ Marill, Alvin H. (June 1, 2011). Television Westerns: Six Decades of Sagebrush Sheriffs, Scalawags, and Sidewinders. Scarecrow Press. p. 88. ISBN   978-0-8108-8133-4 . Retrieved March 25, 2023.
  11. ↑ Emmy Nomination Certificate
  12. ↑ 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.
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