Wednesday, November 20, 2019

What Might've Been: Slattery's People (1964)

After supporting roles in Our Miss Brooks & The Real McCoys, Richard Crenna made a bold move into drama with Slattery's People, which spent a season and change on CBS over the course of 14 months (September 1964-November 1965).

Crenna had the title role, but Slattery didn't have a first name until the short-lived season 2. Slattery was a lawyer and legislator, juggling two important jobs as some politicians are wont to do at the local level.

So what was the problem? CBS slotted Slattery's People on Mondays, directly opposite Ben Casey on ABC, with both shows coming from Bing Crosby's production company. CBS heard the flak from the Crosby camp, and ultimately moved Slattery to another night. However, despite critical acclaim, viewers stayed away, and the series didn't make it to a 2nd Christmas.

Let's take a look at a sample episode, "Children of Calamity":



Creator-executive producer James Moser wrote a fair number of episodes of Dragnet for both radio & television in the 50's.

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