''Most Wanted'' is an American crime drama series shown on ABC from October 16, 1976, until August 20, 1977. It stars

Robert Stack Robert Stack (born Charles Langford Modini Stack; January 13, 1919 – May 14, 2003) was an American actor. Known for his deep voice and commanding presence, he appeared in over forty feature films. He starred in the highly successful ABC tele ...

Jo Ann Harris Jo Ann Harris (born Jo Ann Marcovitch; May 27, 1949) is an American actress known for her many film and television roles beginning in 1967. In the 1971 film '' The Beguiled'' she portrayed a 17-year-old who seduced Clint Eastwood's character. H ...

, Shelly Novack, and

Hari Rhodes Hari Rhodes (April 10, 1932 – January 15, 1992) was an American author and actor whose career spanned three decades beginning around 1960. He was sometimes billed as Harry Rhodes, and appeared in 66 films and television programs, such as AB ...

. The series was created by Lawrence Heath, aka Leonard Heideman, a successful and prolific writer/producer who several years earlier was institutionalized for murdering his wife. This program marks the reunion of series star Stack with producer

Quinn Martin Quinn Martin (born Irwin Martin Cohn; May 22, 1922 – September 5, 1987) was an American television producer. He had at least one television series running in prime time every year for 21 straight years (from 1959 to 1980). Martin is a mem ...

, who had worked together previously on the ABC crime series ''

The Untouchables Untouchables or The Untouchables may refer to: American history * Untouchables (law enforcement), a 1930s American law enforcement unit led by Eliot Ness * ''The Untouchables'' (book), an autobiography by Eliot Ness and Oscar Fraley * ''The U ...

''.

Overview

The series focused on an elite task force of the Los Angeles Police Department named "Most Wanted". The mayor of Los Angeles, Dan Stoddard (

), created the force to concentrate exclusively on criminals on the mayor's most-wanted list. In bringing them together, Mayor Stoddard specified "As few people as possible", and that their motto would be "Brainpower instead of manpower - focus instead of force". Captain Linc Evers (Stack) headed the force accompanied by his two assistants (Harris and Novack) who used undercover tactics to bring down the city's most wanted and dangerous criminals. The series' original pilot featured a fourth member, played by

Tom Selleck Thomas William Selleck (; born January 29, 1945) is an American actor. His breakout role was playing private investigator Thomas Magnum in the television series ''Magnum, P.I.'' (1980–1988), for which he received five Emmy Award nominations ...

, but he was not used for the series. Actress Leslie Charleson was in the pilot as the female member of the unit, but was replaced in the series by Harris. According to Robert Stack in his autobiography ''Straight Shooting'', ''Most Wanted'' had become a top 10 Nielsen ratings hit, but was cancelled by ABC due to network politics after one season. The theme song was composed by Lalo Schifrin and later used by the Sunburst Band for the house song "New York City Woman." ''Most Wanted'' follows the same structure as other Quinn Martin dramas, including four labeled acts and an epilogue. However, the opening does not feature an announcer or pictures of that episode's guest stars (just their names are displayed), though the "tonight's episode" features a picture of that episode's enemy or key figure.

Cast

as Captain Linc Evers *

as Mayor Dan Stoddard * Shelly Novack as Sergeant Charlie Benson *

as Officer Kate Manners

Episodes

Home media

On March 20, 2018, CBS Home Entertainment released the Complete Series on DVD in Region 1.Robert Stack and Shelly Novack in 'The Complete Series': Now Available!
/ref> This is a Manufacture-on-Demand (MOD) release, available from Amazon.com through their CreateSpace MOD program and other online retailers.

References

External links

*
''Most Wanted'' series intro (YouTube video)

''Most Wanted Theme'' by Lalo Schifrin
{{Quinn Martin shows 1970s American crime television series 1976 American television series debuts 1977 American television series endings Fictional portrayals of the Los Angeles Police Department American Broadcasting Company original programming American detective television series English-language television shows Television series by CBS Studios Television shows set in Los Angeles