Dan August starred Burt Reynolds as a homicide detective working cases in a fictional California town. The opening scene usually depicted a murder being committed by a concealed figure, and the episode would eventually reveal the killer. Despite a solid supporting cast and thoughtful episodes centered on topical issues like prejudice, workers' rights and military desertion, the show was never really given a chance, ending its run after only 26 episodes.
Many television executives cannot exactly be accused of being visionaries, and it's obvious they didn't know what they had in Dan August, which was at least on par with many of the other similarly-themed shows of the time. Ironically, the impetuous, short-sighted decision to cancel the series led to great success for three of its principal characters: Both Richard Anderson and Norman Fell, two solid character actors would each later co-star in highly successful television series The Six Million Dollar Man and Three's Company respectively. And of course Burt Reynolds went on to box office superstardom in the 1970s and later returned to television, winning an Emmy for the show Evening Shade. Producer Quinn Martin didn't miss a beat and continued his track record of successful series, conceiving Cannon, Barnaby Jones and The Streets of San Francisco throughout the decade. Nonetheless, one can't help but wonder what a little patience could have meant for the trajectory of Dan August.
