The Mississippi (TV series)

The Mississippi
Created by	Darryl Ponicsan
Starring	Ralph Waite Linda Miller Stan Shaw
Composer	Lee Holdridge
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
No. of seasons	2
No. of episodes	23
Production
Running time	60 minutes
Production companies	Ralph Waite Productions Hajeno Productions Warner Bros. Television
Original release
Network	CBS
Release	March 25, 1983 (1983-03-25) – March 6, 1984 (1984-03-06)

Promotional picture for The Mississippi

The Mississippi is an American legal drama television series which ran for 2 seasons from 1983 to 1984 on CBS. The series consisted of 24 episodes: 1 pilot, 6 first-season episodes and 17 episodes in the second season. The series was written by Aubrey Solomon and starred Ralph Waite, Linda Miller, and Stan Shaw. ^[1]

Plot

Ralph Waite played Ben Walker, a successful criminal attorney who, after retiring his law practice, sought a simpler life on the Mississippi River as the captain of a stern wheel river boat. Conflicting with his desire for an easy retirement from legal practice, he'd find at every port someone who needed a good attorney, and he would end up defending him or her. His “crew” consisted of Stella McMullen and Lafayette 'Lafe' Tate, both of whom were more interested in helping people, fighting crime, and becoming attorneys than in running the tug.

Filming occurred in several cities along the Mississippi River including Natchez, Mississippi, and Memphis, Tennessee.

Cast

• Ralph Waite as Ben Walker
• Linda Miller as Stella McMullen
• Stan Shaw as Lafayette "Lafe" Tate

Episodes

Season 1: 1982–83

No. overall	No. in season	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original release date
0	0	"The Mississippi"	Richard C. Sarafian	Darryl Ponicsan	June 14, 1982 (1982-06-14)
Series pilot.
1	1	"Murder at Mt. Parnassus"	Lee H. Katzin	Jerry Ziegman	March 25, 1983 (1983-03-25)
2	2	"Edge of the River"	Lee H. Katzin	Shel Willens	April 1, 1983 (1983-04-01)
3	3	"Beyond a Reasonable Doubt"	Russ Mayberry	Terry Louise Fisher	April 8, 1983 (1983-04-08)
4	4	"We Remember, We Revere"	Leo Penn	Story by : John Wilder & Paul Savage Teleplay by : Paul Savage	April 15, 1983 (1983-04-15)
5	5	"Mardi Gras"	Ralph Waite	Jeffrey Lane	April 29, 1983 (1983-04-29)
6	6	"Old Hatreds Die Hard"	Leo Penn	Story by : John Wilder & Paul Savage Teleplay by : Paul Savage	May 6, 1983 (1983-05-06)

Season 2: 1983–84

No. overall	No. in season	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original release date
7	1	"There Is a Tiger in the Town"	Jeffrey Hayden	Robert Crais	September 27, 1983 (1983-09-27)
8	2	"Cradle to Grave"	Leo Penn	Patricia Green	October 4, 1983 (1983-10-04)
9	3	"The Trial of Ben Walker"	David Shaw	David Shaw	October 11, 1983 (1983-10-11)
10	4	"The Last Voice You Hear"	Alex March	David Karp	October 18, 1983 (1983-10-18)
11	5	"The Shooting"	Georg Stanford Brown	Sidney Ellis	October 25, 1983 (1983-10-25)
12	6	"Peace with Honor"	Robert Sallin	Patricia Green	November 1, 1983 (1983-11-01)
13	7	"Joey"	Alex March	Irv Pearlberg	November 8, 1983 (1983-11-08)
14	8	"Crisis of Identity"	Harry Harris	David Shaw	November 15, 1983 (1983-11-15)
15	9	"A Town Without Pity"	Oz Scott	Steve Greenberg & Aubrey Solomon	November 22, 1983 (1983-11-22)
16	10	"G.I. Blues"	Leo Penn	Story by : Preston Marshall Ransone & Art Eisenson Teleplay by : James M. Miller	November 13, 1983 (1983-11-13)
17	11	"Between Fathers and Sons"	John Patterson	Chris Manheim	December 13, 1983 (1983-12-13)
18	12	"The Big Leagues"	Leo Penn	Irv Pearlberg	December 27, 1983 (1983-12-27)
19	13	"Going Back to Hannibal"	Allen Reisner	Alan Brennert	January 10, 1984 (1984-01-10)
20	14	"Wheels of Justice"	William Wiard	David Shaw, Ed Waters	January 17, 1984 (1984-01-17)
21	15	"Informed Consent"	Oz Scott	Rogers Turrentine	January 24, 1984 (1984-01-24)
22	16	"Abigail"	Alex March	Irv Pearlberg	February 7, 1984 (1984-02-07)
23	17	"Home Again"	Allen Reisner	Alan Brennert	March 6, 1984 (1984-03-06)

US television ratings

Season	Episodes	Start date	End date	Nielsen rank	Nielsen rating
1982–83	6	March 25, 1983	May 6, 1983	15	19.3 [2] [a]
1983–84	17	September 27, 1983	March 6, 1984	66	13.6 [3] [b]

Awards

The episode "Old Hatreds Die Hard" was nominated for a 1983 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series. ^[4]

Notes

1. Ted with 9 to 5
2. Tied with Mama's Family and Automan

References

1. The Mississippi at IMDb  
2. Lina. "The TV Ratings Guide: 1982-83 Ratings History -- Soap Bubbles Rise, Several Veterans Part and NBC Renews Poorly Rated Masterpieces" . Retrieved April 1, 2018.
3. "1983-84 Ratings History -- The Networks Are Awash in a Bubble Bath of Soaps".
4. "Awards for The Mississippi". Internet Movie Database. Retrieved 2011-07-04.

External links

• The Mississippi at IMDb
• The Mississippi at The Classic TV Archive