Created by Larry Cohen
The Voice of Doom” as a P.I.?
Pa Cartwright as a shamus?
Canada’s own Lorne Greene (why do you think they call it a “Greene Card”?) played WADE “GRIFF” GRIFFIN, a veteran LAPD captain who resigned from the force after thirty years of service over a matter of principle, but stormed right back into the game less than a year after the long-running Bonanza has moseyed off into the sunset. The sure-fire premise? After witnessing his private eye son’s murder and his grandson’s kidnapping. Griff decides to become a private eye himself. At least, that’s how the pilot for this short-lived TV series played out.
The ensuing series, Griff (1973-74, ABC), takes place long after the killing and kidnapping have occurred, and featured Griff running his newly-opened Wade Griffin Investigations, aided by his young partner, Mike Murdoch, and their faithful secretary Gracie. Wade made his home in the “swinging, youth-oriented Westwood section of Los Angeles.”
Yeah, because in network-think, when you think of swinging youth, the first name you think of is… Lorne Greene?
But hey, in the early seventies, a ham sandwich could get its own show if it was a private eye.
It wasn’t that Griff was necessarily “bad” so much as it was not very different than other, too similar and often much better shows at the time.
Curiously, the pilot that set everything up never even aired until a year and a half after the series had sputtered and died. Adding insult to injury, one of the few available examples of this show is a bashed-together made-for-TV flick, Death Follows a Psycho, released for syndication that slapped together two unconnected episodes.
FROM THE PEANUT GALLERY
- “It’s nice to know something (Dellaventura) finally came along to knock off Lorne Greene’s Griff (1973) as the worst TV eye of all time, but it took more than twenty years!”
— Ted Fitzgerald
TRIVIA
- Early in his career, Greene auditioned for an announcing job with Canada’s CBC and soon became one of the country’s most prominent and trusted newscasters. But during the early years of World War II, when every night seemed to bring more bad news from the front, he earned the nickname “The Voice of Doom”.
TELEVISION
- GRIFF
(1973-74, ABC)
12 60-minute episodes
Premiere: September 29, 1973
Created by Larry Cohen
Writers: Larry Cohen, Arnold Laven, Peter S. Fischer, Steven Bochco, Victor Laszlo, William Driskill, Lou Antonio, Robert Biheller, W. Dal Jenkins, Tim Maschler, Dick Nelson, Bill Svanoe, Kenneth Johnson, Dick Spanos
Directors: Lewis Allen, Edward M. Abroms, Walter Doniger, Allen Baron, Kenneth Johnson, Arnold Laven, Robert Michael Lewis, Russ Mayberry, Lou Antonio
Produced by David Victor, for Universal
Starring Lorne Greene as WADE GRIFFIN
with Ben Murphy as Mike Murdoch
Patricia Stich as Gracie Newcombe
and Vic Tayback as Captain Barney Marcus
Also starring James Olson, Lee H. Montgomery, Lorraine Gary, Brooke Bundy, Ken Swofford, Scatman Crothers
Guest stars: Sharon Dennis, Barbara Feldon, Jared Martin, Mark Miller, Pat Crowley, Robert Sampson, Scatman Crothers, Sal Mineo, Ricardo Montalban, Norman Fell, Robert Webber
Robert Webber, Kim Hunter, Susan Howard, James McEachin, Pamela Hensley, Nick Nolte, Dabney Coleman, Philip Michael Thomas- SEASON ONE
- “The Framing of Billy the Kid” (September 29, 1973)
- “Death by Prescription” (October 6, 1973)
- “All the Lonely People” (October 13, 1973)
- “Don’t Call Us, We’ll Call You” (October 20, 1973)
- “Marked for Murder” October 27, 1973)
- “The Last Ballad” Episode (November 10, 1973)
- “Countdown to Terror” (November 17, 1973)
- “Elephant in a Cage” (November 24, 1973)
- “His Name Was Nancy” (December 8, 1973)
- “Hammerlocke” (December 15, 1973)
- “Isolate and Destroy” (December 22, 1973)
- “Fugitive from Fear” (January 5, 1974)
- MAN ON THE OUTSIDE
(1975, ABC)
Pilot (for the already-cancelled series)
First aired June 29, 1975
Teleplay by Larry Cohen
Directed by Boris Sagal
Produced by George Eckstein
Executive Producer: David Victor, for Universal
Starring Lorne Greene as WADE GRIFFIN
Also starring James Olson, Lee H. Montgomery, Lorraine Gary, Brooke Bundy, Ken Swofford, Scatman Crothers - DEATH FOLLOWS A PSYCHO | Buy the DVD | Watch it now
(1975, syndicated)
Made-for-TV movie
Premiere: January 1, 1972
Writers: Arnold Laven, Peter S. Fischer, Steven Bochco, Victor Laszlo
Directors: Richard BennettArnold Laven
STARRING LORNE GREENE as Wade Griffin
Also starring Ricardo MontalbanVic TaybackBen MurphyPatricia Stich
Not really a made-for-TV movie, but a cobbled together, clunky mash-up of two previously aired episodes,”Countdown to Terror” (November 17, 1973) and “Elephant in a Cage” (November 24, 1973) for the syndication market.
NOVELIZATIONS
Griff (1973, by Robert Weverka) | Buy this book
An adaptation (Weverka isn’t very fond of the word novelization) of the pilot.
FURTHER INVESTIGATION
- The Casting Ouch!
Unlikely Private Eyes (No, Really…) - The Casting Couch
Suggested Casting Choices from the Peanut Gallery
Report respectfully submitted by Kevin Burton Smith. Thanks for the nudge.
