Midnight Caller
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''Midnight Caller'' is an American
drama Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has been ...
television series created by
Richard DiLello ''The Longest Cocktail Party'' is a book by Richard DiLello, published in 1972 by Playboy Press in the US and Canada and Charisma in the UK, and reprinted in 1981, 1983 (Pierian Press) and 2005. ''The Longest Cocktail Party'' is one man's account ...
, which aired on
NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...
from October 25, 1988, to May 17, 1991. It was one of the first television series to address the dramatic possibilities of the then-growing phenomenon of
talk radio Talk radio is a radio format containing discussion about topical issues and consisting entirely or almost entirely of original spoken word content rather than outside music. Most shows are regularly hosted by a single individual, and often featur ...
.


Premise

Jack Killian is a former San Francisco police detective who quits the force after he accidentally shot his partner dead in a confrontation with armed criminals. After lapsing into alcoholism, Killian receives an offer from Devon King, the beautiful and wealthy owner-operator of KJCM-FM, to become "The Nighthawk", host of an overnight talk show, taking calls from listeners and acting as a detective solving their problems during the day (the title of Killian's show would later be adopted in real life by talk-show host
George Noory George Ralph Noory (born June 4, 1950) is an American radio talk show host. Since January 2003, Noory has been the weekday host of the late-night radio talk show ''Coast to Coast AM''. The program is syndicated to hundreds of radio stations in ...
on KTRS in St. Louis from 1996 until 2003, when Noory took over from the retiring Art Bell as host of the nationally syndicated ''
Coast to Coast AM ''Coast to Coast AM'' is an American late-night radio talk show that deals with a variety of topics. Most frequently the topics relate to either the paranormal or conspiracy theories. It was hosted by creator Art Bell from its inception in 19 ...
''). Even though Killian snapped that he doesn't listen to FM radio, he accepted the offer. Killian's adventures took him frequently back into the realm of police work, where several of his former colleagues were less than happy to see him again. He faced myriad problems, both personal and professional, and was at various points required to come to grips with the nature of his relationship with both his absentee father and his troubled siblings. What he never seemed to come to grips with, however, was his relationship, or lack of one, with Devon. Devon eventually became pregnant in a relationship with another man and sold the station (Kilbourne was simultaneously pregnant in real life). Despite hard-hitting topical episodes dealing with AIDS, capital punishment, and child abuse among other topics, the show lost its audience when it was moved from its original time slot and was cancelled after three seasons. Killian's radio show sign-off comment was "Good night, America, wherever you are." ''Midnight Caller'' strength was a combination of well-created stories shaped by realistic and topical characters. The stories also rotated around the main cast, and its well-developed characters allowed the viewers to relate to them. The show's
jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...
music soundtrack also added to its popularity. In October 1990,
Wendy Kilbourne Wendy Kilbourne Read (born June 29, 1964) is an American attorney and former television actress. Biography Kilbourne may be best known as Constance Hazard on the ''North and South'' miniseries (1985, 1986 and 1994), and as Devon King in '' Midn ...
(Devon King) left the show due to pregnancy reasons.
Lisa Eilbacher Lisa Marie Eilbacher (born May 5, 1956) is a retired American actress. Early life Lisa Marie Eilbacher was born in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, the daughter of an American oil company executive. She was raised in France. Her two siblings are also act ...
(Nicky Molloy) became the new female lead role.


Episodes


Cast and characters

*
Gary Cole Gary Michael Cole (born September 20, 1956) is an American television, film and voice actor. Cole began his professional acting career on stage at Chicago's Steppenwolf Theatre Company in 1985. On television, he has had starring roles in the T ...
as Jack Killian *
Wendy Kilbourne Wendy Kilbourne Read (born June 29, 1964) is an American attorney and former television actress. Biography Kilbourne may be best known as Constance Hazard on the ''North and South'' miniseries (1985, 1986 and 1994), and as Devon King in '' Midn ...
as Devon King * Dennis Dun as Billy Po * Mykel T. Williamson as Deacon Bridges * Arthur Taxier as Lt. Carl Zymak *
Lisa Eilbacher Lisa Marie Eilbacher (born May 5, 1956) is a retired American actress. Early life Lisa Marie Eilbacher was born in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, the daughter of an American oil company executive. She was raised in France. Her two siblings are also act ...
as Nicky Molloy


Production


Title

Series creator Richard DiLello took the title of the series from a song written by
Pete Ham Peter William Ham (27 April 1947 – 24 April 1975) was a Welsh singer, songwriter and guitarist best known as a lead vocalist of and composer for the 1970s rock band Badfinger, whose hit songs include " No Matter What", " Day After Day" and " ...
for the band
Badfinger Badfinger were a Welsh rock band formed in Swansea, who were active from the 1960s to the 1980s. Their best-known lineup consisted of Pete Ham (vocals, guitar), Mike Gibbins (drums), Tom Evans (bass), and Joey Molland (guitar). They are recog ...
. DiLello had previously authored ''
The Longest Cocktail Party ''The Longest Cocktail Party'' is a book by Richard DiLello, published in 1972 by Playboy Press in the US and Canada and Charisma in the UK, and reprinted in 1981, 1983 (Pierian Press) and 2005. ''The Longest Cocktail Party'' is one man's account ...
'', a history of the rise and fall of
The Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatles, most influential band of al ...
' corporation,
Apple Corps Apple Corps Limited (informally known as Apple) is a multi-armed multimedia corporation founded in London in January 1968 by the members of the Beatles to replace their earlier company (Beatles Ltd.) and to form a conglomerate. Its name (pro ...
, and their record label,
Apple Records Apple Records is a record label founded by the Beatles in 1968 as a division of Apple Corps Ltd. It was initially intended as a creative outlet for the Beatles, both as a group and individually, plus a selection of other artists including Mar ...
, where Badfinger had originally been signed. The song itself had no relation to the series' subject matter; it had been written by Ham in tribute to a friend of the band who had resorted to working as a high-priced prostitute to pay her bills.


