Search

Its a shame quality, well written and intelligent shows like SEARCH don't last. Without a doubt, and to this day, it is my alltime fav show. I think it was just too far ahead of its time. I think the show could be done today, but I think the producers would be to tempted to put "pretty boys" as the agents, instead of older, more cerebral actors. I think I would cast Anthony Zerbe as V.C. Cameron, Steven Weber as C.R. Grover, Ted Danson as Lockwood (yes I think Ted could handle a semi-dramatic role), and Eric Roberts as Nick Bianco. It would be one cool show....IF...the writing was of an intelligent quality. The original show, as well as the pilot movie were awesome!!!

As I recall, this show wasn't given a chance. I know that in the San Francisco Bay Area it was preempted 5 times ( ! ) in it's original run, including for 2 shows on the energy crisis !!

I loved the show, but the best episodes were the one's with Hugh O'Brien and I can still hear Burgess Meredith going practically insane and yelling " Lockwood ! Do you copy ! " and Lockwood ignoring him.

The episodes with Doug McClure, and Franciosa weren't as good.

I had a terrible crush on Angel Tompkins, too.

A guy in Palos Verdes Peninsula was selling copies of the Probe scanner. Wish I still had one but I lost it.

George Senda Martinez, Ca

Search had some of the best elements of the spy genre (handsome persuasive and strong male leads, beautiful women, exotic rich locales, and mysterious missing objects, etc) and of the science fiction genre (an elaborate Mission Control center, computer assisted artificial intelligence information, man/machine embedded implants etc).

The plots where were sometimes not that interesting or hung together well but the relationship of the characters (especially Probe Control irascibly trying to keep the three independent minded agents in line) was fun to watch.

When you consider the ongoing popularity of the spy genre and the enthusiastic support of science fiction series by it's fans the series Search should have been a very good success. It could be that it was just a little ahead of its time. I encourage the TV production community to consider the creation of a new Search series or something along the same lines. The TV audience is more interested in both the spy genre (James Bond, the Bourne series etc) and the science fiction series (Star trek, Star Wars, etc than at any time in the past.

I learned of this show even before it aired on NBC back in 1972 (prepublicity), and decided I liked it even before seeing it. One thing that I thought was really cool was how Probe Control communicated to the agents via an implanted audio pickup through radio telescope communications. Of course, Burgess Meredith was essentially the show stealer every time; not many other actors could give an engaging performance sitting at a computer panel. He had this funny way of adjusting his micro headset and almost punching his console when flustered. I managed to record many episodes onto a handy cassette machine. A couple of years ago a local TV station rebroadcast the pilot episode, co-starring John Gielgud (sp?), and I caught the whole thing on VHS. When they decided to cancel the series, I was actually put out enough to send in a letter of protest. (Well, it was a perfect show for a 12-year-old boy). After all, it had cool effects, mostly involving things that could be seen in other parts of the spectrum, picked up by the agents' ring-bound scanners.

This was one of the great shows that didn't last.

The teamwork shown by the group working behind the scenes was perhaps too "upbeat" for people. You didn't watch the show expecting the good guys to fail, but instead tried to guess which specialist or gadget would get them out of a jam this time.

I don't remember how good the writing and dialog was, but I clearly remember Burgess Meredith's character as a very compelling influence in the "control room". I would love this show to return to the air or come out on DVD, but I suppose it has been gone for so long that any chance of that happening is pretty low.

In any case, it is good to see the show immortalized to some extent by being listed properly here (I searched for "Search" a long time ago and couldn't find it).