Chase (1973 TV series)

Chase
Mitchell Ryan as Chase Reddick, undercover from a car's back seat.
Genre	Drama
Created by	Stephen J. Cannell Robert A. Cinader
Starring	Mitchell Ryan Wayne Maunder Reid Smith
Composer	Oliver Nelson
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
No. of seasons	1
No. of episodes	23
Production
Running time	60 minutes
Production companies	Mark VII Limited Universal Television
Original release
Network	NBC
Release	September 11, 1973 (1973-09-11) – April 10, 1974 (1974-04-10)

Chase is an American crime drama television series that aired on the NBC network from September 11, 1973 to August 28, 1974. The show was a production of Jack Webb's Mark VII Limited for Universal Television and marked the first show created by Stephen J. Cannell, who later became known for creating and/or producing his own programs, including NBC's The A-Team.

Overview

The show's title had a double meaning: it was at once the first name of the lead character, Chase Reddick (Mitchell Ryan), the leader of a special team of the Los Angeles Police Department that specialized in solving unusually difficult or violent cases, and indicative of the show's emphasis on the determined pursuit and undercover surveillance of hardened criminals. The unit, headquartered in an old firehouse, relied mainly on alternate means of transportation such as helicopters, motorcycles, custom vans, taxis, four wheel-drive vehicles, sports and muscle cars, work trucks (vehicles from the Public Works Department, the telephone company, and/or the Postal Service and civilian delivery services) and high-speed driving to apprehend its suspects.

For the first fourteen episodes, Reddick, an LAPD captain, was accompanied by K-9 Sergeant Sam MacCray (Wayne Maunder) and three young officers: Steve Baker (Michael Richardson), Norm Hamilton (Reid Smith), and Fred Sing (Brian Fong). In January 1974, Webb and Universal dropped all the regulars except Ryan and Maunder in favor of a new group of officers: Frank Dawson (Albert Reed), Ed Rice (Gary Crosby, who frequently appeared on the other Mark VII shows), and Tom Wilson (Craig Gardner). Never seen, but "appearing" in every episode was actual LAPD dispatcher Shaaron Claridge, who had worked on Dragnet and Adam-12; according to the pilot script, she was assigned especially to Chase.

NBC first scheduled the show on Tuesdays at 8 p.m. Eastern, opposite CBS' hit series Maude and Hawaii Five-O. At about the same time as the casting change, the network moved Chase to Wednesday nights at 8 p.m. against the Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour. Despite the declining appeal and ratings of the latter (and the couple's forthcoming divorce), Chase did no better there and ended after a one-season run. Cannell would re-use the format of a team of specialists in The A-Team, co-created with Frank Lupo a decade later. Robert A. Cinader, who also supervised Mark VII's Adam-12 and Emergency!, was executive producer of Chase.

Cast

• Mitchell Ryan......Capt. Chase Reddick
• Craig Gardner......Tom Wilson
• Brian Fong......Off. Fred Sing (episodes 1-14)
• Wayne Maunder......Sgt. Sam MacCray
• Albert Reed......Frank Dawson
• Gary Crosby......Ed Rice
• Reid Smith.....Off. Norm Hamilton (episodes 1-14)
• Shaaron Claridge
• Michael Richardson......Off. Steve Baker (episodes 1-14)

Episodes

No.	Title	Original air date
1	"Pilot"	March 24, 1973 (1973-03-24)
2	"The Wooden Horse Caper"	September 11, 1973 (1973-09-11)
3	"Gang War"	September 18, 1973 (1973-09-18)
4	"Foul-Up"	September 25, 1973 (1973-09-25)
5	"The Winning Ticket"	October 2, 1973 (1973-10-02)
6	"One for You, Two for Me"	October 9, 1973 (1973-10-09)
7	"The Scene Stealers"	October 23, 1973 (1973-10-23)
8	"Six for Five"	October 30, 1973 (1973-10-30)
9	"The Dealer-Wheelers"	November 6, 1973 (1973-11-06)
10	"The Dice Rolled Dead"	November 20, 1973 (1973-11-20)
11	"The Garbage Man"	November 27, 1973 (1973-11-27)
12	"A Bit of Class"	December 11, 1973 (1973-12-11)
13	"Sizzling Stones"	December 18, 1973 (1973-12-18)
14	"Right to an Attorney"	January 8, 1974 (1974-01-08)
15	"John Doe Bucks"	January 16, 1974 (1974-01-16)
16	"$35 Will Fly You to the Moon"	January 23, 1974 (1974-01-23)
17	"The Game Ball"	January 30, 1974 (1974-01-30)
18	"Vacation for a President"	February 6, 1974 (1974-02-06)
19	"Hot Beef"	February 13, 1974 (1974-02-13)
20	"Out of Gas"	February 20, 1974 (1974-02-20)
21	"Remote Control"	February 27, 1974 (1974-02-27)
22	"Eighty-Six Proof TNT"	March 20, 1974 (1974-03-20)
23	"The People Parlay"	April 10, 1974 (1974-04-10)

Sources

• Total Television: A Comprehensive Guide to Programming from 1948 to the Present, Alex McNeil, New York: Penguin, revised ed., 1984. ISBN 0-140-15736-0

External links

• Chase at IMDb
• Chase at epguides.com