Filmways, until it was absorbed by Orion Pictures after the first season of Cagney & Lacey, didn't have much of a track record with dramas pre-1982.
In 1965, they gave it a shot with The Trials of O'Brien, with Peter Falk, 3 years before Columbo, as a lawyer. Perry Mason, it wasn't. Not even close. And I don't think America was ready for a lawyer who had more of an interest in horse racing than in defending his clients.
Unfortunately, no complete episodes are available on YouTube. What we can offer, however, is this sample clip:
Trials had potential. It was just probably on the wrong night, or folks just weren't ready for a flawed attorney.
No rating.
4 comments:
Trials Of O'Brien was on two wrong nights.
The first wrong night was Saturday, when it was on against Get Smart and Lawrence Welk.
The second wrong night was Friday, when The Man From UNCLE was just breaking out.
Add to that: all the above named shows were in color, while O'Brien was B&W ...
Three strikes and out.
Hmmm, maybe if CBS had gone to color sooner than they did........
I think the show was ahead of its time; it wouldn't be until the early '70s that the public would embrace characters with certain eccentricities ("Columbo" is proof of that).
Makes sense.
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