T.H.E. Cat

I've thought about this show so often, and no one ever knows what I'm talking about when I mention it. I was 10 years old when this was on, and was so impressed with how cool it was. It Takes a Thief was a sad substitute. Would LOVE to see this on some classic television station some time. What I'm having trouble reconciling is the Robert Loggia I now see with the cool (dare I say, sexy) guy I remember being in this show! How funny. I'm afraid the brief run of the series - only 1 season - makes it commercially unattractive, both for reruns on television and for a DVD - not enough potential for profit. Too bad. So many of the shows from that era were really "white bread," and this was different and edgy, as I remember it.

T.H.E. CAT was created for television by Harry Julian Fink, who a few years later was the creator of the DIRTY HARRY character and wrote the story for the 1st film that became a legendary series starring CLINT EASTWOOD. It's just too bad that T.H.E. CAT has become a forgotten gem due to it's one season run that never went into syndication. But due to surviving 16mm prints, practically every episode is in the hands of video collectors that enable fans of 60's TV to enjoy over and over this dark and brooding show that proves why late 60's television was the most exciting and best time to be growing up.

In his role as Thomas Hewitt Edward Cat, Robert Loggia was undoubtedly the coolest hero of the television 60's. A retired second-story man, Cat undertook missions in which he used his acrobatic skills to their best advantage. NBC advertised the program as a "high tension adventure series you can really sink your claws into," and it was just that.

Probably drawing on his earlier portrayal of the cat-like Elfego Baca, an acrobatic western Disney character, the athletic Loggia apparently did a lot of his own stunts in the series. He was everything an adolescent boy of the time could aspire to: he wore a cool black outfit while on the prowl; he drove a cool black 'Vette; he carried a dagger-like knife referred to in one episode as "The Cat's Claw," which he could throw with unerring accuracy; he was, of course, irresistable to women; and he hung out between missions at the Casa del Gato (House of the Cat), a cafe owned by his gypsy friend Pepe, played to the suave hilt by Robert Carricart. The only other recurring character was the one-handed police Captain McAllister, played by the marvelous R.G. Armstrong.

The original jazz score by Lalo Schifrin (sort of a flute- accoustic bass-drum trio number) set just the right mood for this dark series -- and Shifrin went on to compose for Mission Impossible!

Television later picked up on the theme of using a reformed crook as a hero, notably with Robert Wagner in "It Takes a Thief" and "Switch." But Loggia was the original in this short-lived but lamented series.

Allow me to add my voice to those who consider this T.H.E. COOLEST TV show ever. It's amazing, judging by the comments here, how many 9- and 10-year-olds took to this show, which was supposed to be for grown-ups. It is still my dream, at age 50, to open a small night club with a flashing neon sign, and call it "Casa Del Gato." Beaded curtains, waitresses dressed 60's go-go style, live jazz seven nights a week...and I would be in the corner booth wearing a black turtleneck, talking to some guy with an eye-patch, or missing a hand. Oh, yes, it would be a nominally private club, so that smoking would be allowed (yup, I'm in one of THOSE states).

Alas, I was about 9 years old when this show aired. So I was hardly ever allowed to watch it because it was a) too 'adult' in nature and b) way past my bedtime. So my memories of it are somewhat skimpy. But I vividly remember the way Loggia would introduce himself as 'T. Hewitt Edward Cat', and the way he would scale walls and make impossible leaps. He also seemed to play for keeps. He was sleek, dangerous, and cooler than hell. But he wasn't invincible - I remember shows where things went wrong and a client or friend would get hurt or killed, and Cat would be seriously angry or stressed or worried. That added to the suspense and believability considerably.

There was a later TV series with a similar theme, featuring Robert Wagner, 'It Takes A Thief'. Nothing against Wagner, but his show couldn't hold a candle to 'T.H.E. Cat', at least the way I remember it.

I too, would love to have a chance to see (or buy) some of those old episodes.