Sea Hunt

Sea Hunt
Genre	Adventure
Created by	Ivan Tors
Developed by	Ivan Tors
Starring	Lloyd Bridges
Narrated by	Lloyd Bridges
Theme music composer	David Rose (Ray Llewellyn, credited pseudonym)
Opening theme	"The Sea Hunt Theme" (BMI)
Ending theme	"The Sea Hunt Theme" (BMI)
Composer	David Rose
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
No. of seasons	4
No. of episodes	155
Production
Executive producers	Frederick W. Ziv Maurice Ziv
Producers	Herbert L. Strock Ivan Tors
Cinematography	Monroe P. Askins Edward Cronjager Robert Hoffman
Editors	James Buxbaum Charles Craft Harold V. McKenzie Thomas Scott
Running time	30 mins. (approx)
Original release
Network	Syndication
Release	January 4, 1958 – September 23, 1961

Sea Hunt was an American adventure television series that was aired in syndication by Ziv Television Programs from 1958 to 1961 and was popular in syndication for decades afterwards. The series originally aired for four seasons, with 155 episodes produced. It starred Lloyd Bridges as ex-Navy frogman Mike Nelson, and was produced by Ivan Tors.

Synopsis

The lead character was free-lance scuba diver Mike Nelson, who had various adventures. He outmaneuvered villains, salvaged everything from a bicycle to a nuclear missile, and rescued a downed Navy pilot (in his sunken jet, in the pilot episode), children trapped in a flooded cave, and even a dog. Since no dialogue was possible during the underwater sequences, Bridges provided voice-over narration for all the installments. Bridges would appear as himself at the end of each episode to deliver a brief comment. These comments sometimes included a plea to viewers to understand and protect the marine environment.

After Bridges was cast, he was given a crash course in scuba diving by Zale Parry and Courtney Brown. Brown served as his underwater stunt double. Over the course of the show's run, Bridges got more involved in the underwater stunt work, graduating from close-ups in the earliest episodes, to doing all but the most dangerous stunts by the end of the series' run.

The series served as a stepping stone for some of Hollywood's most notable actors, including Leonard Nimoy, Robert Conrad, Bruce Dern, Ron Foster, Larry Hagman, Ross Martin, Daria Massey, Jack Nicholson (in the last episode of the series), and Bridges' own sons, Beau and Jeff. Russ Conway guest-starred eight times on the series. Many lesser-known actors also appeared, such as Peter Breck, Robert Karnes, Tyler McVey, Gregg Palmer, Alvaro Guillot and Paul Stader.

Production notes

The underwater sequences were filmed in a matrix fashion at many locations including studio tanks and outdoor locations in California, Florida, and eventually the Bahamas. Much stock footage was shot and later mixed with episode-specific character footage. Filming locations included Marineland of the Pacific (Park operated 1954–1987), the front side of Catalina Island, Paradise Cove west of Malibu, Silver Springs, Florida, Cypress Gardens, Florida, Tarpon Springs, Florida, Nassau, and Grand Bahama Island. On-land location shots were filmed throughout Los Angeles, in central Florida, Nassau, or on a sound stage.

Famous divers such as Zale Parry and Albert Tillman were involved in production of the show, as was Jon Lindbergh, son of aviator Charles Lindbergh. Parry was joined in 1960 by 18-year-old Wende Wagner as female underwater stunt double. Pioneering underwater cinematographer Lamar Boren, who also worked on other Ivan Tors productions (such as the motion picture and TV series versions of Flipper, and three James Bond films: Thunderball, You Only Live Twice, and The Spy Who Loved Me), shot nearly all of the underwater footage for the series. John Lamb, who went on to shoot the underwater sequences for both the movie and TV versions of Irwin Allen's Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, also filmed some episodes.

Tors had tried in vain to sell the series to CBS, NBC and ABC, but all three networks decided that storylines involving an ex-frogman couldn't be sustained. Each of the networks were embarrassed over the show's subsequent popularity and success.

1987 series

A short-lived revival starring Ron Ely and Kimber Sissons appeared in 1987 and lasted til 1988 with 22 episodes filmed. For budgetary reasons, land scenes from this second series were filmed in Canada (specifically Victoria, British Columbia), despite the stories being set in Florida. Underwater scenes were filmed in tropical locations.

50th anniversary

The Underwater Videographer Podcast presented a Sea Hunt 50th Anniversary podcast in December 2007. Appearing on the podcast were author Eric Hanauer, who interviewed Lloyd Bridges shortly before he died, Hollywood actress Susan Silo, who guest starred in the "Cougar" episode of Sea Hunt, and Jeff Bridges, who shared memories of his father and Sea Hunt. Listen to the podcast here

Pop culture references

Decades later, Mystery Science Theater 3000 featured a running gag about how Nelson almost always became imperiled by his air supply being cut off in one way or another; One of the MST3K characters reciting the line, "By that time, my lungs were aching for air." Coincidentally, "Mike Nelson" is also the name of one of Mystery Science Theater 3000's head writers/hosts.

External links

• Sea Hunt at IMDb
• Sea Hunt (1987 series) at IMDb
• Template:Tv.com
• Sea Hunt at epguides.com
• Sea Hunt Trivia Guide from The Scuba Guy