A Quinn Martin Production (1 Viewer)

[Lecagr]

"The Innocents" now stands among my favorite Season 6 episodes of The F.B.I., with Lois Nettleton giving a heartwrenching performance as one of the kidnappers. At its best, when the writing, acting, editing, and photography all come together, this show seems able to evoke genuine feeling for not only the victims, but also the perpetrators, whose emotional baggage often leads to their downfall and capture.

Thanks for suggesting this episode, I watched it last night on the DVD and I agree it's a good one with good performance by Lois Nettleton.

Another good episode from season 6 is "The Hitchhiker" with Michael Douglas. Quinn Martin was said to be impressed with Michael Douglas performance in this episode and it led to Douglas having the role of Steve Keller in The Streets Of San Francisco.

 

[Harry-N]

I really wish THE FBI was priced more reasonably. Those ridiculous prices of around $40-50 a half season are nightmarish to those of us on fixed incomes.

 

[bmasters9]

I really wish THE FBI was priced more reasonably. Those ridiculous prices of around $40-50 a half season are nightmarish to those of us on fixed incomes.

Indeed-- that, or make reasonably priced full-season releases.

 

[JohnHopper]

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I don’t know The FBI (series). Can you tell me your favorite seasons (and why), top episodes list, a website, please?​

Thanks.​

 

[Harry-N]

I haven't seen any episodes since the early 1970s, so would love to re-unite with it. It's never rerun on TV, it's not streaming, and the DVDs are too expensive.

 

[Desslar]

I haven't seen any episodes since the early 1970s, so would love to re-unite with it. It's never rerun on TV, it's not streaming, and the DVDs are too expensive.

Season 1 at least is watchable on the Internet Archive here:

 

[Harry-N]

Season 1 at least is watchable on the Internet Archive here:

Thank you for that. It's been forever as I said since I've seen one of those. I just watched the pilot, which was very different from the usual episodes as I recall. It played up a romance aspect with Zimbalist and Dina Merrill. I don't recall too much of that kind of stiff in the series.

Interesting STAR TREK connections in that episode with Jeffrey Hunter, Julie Parrish, Stephen Brooks, and Paul Sorenson.

The color looked a little brownish. I don't know whether that was filmed that way or just faded over time, but like the brown walls in I LOVE LUCY, it all looked OK in black & white, which was the dominant television format of the day.

 

[Purple Wig]

Great episode, appreciate the link!

 

[Lecagr]

I haven't seen any episodes since the early 1970s, so would love to re-unite with it. It's never rerun on TV, it's not streaming, and the DVDs are too expensive.

I am surprised that the 1960's/70's FBI series isn't being rerun on TV currently, it's a great series and deserves to be seen.

A few years ago is when I decided to buy the DVD's, I purchased them from Amazon, ordered all nine seasons, I think I spent around $300 for everything. A little pricey but well worth the investment.

 

[Harry-N]

As watchers of the three Dick Wolf "FBI" series currently running on CBS, I was amused by the WAY-different pacing of the 50-minute Zimbalist series VS what we get on the 42-minute CBS show.

On the CBS show, everyone speaks extremely fast and every line has some bit of information important to the story. When the FBI agents are tasked with getting someone or going to an address, instantly they cut to them at their destination. No wasted time whatsoever, and it makes for rather frenetic viewing.

This Quinn Martin show had a slow pace to it, showing agents in cars driving to a location, having irrelevant conversations, and having time in the offices for pleasantries and casual conversation. Amazing difference in scripted television compared to decades ago.

 

[Desslar]

As watchers of the three Dick Wolf "FBI" series currently running on CBS, I was amused by the WAY-different pacing of the 50-minute Zimbalist series VS what we get on the 42-minute CBS show.

On the CBS show, everyone speaks extremely fast and every line has some bit of information important to the story. When the FBI agents are tasked with getting someone or going to an address, instantly they cut to them at their destination. No wasted time whatsoever, and it makes for rather frenetic viewing.

This Quinn Martin show had a slow pace to it, showing agents in cars driving to a location, having irrelevant conversations, and having time in the offices for pleasantries and casual conversation. Amazing difference in scripted television compared to decades ago.

Very insightful analysis, and I agree completely. I often switch back and forth between watching current 2020s drama shows and watching older shows, especially crime shows from the 60s-80s.

The difference in pacing and atmosphere is palpable. I infinitely prefer the Quinn Martin approach. I get the feeling (artificial though it may be) that I am actually following the detectives/agents/cops/etc. around for a day as they work through their investigation. Some might say that including driving scenes and arrivals/departures is unnecessary, but I think they really help to lend a sense of place and passage of time, as well as providing some interesting visual variety and letting the city be a character in the story.

I also appreciate tangential conversations - it feels like real life to have characters talk about various topics beyond the case at hand. This is one of the biggest reasons why I love Pulp Fiction. Tarantino throws in a bunch of conversations which arguably seem trivial and/or irrelevant to the plot, but help to flesh out the characters and seem like the kinds of tangential comments ordinary people might actually make in the middle of bizarre movie situations.

In contrast, I find that most of the 21st century network TV crime procedurals zoom along on a fixed path like they are on an assembly line. I hate the practice of teleporting from one location to another, often without ever stepping outside. It makes me think I am watching actors shuffle around a sound stage, not detectives out scouring the city for clues. And I don't like that every single line spoken has to be critical to the plot. That feels so contrived and artificial, and makes the characters seem more like robots than people.

