Six months before The Untouchables hit the air, NBC had a similar show set in the same period.
The Lawless Years lasted three seasons, and shined a spotlight on some lesser known mobsters, as well as some of the same major names that would also be chronicled on Untouchables. Producer Jack Chertok partnered with California National, which appeared to be exclusive to NBC, to package the series.
James Gregory starred as real-life detective Barney Ruditsky, and narrated each episode. Ruditsky served as a technical advisor.
The series' 3rd season was a spring replacement, just like the first season. With the success of Untouchables, Lawless had become an afterthought.
From season 2 comes the story of one of those lesser known men, Al Brown (played by Jack Weston).
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4 comments:
Fun Fact:
One of Barney Ruditsky's showbiz friends was comedy writer Danny Arnold -
- who went on to create a series about New York cops called Barney Miller, after his friend.
And the casting of James Gregory as Inspector Luger was not a coincidence …
So that explains how Gregory was cast as Luger, revitalizing his career. Arnold's career goes back to probably the early days of television.
Thanks, Mike.
Danny Arnold's career dates to the mid-'50s, when Jerry Lewis split with Dean Martin.
James Gregory's career scarcely needed "revitalizing"; he worked consistently from the '60s through to the '80s (see IMDb).
#LookThingsUp.
Gregory did a lot of guest star gigs before landing the Barney Miller role as Inspector Luger. Barney Miller was his first regular gig, probably since Lawless Years, but, yeah, I'll look it up.
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