Stingray

Caution: some spoilers, of necessity.... I cannot praise the "Stingray" pilot (1985, NBC) highly enough. Ditto the first season of this show (which was canceled, then brought back, albeit with episodes that I don't feel lived up to the surprisingly cool writing of the pilot or the first season episodes). My recommendation: see it however you can. I, myself--for my own use/collection--would love to obtain an UNCUT pilot of this pilot in pristine condition. Regrettably, the pilot--when shown in two parts during season one--cut a couple of minutes from the TV movie. When we first see Mancuso's character, he's talking to a waitress about her missing daughter when the D.A. Investigator approaches the table. The waitress passes "Stingray" a photo of both the missing girl and her dog, giving a response of "She's one heck of a cute kid", and promises to help. Later in the pilot, he does. Let's understate it: "Stingray" was way to good for television, and should have been a movie series. Even CineFantastique magazine gave rave reviews to the show, and they normally restricted themselves to fantasy and SF shows... There must be SOMEONE out there with a pristine, uncut copy of the pilot as origionally aired on NBC, July 14, 1985...If so, please contact FSJ@USA.COM.