''Sam'' is an American crime drama television series that aired on the

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 ...

network from March 14 to April 18, 1978 for six episodes. It told the story of a

Los Angeles police {{Unreferenced, date=June 2019, bot=noref (GreenC bot) Law enforcement in Los Angeles County is conducted by a variety of law enforcement agencies. State agencies *California Highway Patrol *University of California Police Department * California ...

officer, Mike Breen (played by Mark Harmon), and his specially-trained police dog, Sam, a Labrador Retriever.

Synopsis

In the series, Sam assisted Breen in cases such as rescues, drug smuggling, and bomb threats. Also starring were

Len Wayland Len or LEN may refer to: People and fictional characters * Len (given name), a list of people and fictional characters * Lén, a character from Irish mythology * Alex Len (born 1993), Ukrainian basketball player * Mr. Len, American hip hop DJ *Le ...

as Breen's supervisor, Captain Tom Clagett, and Gary Crosby as Captain Gene Cody.

Production notes

''Sam'' was the brainchild of television producer

Jack Webb John Randolph Webb (April 2, 1920 – December 23, 1982) was an American actor, television producer, Television director, director, and screenwriter, who is most famous for his role as Joe Friday, Sgt. Joe Friday in the Dragnet (franchise) ...

, whose

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 ...

packaged the show 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 ...

. Much like Webb's earlier '' Adam-12,'' several incidents per episode were featured. Further, Wayland and Crosby appeared in numerous Mark VII productions previously. James Doherty and Leonard B. Kaufman were the producers; Webb and Paul Donnelly served as executive producers. Only six episodes were broadcast. CBS aired ''Sam'' as a replacement series for the 1977 ''Celebrity Challenge of the Sexes''. ''Sam'' aired opposite

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

's sitcom ''

Happy Days ''Happy Days'' is an American television sitcom that aired first-run on the ABC network from January 15, 1974, to July 19, 1984, with a total of 255 half-hour episodes spanning 11 seasons. Created by Garry Marshall, it was one of the most su ...

''; ''Happy Days'' easily outranked ''Sam'' in the ratings, with '' Project U.F.O.'' (on Sundays) also having better ratings during the season. This would be the last television series to debut that was produced by Jack Webb, who died in 1982. Also, the final television appearance of

Vivian Vance Vivian Vance (born Vivian Roberta Jones; July 26, 1909 – August 17, 1979) was an American actress and singer best known for playing Ethel Mertz on the sitcom '' I Love Lucy'' (1951–1957), for which she won the Primetime Emmy Award for Out ...

was featured in episode #1.6.

Footnotes

References

Classic TV Archive
* Terrace, Vincent
''Encyclopedia of Television Series, Pilots and Specials 1974-1984''
New York: Zoetrope, 1986.

External links

* 1978 American television series debuts 1978 American television series endings 1970s American crime drama television series CBS original programming Television shows about dogs Fictional portrayals of the Los Angeles Police Department English-language television shows Television series by Mark VII Limited Television series by Universal Television Police dogs in fiction {{US-drama-tv-prog-stub