''Blue Light'' is a 1966 American

espionage Espionage, spying, or intelligence gathering, as a subfield of the intelligence field, is the act of obtaining secret or confidential information ( intelligence). A person who commits espionage on a mission-specific contract is called an ...

drama television series starring

Robert Goulet Robert Gérard Goulet (November 26, 1933 October 30, 2007) was an American‐Canadian singer and actor of French-Canadian ancestry. Goulet was born and raised in Lawrence, Massachusetts, until age 13, and then spent his formative years in Canad ...

and Christine Carère about the adventures of an American double agent in

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. It aired from January 12 to May 18, 1966.McNeil, Alex, ''Total Television: The Comprehensive Guide to Programming From 1948 to the Present'', New York: Penguin Books, 1996, p. 104.Brooks, Tim, and Earle Marsh, ''The Complete Directory to Prime-Time Network and Cable TV Shows, 1946–Present, Sixth Edition'', New York: Ballantine Books, 1995, , p. 116. A theatrical movie, '' I Deal in Danger'', was created by editing ''Blue Light''s first four episodes together into a continuous story. ''I Deal in Danger'' was released in 1966 after ''Blue Light''s cancellation.The Classic TV Archive – Europe: Blue Light
/ref>mysteryfile.com A TV Series Review by Michael Shonk: BLUE LIGHT (1966).
/ref>

Synopsis

Prior to

s conquest of Europe, the United States places 18

sleeper agent A sleeper agent is a spy or operative who is placed in a target country or organization, not to undertake an immediate mission, but instead to act as a potential asset on short notice if activated in the future. Even if not activated, the "sle ...

s – collectively forming an espionage organization called "Code: Blue Light" – inside Germany, assigned to penetrate the German high command during

. Journalist David March is one of them. He passes himself off to the Germans as a foreign correspondent who has officially renounced his American citizenship and come to Germany in order to support the

Nazi Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

cause. The Germans put him to work as a writer and broadcaster of Nazi

propaganda Propaganda is communication that is primarily used to influence or persuade an audience to further an agenda, which may not be objective and may be selectively presenting facts to encourage a particular synthesis or perception, or using loaded l ...

– and occasionally as a spy for Germany. The Germans catch and execute the other 17 Blue Light agents, and as the lone survivor March must work hard to maintain his cover and avoid detection and arrest by German counterintelligence agents while secretly spying for the

Allies An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not an explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are calle ...

. He is so deeply undercover that except for a few United States Government officials who know that he is a double agent loyal to the United States, the entire world believes him to be a pro-Nazi traitor – so much so that not only does he discover that a woman he loves has committed suicide because of his supposed support for Nazism, but he must also avoid capture or assassination by Allied intelligence agencies unaware that he secretly works for the Allies. Marchs confidante, assistant, and contact with the underground is Suzanne Duchard, also a double agent who poses as a French

Gestapo The (, ), Syllabic abbreviation, abbreviated Gestapo (), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of F ...

agent who hates him. She knows that he is a Blue Light double agent, and secretly both supports his espionage activities against the Germans and falls in love with him. In his adventures, March sees a lot of action and faces many moral dilemmas, such as tough choices between carrying out his orders and protecting innocents. He often kills in order to maintain his cover or fulfill a mission.

Cast

as David March * Christine Carère as Suzanne Duchard

Production

Walter Grauman Walter E. Grauman (March 17, 1922 – March 20, 2015) was an American director of stage shows, films and television shows. Early life Grauman was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin to Jacob and Irene Grauman, both children of German immigrants who ...

and

Larry Cohen Lawrence George Cohen (July 15, 1936 – March 23, 2019) was an American filmmaker. He originally emerged as the writer of blaxploitation films such as ''Black Caesar (film), Black Caesar'' and ''Hell Up in Harlem'' (both 1973), before becomin ...

created ''Blue Light'', and Buck Houghton produced it. Episode directors included Grauman, Robert Butler,

James Goldstone James Goldstone (June 8, 1931 – November 5, 1999) was an American film and television director whose career spanned over thirty years. Early life and education Goldstone was born in Los Angeles, the son of the Hollywood agent and early televi ...

