The Defenders (1961 TV series)
| The Defenders | |
|---|---|
| Created by | Reginald Rose |
| Starring | E.G. Marshall Robert Reed Joan Hackett Polly Rowles |
| Country of origin | United States |
| No. of seasons | 4 |
| No. of episodes | 132 |
| Production | |
| Executive producer | Herbert Brodkin |
| Running time | 60 min. |
| Original release | |
| Network | CBS |
| Release | September 16, 1961 – May 13, 1965 |
The Defenders is an American courtroom drama series which ran on CBS from 1961–1965. It starred E.G. Marshall and Robert Reed as a father-and-son legal team who specialized in defending hopeless cases. It was created by television writer Reginald Rose. It was a slight reworking of his 1957 two-part drama, The Defender, from the anthology series Studio One. In the original program, Ralph Bellamy played the father and William Shatner played his son. [1] Shatner guest-starred as a prosecutor in the later series, and the original drama later was incorporated into an episode of his series, Boston Legal. Original music for the series was scored by Frank Lewin and Leonard Rosenman.
A re-envisioned version of the series (which many called a sequel) debuted on the Showtime (which is now owned by CBS) network in 1997. Still called The Defenders, it focused on Beau Bridges and Martha Plimpton as the grandchildren of E.G. Marshall's character. They worked as lawyers and carried on the family legacy. However, Marshall died after completion of the Second episode ("Choice Of Evils"). Production was halted and the remaining canned episode, "Taking the First", aired as a movie special in 1998.
References
- ^ The Defenders at IMDb
External links
- The Defenders at IMDb
- The Defenders: Payback at IMDb
- The Defenders: Choice of Evils at IMDb
- The Defenders: Taking the First at IMDb