Monday, November 14, 2022

What Might've Been: Future Cop (1976)

 With the success of The Six Million Dollar Man, ABC thought they could try a crime drama centered on an android cop.

Future Cop started off with a 1976 TV-movie, then went to series in the spring of 1977. In between, ABC bought a sitcom from producer Leonard Stern, Holmes & YoYo, produced for Universal, home to Six Million Dollar Man and its companion series, The Bionic Woman. Holmes (previously reviewed) was already gone by the time Future Cop began its series run in March 1977.

Future Cop, from Paramount, was a TV comeback for Ernest Borgnine (ex-McHale's Navy), who went back to movies after McHale ended. In fact, he'd starred in the movie, Law & Disorder, with Carroll O'Connor (All in The Family). John Amos came over from Good Times to team with Borgnine and newcomer Michael Shannon, who had the title role as the android, Haven.

However, that gap between the pilot movie and the series proved very costly. After the series premiere on March 5, it didn't return for nearly 3 weeks, and was gone by the end of April. Amos had, in the interim, appeared in Roots.

Following is a sample open & close.


Rating: B-.

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