Tuesday, March 1, 2016

What Might've Been: Sarge (1971)

A retired San Diego police detective entered the priesthood after his wife had been murdered. However, Sam Cavanaugh (George Kennedy) can't seem to stay away from police work.

Sarge lasted one season on NBC (1971-2), and had started with a pilot TV-movie early in 1971. After a season-opening crossover with Ironside, Sarge bowed the following week, but only 14 episodes would air before the show was cancelled.

Why did it fail? It wasn't that viewers weren't ready for a crime solving man of the cloth. The original Hawaii Five-O provided some of the competition, along with ABC's Movie of the Week.

In memory of Kennedy, who passed away yesterday, here's the episode, "A Push Over the Edge", with guest stars Vic Morrow and a pre-Happy Days Marion Ross.



Rating: B.

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