''A Man Called Sloane'' is an American

secret agent Espionage, spying, or intelligence gathering is the act of obtaining secret or confidential information (intelligence) from non-disclosed sources or divulging of the same without the permission of the holder of the information for a tangibl ...

adventure television series that aired on

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters ...

during the 1979–1980 television season. It was a Woodruff Production in association with QM Productions and became the final series produced by

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 membe ...

's company to debut. ''A Man Called Sloane'' was an amalgam of elements from numerous spy series of the previous 15 years, including ''

The Man from U.N.C.L.E. ''The Man from U.N.C.L.E.'' is an American spy fiction television series produced by MGM Television, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Television and first broadcast on NBC. The series follows secret agents, played by Robert Vaughn and David McCallum, who wo ...

'', '' Mission: Impossible'', and Conrad's own ''

The Wild Wild West ''The Wild Wild West'' is an American Western, espionage, and science fiction television series that ran on the CBS television network for four seasons from September 17, 1965, to April 11, 1969. Two satirical comedy television film sequels ...

''. One of the more expensive series produced during the season, it failed to gain an audience and was cancelled after 12 episodes were broadcast. It is also one of only three QM series not to have an announcer accompanying the opening titles, one of two not to display a copyright notice at the beginning but rather at the end, and the only one not to have a "Tonight's Episode" card or the "Act I/II/III/IV/Epilog" formatting — the episode titles still appear onscreen, but they appear as part of the episode credits rather than during the standard opening.

Synopsis

The series starred

Robert Conrad Robert Conrad (born Conrad Robert Falk; March 1, 1935 – February 8, 2020) was an American film and television actor, singer, and stuntman. He is best known for his role in the 1965–1969 television series ''The Wild Wild West'', playin ...

as Thomas R. Sloane III, a freelance spy who takes on occasional assignments for UNIT, a secret American intelligence operation run by The Director, played by

Dan O'Herlihy Daniel Peter O'Herlihy (May 1, 1919 – February 17, 2005) was an Irish actor of film, television, and radio. With a distinguished appearance and rich, resonant speaking voice, O'Herlihy's best known-roles included his Oscar-nominated portraya ...

. Unlike nearly all the other stars of series produced by QM Productions, Conrad was billed above the title. The secret entrance to UNIT headquarters was through a toy store. KARTEL was the evil secret organization that was UNIT's nemesis. Aiding Sloane's missions was Torque, his deadly right-hand man played by

Ji-Tu Cumbuka Ji-Tu Cumbuka (March 4, 1940 – July 4, 2017) was an American actor. He is best remembered as "Torque" in the hit TV series '' A Man Called Sloane'' together with Robert Conrad and Dan O'Herlihy. In 2011, Cumbuka published his autobiography ' ...

. Torque had a mechanical hand with interchangeable parts (drill, saw blade, etc.) that often helped during their assignments. The pair was also assisted by Effie, a computer voiced by Michele Carey.

Related media

On March 5, 1981, NBC aired a

TV movie A television film, alternatively known as a television movie, made-for-TV film/movie or TV film/movie, is a feature-length film that is produced and originally distributed by or to a television network, in contrast to theatrical films made for ...

, ''Death Ray 2000'', which was actually the original

pilot An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its directional flight controls. Some other aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are also considered aviators, because they a ...

for the series. The movie starred Robert Logan as Sloane and Cumbuka played Torque as a villain. Logan was originally supposed to play Sloane on the series, but

Fred Silverman Fred Silverman (September 13, 1937 – January 30, 2020) was an American television executive and producer. He worked as an executive at all of the Big Three television networks, and was responsible for bringing to television such programs as '' ...

stated he did not like Logan and wanted Robert Conrad.

Episodes

Notes

References

External links

* * (original pilot film) {{DEFAULTSORT:Man Called Sloane, A NBC original programming Espionage television series American adventure television series 1979 American television series debuts 1979 American television series endings Television series by CBS Studios English-language television shows Television shows set in Chicago