''Sarge'' is an American

crime drama Crime film is a film belonging to the crime fiction genre. Films of this genre generally involve various aspects of crime and fiction. Stylistically, the genre may overlap and combine with many other genres, such as Drama (film and television), dr ...

television series starring

George Kennedy George Harris Kennedy Jr. (February 18, 1925 – February 28, 2016) was an American actor who appeared in more than 100 film and television productions. He played "Dragline" in ''Cool Hand Luke'' (1967), winning the Academy Award for Best Supp ...

. The series aired for one season on

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...

from September 1971 to January 1972. It was based on the Father Bredder series of mystery novels by Leonard Wibberley (writing as Leonard Holton).

Overview

Kennedy stars as Samuel Patrick Cavanaugh, a

San Diego San Diego ( , ) is a city on the Pacific coast of Southern California, adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a population of over 1.4 million, it is the List of United States cities by population, eighth-most populous city in t ...

police detective sergeant who decides to retire and enter the

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deity, deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in parti ...

hood after his wife is murdered. Sarge had initially studied for the priesthood prior to his police career, but his seminary studies were interrupted by military service in the

Marine Corps Marines (or naval infantry) are military personnel generally trained to operate on both land and sea, with a particular focus on amphibious warfare. Historically, the main tasks undertaken by marines have included raiding ashore (often in supp ...

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 ...

. The series, which ran in 1971-72, was preceded by a

pilot An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its Aircraft flight control system, directional flight controls. Some other aircrew, aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are al ...

titled ''Sarge: The Badge or the Cross'' (February 22, 1971 airdate), which set the premise for the subsequent series. One week before the show's fall premiere, on September 14, 1971, Cavanaugh traveled to San Francisco because of the death of a friend and fellow priest. His investigation caused him to cross paths with the characters from '' Ironside'' in a two-hour special that consolidated the two series' consecutive time slots. This has been subsequently seen as a TV-movie, ''The Priest Killer''. The series was set in

and the pilot movie was filmed primarily on location. However, when the series went into production, episodes were filmed in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

. The parish church used was St. Peter's Italian Catholic Church on North Broadway in

Chinatown Chinatown ( zh, t=唐人街) is the catch-all name for an ethnic enclave of Chinese people located outside Greater China, most often in an urban setting. Areas known as "Chinatown" exist throughout the world, including Europe, Asia, Africa, O ...

. George Kennedy's character was originally Sarge Swanson in the pilot movie. Starting with the ''Ironside'' crossover episode, and for the rest of the series, his last name was changed from Swanson to Cavanaugh. Supporting actor

Ramon Bieri Ramon Arens Bieri (June 16, 1929 – May 27, 2001) was an American film and television actor. Television work Bieri starred as the title character in the short-lived NBC sitcom '' Joe's World'', from December 1979 to July 1980, playing Joe Wab ...

played Sarge's police contact. In the pilot, his name was Chief Dewey, but was changed to Lt. Barney Verick, chief of detectives, for the series. Sallie Shockley (Valerie) and

Harold Sakata , better known as Harold Sakata, was an American Olympic weightlifter, professional wrestler, and film actor of Japanese descent. He won a silver medal for the United States at the 1948 Summer Olympics in London in weightlifting, and late ...

(Kenji Takichi) reprised their roles from the pilot movie for the series.

Henry Wilcoxon Henry Wilcoxon (born Harry Frederick Wilcoxon; 8 September 1905 – 6 March 1984) was a British-American actor and film producer, born in the British West Indies. He was known as an actor in many of director Cecil B. DeMille's films, also ser ...

as Bishop Andrade and

Dana Elcar Ibsen Dana Elcar (October 10, 1927 – June 6, 2005) was an American television and film character actor. He appeared in about 40 films as well as in the 1960s television series ''Dark Shadows'' as Sheriff George Patterson and the 1980s and 1 ...

as Father Frank Dismore also appeared in the pilot, as well as the series.

Dan Cooper

The second episode of ''Sarge'', "Ring In, Ring Out", features a character named Dan Cooper (played by guest star

Martin Sheen Ramón Gerard Antonio Estévez (born August 3, 1940), known professionally as Martin Sheen, is an American actor. His work spans over six decades of television and film, and his accolades include three Emmy Awards, a Golden Globe Award, and ...

). It aired on September 28, 1971. On November 24, 1971, a man giving the name Dan Cooper hijacked Flight 305 from Portland, Oregon, to Seattle, Washington. The name the hijacker gave, Dan Cooper, was mistakenly reported in the press as D.B. Cooper.

Cast

as "Sarge" (Sarge Swanson in the pilot, Samuel Patrick Cavanaugh in the series) * Sallie Shockley as Valerie *

as Chief Dewey (pilot), Lt. Barney Verick (series) *

as Kenji Takichi

Episode list

Reception

''Sarge'' was well received but ultimately failed by being pitted against CBS's ''

Hawaii Five-O Hawaii Five-O or Hawaii Five-0 may refer to: * ''Hawaii Five-0'' (2010 TV series), an American action police procedural television series * ''Hawaii Five-O'' (1968 TV series), an American police procedural drama series produced by CBS Productio ...

'' and '' The ABC Tuesday Movie of the Week''.

Syndication

Since 1973, episodes have been syndicated under ''

The Bold Ones ''The Bold Ones'' is the umbrella title for several television series. It was produced by Universal Television and broadcast on NBC from 1969 to 1973. It was a wheel series, wheel format series, an NBC programming approach also used by that net ...

'' umbrella title, and can be seen on

Cozi TV Cozi TV (stylized on-air as COZI TV) is an American free-to-air television network owned by the NBC Owned Television Stations division of NBCUniversal. The network airs classic television series from the 1950s to the 2000s. The network originat ...

; it was previously seen on the RTV network in selected areas.

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, 0066708, title=Sarge 1971 American television series debuts 1972 American television series endings 1970s American crime drama television series American English-language television shows Television series by Universal Television Television shows set in San Diego American television spinoffs American detective television series Clerical mysteries Television series about Christian religious leaders NBC crime dramas