Two things to talk about, actually.
In the summer of 1987, CBS revived the anthology series, Summer Playhouse, as a vehicle for unsold pilots. Tim & Daphne Maxwell Reid, two months away from Frank's Place, served as hosts, and the gimmick this time was viewers were given phone numbers to call to help the network decide if they wanted to keep a specific pilot.
In this case, it was The Saint.
CBS had been home to Ian Oglivy and Return of The Saint as part of the CBS Late Movie package a few years earlier, but, oh, did they misfire with the casting of this adaptation of Leslie Charteris' iconic anti-hero.
Australian Andrew Clarke was cast as Simon Templar, but one look at him, and you get the feeling network suits weren't thinking straight. They went out and got an Australian knockoff of Thomas Magnum (Tom Selleck).
Anyway, Templar arrives in New York, and runs afoul of Inspector Fernack (Kevin Tighe, ex-Emergency!, and in the beginning of a career revival, mostly in movies such as "Eight Men Out" & "Road House".). Fernack, in the books, was the American equivalent of Inspector Teal, a frequent nemesis of Templar.
What you'll see is the first few minutes of "The Saint in Manhattan", bracketed by the Reids.
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