''The Men'' was an

umbrella title An umbrella title is a formal or informal name connecting a number of individual items with a common theme. It is most often used in lieu of listing the separate components or providing a convenient "label" for a collection of disciplines. Uses of ...

for three crime/adventure dramas aired in the

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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 ...

as part of its 1972-73 lineup. ''The Men'' comprised ''

Assignment Vienna ''Assignment Vienna'' is an American drama television series aired in the United States by ABC as an element in its 1972-73 wheel series '' The Men''. The series, created by Eric Bercovici and Jerry Ludwig, was made by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Televisi ...

'', ''

Jigsaw Jigsaw may refer to: * Jigsaw (tool), a tool used for cutting arbitrary curves * Jigsaw puzzle, a tiling puzzle that requires the assembly of interlocking pieces Arts and media Comics * Jigsaw (Marvel Comics), a supervillain and arch-enemy of ...

'', and ''

The Delphi Bureau ''The Delphi Bureau'' is an American dramatic television series aired in the United States by ABC as one of three elements of '' The Men'', a wheel series shown as part of its 1972-73 schedule. ''The Delphi Bureau'' starred Laurence Luckinbil ...

''. The common element in each of those hour-long series was that its hero was a rugged individualist, working essentially alone with little or no supervision on matters of vital significance. The series' stars, respectively, were

Robert Conrad Robert Conrad (born Conrad Robert Falk; March 1, 1935 – February 8, 2020) was an American film and television actor, singer, and stuntman. He is best known for his role in the 1965–1969 television series ''The Wild Wild West'', playin ...

, James Wainwright, and

Laurence Luckinbill Laurence George Luckinbill (born November 21, 1934) is an American actor, playwright and director. He has worked in television, film, and theatre, doing triple duty in the theatre by writing, directing, and starring in stage productions. He is kn ...

. The program originally aired on Thursday nights, with each element appearing in a regular rotation, every third week. But when ''The Men'' was moved to Saturday nights, in January 1973, the elements began to be aired with several episodes of the same one appearing in consecutive weeks. Unlike the similar ''

NBC Mystery Movie ''The NBC Mystery Movie'' is an American television anthology series produced by Universal Pictures, that NBC broadcast from 1971 to 1977. Devoted to a rotating series of mystery episodes, it was sometimes split into two subsets broadcast on diff ...

'' wheel, the elements of ''The Men'' all came from different TV studios—''Assignment Vienna'', ''Jigsaw'', and ''The Delphi Bureau'' were respectively produced by

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Television MGM Television Worldwide Group and Digital (alternatively Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Television Group and Digital, commonly known as MGM Television and then-known as MGM/UA Television; common metonym: Lion) is an American television production/dis ...

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 predeces ...

(the same studio behind the ''Mystery Movie''), and

Warner Bros. Television Warner Bros. Television Studios (operating under the name Warner Bros. Television; formerly known as Warner Bros. Television Division) is an American television production and distribution studio of the Warner Bros. Television Group division of ...

. While the series was a failure in the Nielsen TV ratings, its theme song—composed and recorded by

Isaac Hayes Isaac Lee Hayes Jr. (August 20, 1942 – August 10, 2008) was an American singer, actor, songwriter, and composer. He was one of the creative forces behind the Southern soul music label Stax Records, where he served both as an in-house songwri ...

—was a minor R&B hit. (A

disco Disco is a genre of dance music and a subculture that emerged in the 1970s from the United States' urban nightlife scene. Its sound is typified by four-on-the-floor beats, syncopated basslines, string sections, brass and horns, electric pia ...

version of that theme was recorded by

Joe Bataan Joe Bataan (also spelled Bataán) (born Bataan Nitollano; November 15, 1942) is a Latin soul musician from New York. Early life Joe Bataan was born Bataan Nitollano and grew up in the 103rd Street and Lexington Avenue part of East Harlem in New ...

in 1976 and a

smooth jazz Smooth jazz is a genre of commercially-oriented crossover jazz and easy listening music that became dominant in the mid 1970s to the early 1990s. History Smooth jazz is a commercially oriented, crossover jazz which came to prominence in the 19 ...

version was recorded by

Gerald Albright Gerald Albright is an American jazz saxophonist. He earned Grammys for 24/7 in 2012 and Slam Dunk in 2014 and has been nominated for New Beginnings in 2008 and for Sax for Stax in 2009. Biography Born in Los Angeles, Albright grew up in its ...

in 2008.)

References

Brooks, Tim and Marsh, Earle, ''

The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

'' American Broadcasting Company original programming 1970s American drama television series 1972 American television series debuts 1973 American television series endings Television series by MGM Television Television series by Warner Bros. Television Studios Television series by Universal Television {{DISPLAYTITLE:''The Men'' (TV series)