Longstreet (TV series)

*Longstreet*
Longstreet
	James Franciscus as Longstreet, 1971.
Genre	Crime drama
Starring	James Franciscus; Ann Doran; Peter Mark Richman
Country of origin	USA
Original language	English
No. of seasons	1
No. of episodes	23 + pilot movie
Production
Executive producer	Stirling Silliphant
Producer	Joel Rogosin
Running time	60 mins.
Original release
Network	ABC
Release	September 16, 1971 –; August 10, 1972

Longstreet is an American crime drama series that was broadcast on the ABC in the 1971-1972 season (see 1971 in television). A 90-minute pilot movie of the same name aired prior to the debut of the series as an ABC Movie of the Week.

Synopsis

The series starred James Franciscus as insurance investigator Mike Longstreet. After a bomb (hidden in a champagne bottle) kills his wife, Ingrid, and leaves him blind, the title character pursues and captures the killers. He then continues his career as an insurance investigator despite his blindness. Longstreet's seeing eye dog was a white German Shepherd called Pax. The series was set in New Orleans, but was actually filmed in Los Angeles. Coincidentally, exactly a decade earlier, Franciscus had appeared as insurance investigator Russ Andrews in a 13-week CBS series The Investigators, with James Philbrook as his principal co-star. Both series aired at the same time, Thursday 9 PM (Eastern).

Mystery novelist Baynard Kendrick was credited in each episode as the creator of the source material for the series, although his character, Captain Duncan Maclain, had little in common with Longstreet aside from their both being blind private detectives.

Bruce Lee appeared in four episodes as Li Tsung, an antiques dealer and Jeet Kune Do expert who becomes Longstreet's martial arts instructor. Wikiquote has quotations from Li Tsung's teachings.

Twenty-three episodes of the show were aired before it was canceled in 1972.

Regular and recurring characters

Mike Longstreet - James Franciscus
Nikki Bell - Marlyn Mason 22 episodes
Duke Paige - Peter Mark Richman 20 episodes
Mrs. Kingston - Ann Doran 17 episodes
Li Tsung - Bruce Lee 4 episodes

Episode list

Episode #	Production Code	Episode Title	Airdate
	100	"Longstreet" (Pilot movie)	February 23, 1971
1*	102	"The Way of the Intercepting Fist"	September 16, 1971
2	101	"A World of Perfect Complicity"	September 23, 1971
3	106	"One in the Reality Column"	September 30, 1971
4	103	"So, Who's Fred Hornbeck?"	October 7, 1971
5	105	"Elegy in Brass"	October 14, 1971
6*	109	"Spell Legacy Like Death"	October 21, 1971
7	107	"The Shape of Nightmares"	October 28, 1971
8	104	"The Girl with a Broom"	November 14, 1971
9*	110	"Wednesday's Child"	November 11, 1971
10*	112	"I See, Said the Blind Man"	November 18, 1971
11	113	"This Little Piggy Went to Marquette"	December 2, 1971
12	114	"There Was a Crooked Man"	December 9, 1971
13	108	"The Old Team Spirit"	December 16, 1971
14	111	"The Long Way Home"	December 30, 1971
15	115	"Let the Memories Be Happy Ones"	January 6, 1972
16	116	"Survival Times Two"	January 13, 1972
17	117	"Eye of the Storm"	January 20, 1972
18	119	"Please Leave the Wreck for Others to Enjoy"	January 27, 1972
19	118	"Anatomy of a Mayday"	February 3, 1972
20	120	"Sad Songs and Other Conversations"	February 10, 1972
21	121	"Field of Honor"	February 17, 1972
22	122	"Through Shattering Glass"	February 24, 1972
23	123	"The Sound of Money Talking"	March 2, 1972

Episode numbers marked with * are the episodes in which Bruce Lee appeared.

Syndication and DVD release

The series has rarely been re-aired, but appeared on Canada's Mystery TV in 2005-2006. The series was released on commercial DVD in Japan (region 2) in late 2007, but has not yet been commercially released on DVD in the U.S.

External links