Now, cable/streaming is another ball game. There are some excellent recent crime shows that still retain some elements of the Quinn Martin formula.

 

[Lecagr]

As watchers of the three Dick Wolf "FBI" series currently running on CBS, I was amused by the WAY-different pacing of the 50-minute Zimbalist series VS what we get on the 42-minute CBS show.

On the CBS show, everyone speaks extremely fast and every line has some bit of information important to the story. When the FBI agents are tasked with getting someone or going to an address, instantly they cut to them at their destination. No wasted time whatsoever, and it makes for rather frenetic viewing.

This Quinn Martin show had a slow pace to it, showing agents in cars driving to a location, having irrelevant conversations, and having time in the offices for pleasantries and casual conversation. Amazing difference in scripted television compared to decades ago.

I much prefer the older TV shows from the 1950's to 70's when more time was given to the shows and there were fewer commercials. As a general rule, I usually don't watch TV shows from 1980 and forward. There are a few exceptions but not many.

 

[jayembee]

As watchers of the three Dick Wolf "FBI" series currently running on CBS, I was amused by the WAY-different pacing of the 50-minute Zimbalist series VS what we get on the 42-minute CBS show.

On the CBS show, everyone speaks extremely fast and every line has some bit of information important to the story. When the FBI agents are tasked with getting someone or going to an address, instantly they cut to them at their destination. No wasted time whatsoever, and it makes for rather frenetic viewing.

This Quinn Martin show had a slow pace to it, showing agents in cars driving to a location, having irrelevant conversations, and having time in the offices for pleasantries and casual conversation. Amazing difference in scripted television compared to decades ago.

It would be even more striking to compare an episode of Wolf's Law & Order with its 1960s predecessor Arrest & Trial. Of course, a big part of the difference is that Arrest & Trial was a 90-minute show (roughly a 75-minute net running time) so each half of the story would have the same amount of time as an entire L&O episode.

 

[Lecagr]

I'm on a Barnaby Jones kick lately and been watching episodes from the DVD's. I've noticed that some episodes follow the same pattern, a murder takes place at the beginning of the episode, then another murder occurs at the mid point of the episode which has some connection to the murder at the start of the episode. Then Barnaby goes to work putting the pieces of the puzzle together.

I know this has been said before but the Barnaby Jones complete series DVD is a big disappointment with most of the episodes being the edited for syndication versions. I don't like watching edited episodes but I bought the DVD's anyway because I'm a fan of the series.

The season 2 DVD set is strange because about half of the episodes are the complete versions while the other half are edited. Why couldn't all of them be complete?

Season 3 has all edited episodes except for one, the episode "Poisoned Pigeon" is complete. Why couldn't all of them be complete?

Seasons 4-8 are mostly all edited episodes except I noticed that the two part episodes seem to be complete for the most part. Why couldn't all the episodes be complete?

I don't know if the blame goes to VEI or CBS DVD, but someone really dropped the ball with this series when the episodes were being prepped for DVD. A re-issue with all complete episodes would be needed but I don't think it's going to happen.

 

[jayembee]

I'd say the blame is with both CBS and VEI, but mostly CBS. VEI likely just took whatever CBS gave them without even considering that some or all might be syndication cuts because they didn't know better.

 

[Lecagr]

I'd say the blame is with both CBS and VEI, but mostly CBS. VEI likely just took whatever CBS gave them without even considering that some or all might be syndication cuts because they didn't know better.

I imagine that you're probably right, it's just sad that the DVD's turned out the way they did. It's easily the worst DVD set in my collection, the best thing I can say about it is that it's better than having nothing. Great series but mostly terrible DVD presentation.

 

[bmasters9]

I'd say the blame is with both CBS and VEI, but mostly CBS. VEI likely just took whatever CBS gave them without even considering that some or all might be syndication cuts because they didn't know better.

Why wouldn't VEI know better and check the status of what CBS was giving them?

 

[jayembee]

Why wouldn't VEI know better and check the status of what CBS was giving them?

I've no idea, TBH. But given the prevalence from many labels (including the studios themselves) of syndication cuts in DVD releases, they (a) must not know, (b) must not care, or some combination of the two. VEI puts out enough titles that they might not have the staffing to ensure that they have complete episodes. If the products are selling (which apparently they are, given that VEI has been in business for a good long while), they may figure that their customers are just happy to get the episodes, cut or no, original broadcast versions or no, original music or no, and so on.

There are certainly other possibilities: the studios' copies of the complete episodes might be lost, or the cut versions are in better condition than the complete versions, and so those are the ones that get used.

 

[bmasters9]

I've no idea, TBH. But given the prevalence from many labels (including the studios themselves) of syndication cuts in DVD releases, they (a) must not know, (b) must not care, or some combination of the two. VEI puts out enough titles that they might not have the staffing to ensure that they have complete episodes. If the products are selling (which apparently they are, given that VEI has been in business for a good long while), they may figure that their customers are just happy to get the episodes, cut or no, original broadcast versions or no, original music or no, and so on.

There are certainly other possibilities: the studios' copies of the complete episodes might be lost, or the cut versions are in better condition than the complete versions, and so those are the ones that get used.

All very good possibilities!

 

[Lecagr]

Were syndication prints also used to prepare the Cannon DVD's? Thankfully the Cannon episodes are complete and run in the 50 minute range.