, Walter Graham,

Gerd Oswald Gerd Oswald (June 9, 1919 – May 22, 1989) was a German director of American films and television. Biography Born in Berlin, Oswald was the son of German film director Richard Oswald and actress Käthe Oswald. He worked as a child actor be ...

, and Leo Penn. Writers included Cohen, Merwin Bloch, Walter Brough, Dick Carr,

Jamie Farr Jamie Farr (born Jameel Joseph Farah; July 1, 1934) is an American comedian and actor. He is best known for playing Corporal Maxwell Klinger, a soldier who tried getting discharged from the army by cross-dressing, on the CBS sitcom '' M*A*S*H'' ...

, Harold Livingston, H. Bud Otto, Brad Radnitz, Curtis Sanders, Donald S. Sanford, Roger Swaybill, Jack Turley, and Dan Ullman. Goulet's production company Rogo Productions produced the show in association with

Twentieth Century Fox Television 20th Television, Inc. (formerly known as TCF Television Productions, Inc., 20th Century-Fox Television and 20th Century Fox Television) is the television studio arm of 20th Century Studios, owned by Disney Television Studios, a division of the Di ...

, and

Lalo Schifrin Boris Claudio "Lalo" Schifrin (born June 21, 1932) is an Argentine-American pianist, composer, arranger, and conductor. He is best known for his large body of film and TV scores since the 1950s, incorporating jazz and Music of Latin America, Lati ...

composed its theme music, with Schifrin,

Dave Grusin Robert David Grusin (born June 26, 1934) is an American composer, arranger, producer, jazz pianist, and band leader. He has composed many scores for feature films and television and has won numerous awards for his soundtrack and record work, incl ...

, Joseph Mullendore and

Pete Rugolo Pietro Rugolo (December 25, 1915 – October 16, 2011), known professionally as Pete Rugolo, was an American jazz composer, arranger, and record producer. Life and career Rugolo was born in San Piero Patti, Sicily. His family emigrated to the ...

writing episode scores. Except for its first episode, ''Blue Light'' was filmed entirely at Bavarian Studios in

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

West Germany West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...

– according to Goulet, the first American television show filmed in color in Europe. Following the cancellation of ''Blue Light'', its first four episodes, which told a continuous story of David Marchs efforts targeting a German super-weapon facility at Grossmuchen, Germany, were edited together to create a movie. Entitled '' I Deal in Danger'', it was released theatrically in the United States in December 1966 and in other countries in 1967 and 1968.

Episodes

Sources:tvguide.com Blue Light Episode Guide
/ref>

Broadcast history

''Blue Light'' premiered on

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Broadcasting * Aliw Broadcasting Corporation, Philippine broadcast company * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial American ...

on January 12, 1966. It was cancelled after the broadcast of its seventeenth episode on May 18, 1966. Reruns of the show continued to air in its regular time slot until August 31, 1966. It aired on Wednesday at 8:30 p.m. throughout its run.

Critical reception

''Blue Light'' was violent by the standards of television in the mid-1960s; in situations where other television heroes knocked out guards and other opponents, March knifed them to death. It was credited for its gritty depiction of espionage in World War II and for the difficult moral choices it posed. Best known as a singer rather than an actor, Goulet received good reviews for his believable portrayal of March, and the show was fast-paced, with tight plots that kept moving. It also featured some of the best television character actors of the 1960s as its guest stars. Carère, however, was viewed as a liability for the show, especially in the romantic subplot between her character and Goulets. The shows 30-minute format also worked against it, forcing episode writers to meet time constraints in part by making David Marchs opponents shallow as characters and too easy for him to outwit.

References

External links