Jericho (1966 TV series)

Jericho
GenreDrama
Spy fiction
Created byRichard Levinson
William Link
Merwin A. Bloch
Directed byAllen Baron
Richard C. Sarafian
Barry Shear
StarringJohn Leyton
Don Francks
Marino Masé
Theme music composerJerry Goldsmith
ComposersLalo Schifrin
Robert Drasnin
Jerry Goldsmith
Richard Shores
Morton Stevens
Country of originUnited States
Original languageEnglish
No. of seasons1
No. of episodes16
Production
Executive producerNorman Felton
ProducerDavid Victor
Camera setupSingle-camera
Running time48 mins.
Production companiesArena Productions
MGM Television
CBS Productions
Original release
NetworkCBS
ReleaseSeptember 15, 1966 (1966-09-15) –
January 19, 1967 (1967-01-19)

Jericho is an American espionage series set during World War II. The series stars John Leyton, Don Francks and Marino Masé as secret agents, and aired on CBS from September 1966 to January 1967.

Plot and production

Norman Felton who had previously co-produced The Man from U.N.C.L.E. came up with the idea of a World War II espionage series produced by his Arena Productions through Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Television for the CBS television network. The characters were perhaps inspired by the Jedburgh teams consisting of three agents, American Office of Strategic Services Army Captain Franklin Shepphard (Francks) expert in psychological warfare, Special Operations Executive Royal Navy Lieutenant Nicholas Gage (Leyton) expert in demolitions, and French Air Force Lt. Jean-Gaston Andre (Masé) skilled in small arms.[1] Each week the three performed a mission behind enemy lines using their skills in espionage and sabotage where they met a guest star. Eric Braeden, who would be one of the stars of the more successful World War II series The Rat Patrol (which began that same season), was one of the guest stars in the pilot.

The Jericho theme was composed by Jerry Goldsmith, although Goldsmith did not score the pilot episode "Upbeat And Underground" (Lalo Schifrin composed the music for the pilot and a theme which was never used) - Goldsmith's theme came from his score for "A Jug Of Wine, A Loaf Of Bread And Pow!"

The series was canceled after 16 episodes. It primarily failed as it was shown opposite ABC's popular Batman.[2]

Episodes

No. Title Directed by Written by Original air date
1"Dutch and Go"Barry ShearSheldon StarkSeptember 15, 1966 (1966-09-15)
2"A Jug of Wine, a Loaf of Bread, and Pow!"Richard C. SarafianMax EhrlichSeptember 22, 1966 (1966-09-22)
3"Upbeat and Underground"Richard DonnerStory by : William Link & Richard Levinson
Teleplay by : Dean Hargrove & William Link & Richard Levinson		September 29, 1966 (1966-09-29)
4"Have Traitor, Will Travel"Alex MarchJackson GillisOctober 6, 1966 (1966-10-06)
5"Panic in the Piazza"Sherman MarksNorman BorisoffOctober 13, 1966 (1966-10-13)
6"The Big Brass Contraband"Richard C. SarafinAlvin BoretzOctober 20, 1966 (1966-10-20)
7"Wall to Wall Kaput"Richard C. SarafianIrv TunickOctober 27, 1966 (1966-10-27)
8"Eric the Redhead"Richard C. SarafianJerome Ross Irve TunickNovember 3, 1966 (1966-11-03)
9"One for the Mountain: Part 1"Barry ShearSy SalkowitzNovember 10, 1966 (1966-11-10)
10"Two for the Road: Part 2"Barry ShearSy SalkowitzNovember 17, 1966 (1966-11-17)
11"Four O'Clock Bomb to London"Allen BaronStanford ShermanDecember 1, 1966 (1966-12-01)
12"Long Journey Across a Short Street"Richard C. SarafianJackson Gillis William KoenigDecember 8, 1966 (1966-12-08)
13"Both Ends Against the Riddle"Murray GoldenJackson GillisDecember 15, 1966 (1966-12-15)
14"Jackal of Diamonds"Alexander SingerDon TaitDecember 29, 1966 (1966-12-29)
15"A Switch in Time"Allen BaronStanley NissJanuary 5, 1967 (1967-01-05)
16"The Loot of All Evil"Allen BaronTony Barrett Palmer ThompsonJanuary 19, 1967 (1967-01-19)

Soundtrack

In June 2005, Film Score Monthly released an album of music from the series, twinned with the score Johnny Williams composed for the unsold pilot The Ghostbreaker (also produced by Arena Productions and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Television) - the latter score occupies tracks 13-22.[3]

  1. Jericho Main Title - Jerry Goldsmith (1:04)
  2. A Jug of Wine, a Loaf of Bread, and Pow! - Jerry Goldsmith (10:52)
  3. Upbeat and Underground - Lalo Schifrin (8:47)
  4. Dutch and Go - Morton Stevens (4:38)
  5. Have Traitor, Will Travel - Morton Stevens (2:29)
  6. The Big Brass Contraband - Richard Shores (3:41)
  7. Wall to Wall Kaput - Richard Shores (2:07)
  8. Eric the Redhead - Gerald Fried (5:33)
  9. One for the Mountain - Richard Shores (3:16)
  10. Two for the Road - Richard Shores (4:49)
  11. Four O'clock Bomb to London - Richard Shores (4:29)
  12. Alternate Main Title - Lalo Schifrin (:45)
  13. The Ghostbreaker Main Title (1:01)
  14. Teaser (3:39)
  15. Act I: The Spooked Skyscraper Strikes Again (2:08)
  16. Men of Unitran (1:44)
  17. Act II: Accent the Supernatural (3:00)
  18. Greensleeves (1:24)
  19. Act III: Don't Trip Over Diablo (3:57)
  20. Organ Piece (2:31)
  21. Act IV: To Outspook a Spook (6:25)
  22. End Credits (:49)

DVD release

On June 16, 2015, Warner Bros. released Jericho- The Complete Series on DVD via their Warner Archive Collection. This is a manufacture-on-demand (MOD) release, available through Warner's online store and Amazon.com.[4]

Notes

  1. ^ p.180 Britton, Wesley Allen Spy Television 2004 Praegeer
  2. ^ "The delightfully offbeat career of singer Don Francks - CBC Arts | Film". Archived from the original on 2007-12-13.
  3. ^ "Jericho/The Ghostbreaker (1966/1965)". filmscoremonthly.com. Archived from the original on October 21, 2012. Retrieved March 11, 2013.
  4. ^ 'The Complete Series' of the 1966 Show is Coming to DVD Archived 2015-05-27 at the Wayback Machine