''Premiere'' is an American television anthology series that aired on

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...

from July 1, 1968, to September 9, 1968. The presentations were pilots that were not brought by any of the networks. Among them were "Lassiter", starring Burt Reynolds, "Crisis", starring

Carl Betz Carl Lawrence Betz (March 9, 1921 – January 18, 1978) was an American stage, film, and television actor. He appeared in a variety of television series, including the CBS soap opera '' Love of Life''; he is best remembered for playing Don ...

and Susan Strasberg, and "Higher and Higher", starring

Sally Kellerman Sally Clare Kellerman (June 2, 1937 – February 24, 2022) was an American actress and singer whose acting career spanned 60 years. Her role as Major Margaret "Hot Lips" Houlihan in Robert Altman's film '' M*A*S*H'' (1970) earned her an Oscar n ...

and

John McMartin John Francis McMartin (August 21, 1929 – July 6, 2016) was an American actor of stage, film and television. Life and career McMartin was born in Warsaw, Indiana, on August 21, 1929, and raised in St. Cloud, Minnesota. After graduating fro ...

. Also seen was "Call to Danger", which was made years earlier as the pilot to '' Mission: Impossible.

''Lassiter''

Lassiter was to be a one-hour show starring Burt Reynolds as a magazine journalist who goes undercover for his stories. It was made by

Filmways Filmways, Inc. (also known as Filmways Pictures and Filmways Television) was a television and film production company founded by American film executive Martin Ransohoff and Edwin Kasper in 1952. It is probably best remembered as the production c ...

and was created and produced by Richard Alan Simmons. Sam Wanamaker directed the pilot in November 1966 in Reno, Nevada.

Cast

*Burt Reynolds as Lassiter *Sharon FarrellPretty Actress Even With Foot in Her Mouth: Pretty Actress Even With Her Foot in Her Mouth Pretty Actress With Foot in Mouth Thomas, Kevin. Los Angeles Times 15 Feb 1970: q1.

References

1968 American television series debuts 1968 American television series endings CBS original programming 1960s American anthology television series {{US-tv-prog-stub