Chase (1973 TV series)

Chase
Genre	Drama
Created by	Stephen J. Cannell
Starring	Mitch Ryan Wayne Maunder Reid Smith
Country of origin	United States
Language(s)	English
No. of seasons	1
No. of episodes	24
Production
Running time	60 minutes
Production company(s)	Mark VII Limited
Distributor	Universal Television NBC Universal Television
Broadcast
Original channel	NBC
Original run	11 September 1973 – 10 April 1974

Chase is an American television series that aired on the NBC network from September 11, 1973 to August 28, 1974. The show was a production of Jack Webb's Mark VII Limited for Universal Television and marked the first show produced by Stephen J. Cannell, who later became known for creating and/or producing his own programs, including NBC's The A-Team.

The show's title had a double meaning: it was at once the first name of the lead character, Chase Reddick (Mitchell Ryan), the leader of a special team of the Los Angeles Police Department that specialized in solving unusually difficult or violent cases, and indicative of the show's emphasis on the determined pursuit of hardened criminals. The unit, headquartered in an old firehouse, relied mainly on alternate means of transportation such as helicopters, motorcycles, and high-speed driving to apprehend its suspects.

For the first fourteen episodes, Reddick, an LAPD captain, was accompanied by K-9 Sergeant Sam MacCray (Wayne Maunder) and three young officers: Steve Baker (Michael Richardson), Norm Hamilton (Reid Smith), and Fred Sing (Brian Fong). In January 1974, Webb and Universal dropped all the regulars except Ryan and Maunder in favor of a new group of officers: Frank Dawson (Albert Reed), Ed Rice (Gary Crosby, who frequently appeared on the other Mark VII shows), and Tom Wilson (Craig Gardner).

NBC first scheduled the show on Tuesdays at 8 p.m. Eastern, opposite CBS' hit series Maude and Hawaii Five-O. At about the same time as the casting change, the network moved Chase to Wednesday nights at 8 p.m. against the Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour. Despite the declining appeal and ratings of the latter (and the couple's forthcoming divorce), Chase did no better there and ended after a one-season run. However, Cannell would use the format of a team of specialists in his A-Team a decade later. Robert A. Cinader, who also supervised Mark VII's Adam-12 and Emergency!, was executive producer of Chase.

Chase was Maunder's third series. He first appeared on screen in 1967 in the role of Colonel George Armstrong Custer in ABC's Custer western military drama. Then he starred from 1968-1970 in a second western as Scott Lancer on CBS's Lancer series with co-stars Andrew Duggan, James Stacy, and Paul Brinegar.

Sources

epguides.com
Total Television: A Comprehensive Guide to Programming from 1948 to the Present, Alex McNeil, New York: Penguin, revised ed., 1984.