Ah! Another forgotten gem! Leslie Stevens, who made a name for himself through The Outer Limits, was a wonderful and successful creator of original SF concepts. For Search, which had to change the name from Probe in the pilot episode, Stevens successfully created three original leads whose stories would rotate. No other SF show had done this before. Shared universe: no real crossover between leads. This was genuinely family-friendly. And this was genuinely SF. Sadly, it didn't get the public response it needed to continue beyond twenty-three episodes. As such, after the original run in 1972, it disappeared into the aether. I don't recall ever seeing this on television again. (I honestly don't remember this series at all.) I'm guessing, however, that although the three leads were strong, without interaction between them for the audience to follow, there wasn't a way to grab the viewers and haul them in to follow the dynamics week to week. For example, what if Star Trek followed three federation starships each with a separate crew going on separate missions? The viewer loyalty to the characters would have been very difficult to cultivate. I don't say this to dismiss Search, but to consider why it didn't take off with viewers the way it should have. The technology was prescient of coming developments in the real world--but good SF can always predict certain technical innovations. It is often where inventors get their ideas! I love shows like this and wish it had enjoyed a longer life span on television. Thanks for sharing, Doug!
@@diviningdragon As far as I remember it was only screened once here and I'm pretty sure the whole series wasn't transmitted. It wasn't at all popular in this country. I enjoyed it ,but if I'm honest I'm a sucker for an impressive title sequence so that sucked me in. To be fair the episodes were generic, but the teenage me enjoyed it. I'm also a big fan of my namesake Doug McClure. He was an actor of limited scope but oozed charm and charisma
@@boomerdoug4242 I hear that! I also love Doug McClure. He remained a B-tier actor his entire career, but he WAS charismatic. He would need a very specific kind of series to capitalize on his strengths long-term, but just never was able to find it after the Virginian. That was unfortunate. And to die at 60 seemed a big young in my mind. As for the look of the show, it was SO Seventies! Another favorite of mine remains Burgess Meredith. Period. I just love his persona. He was perfect as a supporting character, but I sometimes wonder what kind of role he could have enjoyed as the lead...
@@diviningdragon I'm a fan of Burgess . I feel he was a great actor who often took roles that were beneath him to keep working. I recently watched Of Mice and Men for the first time he was great. Obviously he was superb in Rocky (1) and kind of went along for the ride in the sequels.
Well, that's a new one on me. I'm not sure if it ever made it to the UK. Yes, I think they missed a trick not involving the three leads. A bit of interplay makes for more interesting story telling.
Totally agree. It was a bit of a flop. It didn't last long here in Oz. I really loved it as a very uncool teenager. I think the revolving leads thing was a bit of an early 70s gimmick . They did it successfully with Name of the Game. Rotating Gene Barry Robert Stack and Tony Franciosa. Maybe High O'Brian didn't want to do weekly. As much as I liked McClure he and Franciosa were very much B Grade Leads and felt like a fill in
@@johnhunt3071 yeah I looked it up after chatting to Neville. Apparently it was called SEARCH CONTROL there. Maybe it wasn't screened everywhere? Or like here just not popular
Ah! Another forgotten gem! Leslie Stevens, who made a name for himself through The Outer Limits, was a wonderful and successful creator of original SF concepts. For Search, which had to change the name from Probe in the pilot episode, Stevens successfully created three original leads whose stories would rotate. No other SF show had done this before. Shared universe: no real crossover between leads. This was genuinely family-friendly. And this was genuinely SF. Sadly, it didn't get the public response it needed to continue beyond twenty-three episodes. As such, after the original run in 1972, it disappeared into the aether. I don't recall ever seeing this on television again. (I honestly don't remember this series at all.) I'm guessing, however, that although the three leads were strong, without interaction between them for the audience to follow, there wasn't a way to grab the viewers and haul them in to follow the dynamics week to week. For example, what if Star Trek followed three federation starships each with a separate crew going on separate missions? The viewer loyalty to the characters would have been very difficult to cultivate. I don't say this to dismiss Search, but to consider why it didn't take off with viewers the way it should have. The technology was prescient of coming developments in the real world--but good SF can always predict certain technical innovations. It is often where inventors get their ideas! I love shows like this and wish it had enjoyed a longer life span on television. Thanks for sharing, Doug!
@@diviningdragon As far as I remember it was only screened once here and I'm pretty sure the whole series wasn't transmitted. It wasn't at all popular in this country. I enjoyed it ,but if I'm honest I'm a sucker for an impressive title sequence so that sucked me in. To be fair the episodes were generic, but the teenage me enjoyed it. I'm also a big fan of my namesake Doug McClure. He was an actor of limited scope but oozed charm and charisma
@@boomerdoug4242 I hear that! I also love Doug McClure. He remained a B-tier actor his entire career, but he WAS charismatic. He would need a very specific kind of series to capitalize on his strengths long-term, but just never was able to find it after the Virginian. That was unfortunate. And to die at 60 seemed a big young in my mind. As for the look of the show, it was SO Seventies! Another favorite of mine remains Burgess Meredith. Period. I just love his persona. He was perfect as a supporting character, but I sometimes wonder what kind of role he could have enjoyed as the lead...
@@diviningdragon I'm a fan of Burgess . I feel he was a great actor who often took roles that were beneath him to keep working. I recently watched Of Mice and Men for the first time he was great. Obviously he was superb in Rocky (1) and kind of went along for the ride in the sequels.
Well, that's a new one on me. I'm not sure if it ever made it to the UK. Yes, I think they missed a trick not involving the three leads. A bit of interplay makes for more interesting story telling.
Totally agree. It was a bit of a flop. It didn't last long here in Oz. I really loved it as a very uncool teenager. I think the revolving leads thing was a bit of an early 70s gimmick . They did it successfully with Name of the Game. Rotating Gene Barry Robert Stack and Tony Franciosa. Maybe High O'Brian didn't want to do weekly. As much as I liked McClure he and Franciosa were very much B Grade Leads and felt like a fill in
It did make it to the UK. I remember seeing it here (I'm from the UK).
@@johnhunt3071 yeah I looked it up after chatting to Neville. Apparently it was called SEARCH CONTROL there. Maybe it wasn't screened everywhere? Or like here just not popular
@@boomerdoug4242 Ah, so it did make it here. Possibly only in some regions though. You know yourself how fragmented our broadcast system is.