This was the pilot for an American version of the British series The Avengers. As far as I know, it was broadcast only once, to fill up an hour when few people were likely to be watching. I've read that it was subtitled Avengers U.S. but don't remember seeing that on screen. If one missed Brian Clemens's name in the credits, one would never have guessed this was intended as a home-front version of his earlier show, since it omitted all the things that had made that one compelling: wit, fantasy, bizarreness, mystery, derring-do, masquerade, kinkiness, ordinary interest.... This one was just standard-grade, or a bit below, and so were the leads, utterly inadequate as the intended Yank counterparts of Diana Rigg and Patrick Macnee. Trying to be cool, Morgan Fairchild as "Susie" just came off as snide, and Granville van Dusen as "Joshua Rand" played his part squarely and heavily (one can gather from the characters' names the blandness of the approach). What ever did the producers think they had?
2 Reviews
The Escape Plan
Oslo_Jargo6 May 2023
Warning: Spoilers
*** This review may contain spoilers ***
*Plot analyzed*
This was a Quinn Martin Production. I rather enjoyed it. Although it was nothing spectacular, it was a decent 1970s production. Very short at fifty minutes.
A female and male, both special agents, work together with the help of a super computer. Who they work for was never explained.
Morgan Fairchild was actually pretty good, but she made a lot of annoying wisecracks that got wearisome. Granville Van Dusen is her counterpart, who rejects her sexual advances at every turn. I don't think that Morgan Fairchild could even fight any males either. Likewise, Granville Van Dusen does not carry a gun.
They search for a missing female agent that has left a great deal of clues. The episode is helped by location shooting in San Francisco and the Bay Area.
I liked the quirky music and the also the "shrinking box frame" at the end of each cliffhanger moment before cutting to a commercial.
Supposedly this was a television pilot that never got picked up.
I wouldn't have minded seeing two or three seasons of this show.
*Plot analyzed*
This was a Quinn Martin Production. I rather enjoyed it. Although it was nothing spectacular, it was a decent 1970s production. Very short at fifty minutes.
A female and male, both special agents, work together with the help of a super computer. Who they work for was never explained.
Morgan Fairchild was actually pretty good, but she made a lot of annoying wisecracks that got wearisome. Granville Van Dusen is her counterpart, who rejects her sexual advances at every turn. I don't think that Morgan Fairchild could even fight any males either. Likewise, Granville Van Dusen does not carry a gun.
They search for a missing female agent that has left a great deal of clues. The episode is helped by location shooting in San Francisco and the Bay Area.
I liked the quirky music and the also the "shrinking box frame" at the end of each cliffhanger moment before cutting to a commercial.
Supposedly this was a television pilot that never got picked up.
I wouldn't have minded seeing two or three seasons of this show.
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