"After It Happened" controversy

In the 1988 episode "After It Happened", a bisexual man is depicted as an AIDS carrier who deliberately infects heterosexual women. As originally conceived, the man is gunned down in a
vigilantism Vigilantism () is the act of preventing, investigating and punishing perceived offenses and crimes without Right, legal authority. A vigilante (from Spanish, Italian and Portuguese “vigilante”, which means "sentinel" or "watcher") is a pers ...
murder by one of the women whom he infects, and a medical team in full
Hazmat suit A hazmat suit (hazardous materials suit) is a piece of personal protective equipment that consists of an impermeable whole-body garment worn as protection against hazardous materials. Such suits are often combined with self-contained breathing ...
comes to take his body away as Jack Killian comforts the distraught shooter. In the broadcast version, the victim is stopped before she can kill the carrier. Coming in the early years of the
epidemiology of HIV/AIDS The global epidemic of HIV/AIDS (human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome) began in 1981, and is an ongoing worldwide public health issue. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), as of 2021, HIV/AI ...
in the US at a time when public understanding of the disease was quite low, the proposed episode was immediately criticised as sensationalistic, ignorant of bisexuality, and
pseudoscience Pseudoscience consists of statements, beliefs, or practices that claim to be both scientific and factual but are incompatible with the scientific method. Pseudoscience is often characterized by contradictory, exaggerated or falsifiability, unfa ...
. Protests were launched by
GLAAD GLAAD (), an acronym of Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, is an American non-governmental media monitoring organization originally founded as a protest against defamatory coverage of gay and lesbian demographics and their portrayals ...
,
BiNet USA BiNet USA (officially Bi/Net USA, The Bisexual Network of the USA Inc.) was an American national nonprofit bisexual community whose mission was to "facilitate the development of a cohesive network of bisexual communities, promote bisexual visibi ...
and
bialogue Bialogue, a portmanteau of the words ''bisexual'' and ''dialogue'', is an American activist group that started in New York City, working on issues of local, national, and international interest to the bisexual, fluid, pansexual, queer-identified co ...
, among others. Additionally
ACT UP AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power (ACT UP) is an international, grassroots political group working to end the AIDS pandemic. The group works to improve the lives of people with AIDS through direct action, medical research, treatment and advocacy, ...
pickets disrupted the show's filming. Then-NBC affiliate
KRON-TV KRON-TV (channel 4) is a television station licensed to San Francisco, California, United States, serving the San Francisco Bay Area as an affiliate of MyNetworkTV. Owned by Nexstar Media Group, KRON-TV maintains studios on Front Street in the c ...
in San Francisco ran a disclaimer before the show with an AIDS hotline number and aired a half-hour live special, ''Midnight Caller: The Response'', during which activists and public health officials aired their grievances.


Awards and nominations

In 1989, both
Kay Lenz Kay Ann Lenz (born March 4, 1953) is an American actress. She is the recipient of a Daytime Emmy Award and a Primetime Emmy Award, as well as nominations for a Golden Globe Award and a Saturn Award. Lenz is best known for her title role in the f ...
and
Joe Spano Joseph Peter Spano (born July 7, 1946) is an American actor best known for his roles as Lt. Henry Goldblume on ''Hill Street Blues'' and FBI Special Agent Tobias C. Fornell on '' NCIS''. He also voiced the Chuck E. Cheese (at the time Chuck E. Che ...
won an
Emmy Award The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...
for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series and Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series, for their performances in the episodes "After It Happened" and "The Execution of John Saringo", respectively.


International distribution

In the Philippines, the show was broadcast on
PTV-4 DWGT-TV, Channel 4 (analog) and channel 14 (digital), is a non-commercial flagship station of Philippine-government owned television network People's Television Network. Its head office, studios and analog-digital transmitter are located at Br ...
from 1990 to 1991, and then ABC-5 from 1992 to 1996, with dubbing in Tagalog from 1994. In the UK, it was broadcast by
BBC1 BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, ...
from 1989, before later being re-run on
ITV ITV or iTV may refer to: ITV *Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of: ** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...
in the late '90s, and being re-acquired for broadcast by
Forces TV The British Forces Broadcasting Service (BFBS) provides radio and television programmes for His Majesty's Armed Forces, and their dependents worldwide. Editorial control is independent of the Ministry of Defence and the armed forces themsel ...
in 2021. In New Zealand, the series was one of the early shows on the then-newly launched TV3, and it was screened in the early 1990s.


References


External links

*
''Midnight Caller'' cast and episode guide
at The Gary Cole Archives {{DEFAULTSORT:Midnight Caller 1980s American drama television series 1990s American drama television series 1988 American television series debuts 1991 American television series endings American detective television series English-language television shows NBC original programming Television series about radio Television series by Lorimar Television Television shows set in San Francisco