Robert B. Parker, Burt Reynolds and B.L. Stryker

When it comes to the TV career of Burt Reynolds, most of us who are in our 40s think of the opening title sequence of Dan August (ABC, 1970-1971), which saw him hurtle his body over the length of a car in what at the time had to be the most spectacular stunt ever attempted by an actor for network television. Depending on your age or demographic, you might also remember his work on Gunsmoke, Riverboat, his dead-on Brando impersonation from his guest appearance on The Twilight Zone, or more recently, his successful run in the early ’90s as the star of Evening Shade (CBS, 1990-1994). Chances are, you won’t think of Burt Reynolds in terms of B.L. Stryker (ABC, 1989-1990), the short-lived private detective series that marked his return to TV after a 20-year motion picture career… in which case, if you’re a Reynolds fan, you might want to check out TV Guide Presents B.L. Stryker: Season One, which will be released on DVD starting tomorrow, Feb. 26. While it doesn’t exactly break ground in terms of the TV mystery genre, B.L. Stryker is well made, well cast (the rapport between Reynolds and co-star Ossie Davis is particularly fun to watch), and certainly well worth watching.I had an opportunity to preview the DVD package last week for Talking Television with Dave White. What interested me most about the series, besides the “Reynolds’ return to TV” angle, was its pedigree. Tom Selleck (Magnum, p.i.) executive-produced B.L. Stryker, along with Chas. Floyd Johnson (The Rockford Files), while Robert B. Parker, the best-selling mystery novelist who created Spenser and Jesse Stone, wrote for the show. In fact, Parker and his wife, Joan, co-wrote one of the five first-season episodes: “Blues for Buder” (directed by Reynolds), in which Stryker finds himself becoming a father figure to an obnoxious young boy (played by a pre-Doogie Howser Neil Patrick Harris). It’s a relationship with dynamics not unlike the one forged by Spenser with young Paul Giacomin in the brilliant Early Autumn, one of the earliest entries in the Spenser novel series.

Watching the episode also made me think back to August 1998, when my wife and I interviewed Parker at his home near Boston. At one point in the conversation, Parker brought up his association with Reynolds: “Joan and I did a couple of movies with Burt, when he was doing B.L. Stryker…. Burt gets a bad rap, in my view. I’ve never had anything but pleasant experiences with him. He did the audio for [some of the Spenser books on tape] and he read them well.”

One imagines the feeling is mutual. Reynolds not only has his moments as an actor in “Blues for Buder,” but does a nice job directing Parker’s script.

Ed Robertson
Pop Culture Critic and Television Historian
Co-Host, Talking Television with Dave White
Share-a-Vision Radio, KSAV.org
www.edrobertson.com

This week on Calling All Authors

Calling All Authors is a weekly radio show for authors, writers and readers that discusses writing, the publishing industry, and the many issues that affect books and their creation from beginning to end. Hosted by Valerie Connelly, the program airs every Tuesday at 5pm ET, 2pm PT exclusively on Global Talk Radio.com. I’ll be Valerie’s guest this Tuesday, Feb. 19; among other topics, we’ll be talking about ghostwriting and book collaboration. The conversation is always lively, entertaining and informative. I hope you’ll tune in.

Ed Robertson
Freelance Author, Editor, Journalist and Ghostwriter
www.edrobertson.com

Remembering Suzanne Pleshette

In case you missed it, our tribute to Suzanne Pleshette is now available on Share-a-Vision Radio. Joining Frankie Montiforte and me to pay tribute to this bona fide television icon is veteran DGA member Bob Rubin, a neighbor and personal friend of Pleshette who also worked with her on many QM productions, and Robert Newhart, whose dad, Bob Newhart, co-starred with Pleshette on The Bob Newhart Show.

Ed Robertson
Pop Culture Critic and Television Historian
Co-Host, Talking Television with Dave White
www.edrobertson.com
www.doctorrerun.com
www.talkingtelevision.org

Rest in peace, Lt. Gerard

The past two weeks have been especially sad for the entertainment industry. While the untimely death of the talented Heath Ledger has received much of the news coverage, we’ve also seen the passings of such TV icons as Allan Melvin (Sam on The Brady Bunch), Lois Nettleton (whose many television appearances covered classic dramas like The Fugitive, cult TV-movies like Women in Chains and contemporary comedies such as Seinfeld) and, of course, Suzanne Pleshette (The Bob Newhart Show).

I’m sad to report the loss of yet another TV icon. This morning I learned from my friend Anthony Wynn of the passing of Barry Morse, the versatile British actor best known to American audiences for his roles on The Fugitive (ABC, 1963-1967) and Space: 1999 (ITC, 1975-1977). Tony collaborated with Barry on many projects over the past ten years, including Barry’s recently published memoir, Remember with Advantages.

Barry proudly considered himself a “character actor” in the truest sense of the word. In a career that spanned 70 years, he brought to life literally hundreds of different characters on stage, screen and television throughout the U.S., U.K. and Canada. His vast body of work covered everything from Shakespeare and George Bernard Shaw, to Gore Vidal and A.R. Gurney, to his own critically acclaimed one-man show, Merely Players, to memorable appearances on hundreds of television shows, including The Twilight Zone, The Untouchables, The Outer Limits and The Invaders, as well as groundbreaking miniseries like The Winds of War, War and Remembrance and Sadat.But in the annals of American pop culture, it is the character of Philip Gerard, “the police lieutenant obsessed with the capture” of the wrongly convicted Dr. Richard Kimble (David Janssen) on the Emmy Award-winning ABC series The Fugitive, for which Barry Morse is best remembered. Twenty years before Larry Hagman, J.R. Ewing and Dallas, Barry’s portrayal of Lt. Gerard was the original “man you loved to hate.”

Perhaps Stephen King said it best. “Lt. Gerard really scared me as a kid,” the bestselling novelist said to me when I interviewed for my book The Fugitive Recaptured. “Barry Morse was so good, he brought an element of reality to Gerard that a lot of TV characters didn’t have. Whereas most series characters remain emotionally static, Gerard actually seemed to grow less and less tightly wrapped as the show continued. Gerard was completely nuts – at least, I thought so. Kimble had made him crazy, and as The Fugitive went on, you could see him heading further and further into freako land.”

Having gotten to know Barry a bit myself as a result of The Fugitive Recaptured, I can tell you he got quite a kick out of Mr. King’s assessment. Though his years on The Fugitive represented a small fraction of his collective work, he remained proud of his association with the series and its impact on American dramatic television. We spoke many times during the three-year period in which I researched and wrote the book. He was a marvelous storyteller with uncanny powers of recollection, tremendous warmth and compassion, and great fondness for David Janssen and Quinn Martin. Plus, being veddy, veddy British, he also had a cheeky sense of humor. With the possible exception of Suzanne Pleshette, he was as refreshingly down to earth as any actor I’ve come to know. Rest in peace, Lt. Gerard.

Ed Robertson
Pop Culture Critic and Television Historian
www.edrobertson.com