While there is some praise for the last season of 77 Sunset Strip, it is obviously misplaced. The show only got an order for about half the episodes of seasons one through five, and then it was gone.
The iconic theme song was replaced by a drab James Bond wannabe composition. The colorful co-stars -- gone without explanation. In the first show, Bailey claims to be broke.
While the series always threw in a few noir plots, the last season seems dedicated to that, with drab voice-over exposition and a constantly dark look.
We can blame Jack Webb for much of this. His vision of TV worked OK for Dragnet. It torpedoed 77 Sunset Strip and sent it straight to the bottom. When a series has a loyal following for five years, it's sheer folly to turn everything on its ear. Possibly the desire to bandwagon the spy craze spelled the end for Sunset Strip just as it did for Burke's Law. Sad. However, this season really didn't even manage that. All they managed was to copy cheesy 30s and 40s noir film.
Efrem Zimbalist, Jr. looks miserable and out of sorts for this entire episode. With his co-stars and friends axed and the premise ruined, I'm sure he was at odds with the changes and felt the death grip of tanking ratings closing about the throat of the series. Even the character of Stuart Bailey is present in name only, with lines completely foreign to the character's history.
This show was the first of a five part episode, and the supporting cast is deep and impressive -- but ultimately wasted with the depressing plot and shady characters.
The iconic theme song was replaced by a drab James Bond wannabe composition. The colorful co-stars -- gone without explanation. In the first show, Bailey claims to be broke.
While the series always threw in a few noir plots, the last season seems dedicated to that, with drab voice-over exposition and a constantly dark look.
We can blame Jack Webb for much of this. His vision of TV worked OK for Dragnet. It torpedoed 77 Sunset Strip and sent it straight to the bottom. When a series has a loyal following for five years, it's sheer folly to turn everything on its ear. Possibly the desire to bandwagon the spy craze spelled the end for Sunset Strip just as it did for Burke's Law. Sad. However, this season really didn't even manage that. All they managed was to copy cheesy 30s and 40s noir film.
Efrem Zimbalist, Jr. looks miserable and out of sorts for this entire episode. With his co-stars and friends axed and the premise ruined, I'm sure he was at odds with the changes and felt the death grip of tanking ratings closing about the throat of the series. Even the character of Stuart Bailey is present in name only, with lines completely foreign to the character's history.
This show was the first of a five part episode, and the supporting cast is deep and impressive -- but ultimately wasted with the depressing plot and shady characters.