''Chase'' is an American

crime drama Crime films, in the broadest sense, is a film genre inspired by and analogous to the crime fiction literary genre. Films of this genre generally involve various aspects of crime and its detection. Stylistically, the genre may overlap and combin ...

television series that aired on the

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...

network from September 11,

1973 Events January * January 1 - The United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and Denmark 1973 enlargement of the European Communities, enter the European Economic Community, which later becomes the European Union. * January 15 – Vietnam War: ...

, to April 10, 1974. The show was a production of Jack Webb's

Mark VII Limited Mark VII Limited was the production company of actor and filmmaker Jack Webb, and was active from 1951 to his death in 1982. Many of its series were produced in association with Universal Television; most of them aired on the NBC television netwo ...

for

Universal Television Universal Television LLC (abbreviated as UTV) is an American television production company that is a subsidiary of Universal Studio Group, a division of Comcast's NBCUniversal. It serves as the network television production arm of NBC; a prede ...

and marked the first show created by Stephen J. Cannell, who later became known for creating and/or producing his own programs, including NBC's ''

The A-Team ''The A-Team'' is an American action-adventure television series that ran on NBC from January 1983 to March 1987 about former members of a fictitious United States Army Special Forces unit. The four members of the team were tried by court ma ...

.'' Jack Webb directed the pilot, which aired March 24, 1973.

Overview

The show's title had a double meaning: it was at once the first name of the lead character, Chase Reddick (

Mitchell Ryan Mitchell Ryan (January 11, 1934 – March 4, 2022) was an American film, television, and stage actor, who in his six decades of television is known for playing Burke Devlin in the 1960s gothic soap opera ''Dark Shadows'', and later for his co- ...

), the leader of a special team of the

Los Angeles Police Department The Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), officially known as the City of Los Angeles Police Department, is the municipal police department of Los Angeles, California. With 9,974 police officers and 3,000 civilian staff, it is the third-large ...

that specialized in solving unusually difficult or violent cases, and indicative of the show's emphasis on the determined pursuit and undercover surveillance of hardened criminals. The unit, headquartered in an old firehouse, relied mainly on alternate/undercover means of transportation such as helicopters, motorcycles, custom vans, taxis, four-wheel-drive vehicles, sports and muscle cars, work trucks (vehicles from the Public Works Department, the telephone company, tow trucks and/or the Postal Service and civilian delivery services) 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 Brian (sometimes spelled Bryan in English) is a male given name of Irish and Breton origin, as well as a surname of Occitan origin. It is common in the English-speaking world. It is possible that the name is derived from an Old Celtic word me ...

). 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). Never seen, but "appearing" in every episode was actual LAPD dispatcher

Shaaron Claridge Shaaron Claridge (born Shaaron Lee Cooper; later Snead; October 1, 1938 – September 15, 2021) was an American second-shift radiotelephone operator or police radio dispatcher at the Van Nuys Division of the Los Angeles Police Department best ...

, who had worked on ''Dragnet'' and ''Adam-12''; according to the pilot script, she was assigned especially to Chase. NBC first scheduled the show on Tuesdays at 8 p.m. Eastern, opposite

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...

' hit series '' Maude'' and ''

Hawaii Five-O Hawaii Five-O or Hawaii Five-0 may refer to: * ''Hawaii Five-0'' (2010 TV series), an American action police procedural television series * ''Hawaii Five-O'' (1968 TV series), an American police procedural drama series produced by CBS Productio ...

''. 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 Divorce (also known as dissolution of marriage) is the process of terminating a marriage or marital union. Divorce usually entails the canceling or reorganizing of the legal duties and responsibilities of marriage, thus dissolving the ...

), ''Chase'' did no better there and ended after a one-season run. Cannell would re-use the format of a team of specialists in ''

'', co-created with

Frank Lupo Frank Lupo (January 22, 1955 – February 18, 2021) was an American television writer and producer who created or co-created many successful TV series from the 1970s to the 1990s. In collaboration with Stephen J. Cannell, Lupo created such show ...

a decade later. Robert A. Cinader, who also supervised Mark VII's '' Adam-12'' and ''

Emergency! ''Emergency!'' is an American action-adventure medical drama television series jointly produced by Mark VII Limited and Universal Television. Debuting on NBC as a midseason replacement on January 15, 1972, replacing the two short-lived situa ...

'', was executive producer of ''Chase''.

Cast

. . . Capt. Chase Reddick * Craig Gardner . . . Tom Wilson * Brian Fong . . . Off. Fred Sing (episodes 1–14) * Wayne Maunder . . . Sgt. Sam MacCray * Albert Reed . . . Frank Dawson * Gary Crosby . . . Ed Rice * Reid Smith . . . Off. Norm Hamilton (episodes 1–14) *

* Michael Richardson . . . Off. Steve Baker (episodes 1–14)

Episodes

Sources

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

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Chase (1973 Tv Series) NBC original programming 1970s American drama television series 1973 American television series debuts 1974 American television series endings Fictional portrayals of the Los Angeles Police Department Television series by Mark VII Limited Television series by Universal Television English-language television shows American detective television series Television series created by Stephen J. Cannell