David Cassidy: Man Undercover

Have You Watched…?

/ Kiki Writes / 6 Comments

I’ve not watched all the reruns in the world, but it’s still a fair question to ask someone who proclaims themselves to be a rerun junkie if they’ve watched a certain rerun.

Frequently, my answer is yes, but not for a long time or I watched it back in the day, but haven’t watched it since, or I’ve seen a few episodes years ago. I consumed an unlikely amount of reruns as a child and many of them, I haven’t seen since. I don’t think I’ve watched a full episode of Bewitched or I Dream of Jeannie in years, maybe not since grade school, but I know I’ve seen the entire run of both series while getting ready for school in the morning in the long, long ago of the ’80s.

I probably haven’t watched Airwolf since it first aired, but that was can’t miss TV for me back in the day. With the exception of a few episodes, I probably haven’t watched TJ Hooker or MacGyver since junior high. But I know I’ve seen almost every (if not every) episode of those shows, too.

So when I say I’ve seen something, I probably have. But it’s more than likely that it’s been so long that I don’t remember specifics about episodes.

Of course, there are series that I’ve heard of, but have never seen for one reason or another. The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet come to mind. Sure it was one of those black and white reruns that tended to get early morning play around here, but I never watched an episode of it. Never really had the interest. Not every show that I have knowledge of and access to is going to be something I want to devote my time to watching, even for a rerun junkie like me. And that’s okay! It has nothing to do with the quality of the show. It’s just personal preference. You don’t have to watch everything to be a rerun aficionado.

Because there are shows that we know about, but don’t have access to.

And there are shows that we don’t know about yet.

It was only in the last few years that two of the shows I talked about on Eventually Supertrain came into my awareness –Automan and Tales of the Gold Monkey. I enjoyed both series and never would have known about either of them if it weren’t for a little happenstance -being a fan of David Hewlett since Stargate: Atlantis and learning through following him on Twitter that he’d starred in an Automan parody short called Hewlogram, and being absurdly smitten with Jeff MacKay and seeking out shows he’s been in for my viewing pleasure.

Speaking of Eventually Supertrain, how many short-lived shows that I’ve never heard of has Dan introduced me to and put on my watch list? The Immortal, Lucan, Shadowchasers, Cliffhangers…he’s doing the TV Lord’s work putting these sorts of shows on people’s radar.

So many shows I’ve never heard of came into my awareness through Book ’em, Danno guest star research. I don’t think I ever would have known of David Cassidy -Man Undercover otherwise. It became a Holy Grail Show for me, one of those shows that I just had to see, but there didn’t seem to be a way to view it. I lucked out big time when it was made available on Crackle.

My other Holy Grail Show is Trauma Center, which was the fourth Glen A. Larson show released in 1983 (the other three being Manimal, Masquerade, and Automan, all of which have been covered on Eventually Supertrain). It doesn’t seem to be available anywhere, but one day, I will find it. And I will watch it. And it will be glorious.

There’s no telling how many shows there are that I haven’t discovered yet. And my list of shows to watch is growing. But I have seen quite a few now.

So go ahead. Ask me if I’ve watched a show.

We might all discover something.

Rerun Junkie Show–David Cassidy: Man Undercover

/ Kiki Writes / 4 Comments

david cassidy man undercover

I first remember coming across David Cassidy: Man Undercover when I was doing guest star research for Book ’em, Danno. As soon as I saw it, I knew I had to watch it. David Cassidy playing an undercover cop in the ’70s bridge between The Mod Squad and 21 Jump Street? Yes, please! It became one of my Holy Grail shows. It hasn’t been released on DVD, so streaming was my only hope.

I lucked out when it showed up on Crackle. The only hitch in the giddy-up? Episode 5 is missing for some reason (EDIT: Thanks to Gail for providing a link to Episode 5 in the comments). Missing an episode or two in a 200 episode show is no big deal (there are two eps of Hawaii Five-O I haven’t seen because they don’t get play in syndication, but one of them I’ll be able to watch thanks to streaming; bootleg is the only way I’ll ever see the lost episode); in a 10 episode short-lived series, it can be more significant. However, I think my binge watch of the nine available episodes is sufficient, at least for this little write-up.

As the title so expertly explains, David Cassidy plays undercover officer Dan Shay. He and his fellow undercover officers including Paul Sanchez (Michael A. Salcido) and T.J. Epps (Ray Vitte) answer to tough, loud, and supportive Sargent Abrams (Simon Oakland), while his wife Joanne (Wendy Rastattar) takes care of their daughter Cindy (Elizabeth Reddin), worries about his safety, and wonders if he’ll ever get to attend family events like a normal husband.

Every episode Dan Shay goes undercover as someone else named Dan (and I’m pretty sure every last name started with an S, but it might have just seemed that way) to infiltrate some sort of crime group and bring them down from the inside. Now, we’re talking about heartthrob David Cassidy here. Even four years after The Partridge Family, he was still something of a baby-faced hunk, which played in his favor for some undercover assignments and against him in others.

He was believable as a street racer, a college student in a baby-making scheme (yes, you read that right), and as a junkie. He was really good as the junkie, something you wouldn’t expect from such a normally clean-cut guy.

It was a stretch of believability when he went undercover as a pimp (yes), a motorcycle gang member, and an arms dealer. It’s no fault of his own. David Cassidy pulled off the acting, but when you put him next to another arms dealer played by James Whitmore Jr., the difference is glaring. He just didn’t have the right look.

Other guest stars include James Whitmore Jr.’s Baa Baa Black Sheep Squadron co-star WK Stratton (who was also almost too sweet-faced to play the bad guy he was playing); Ty Hardin, Norman Alden, Frank Campanella, Gerald Berns, Donald Petrie; soon to be TV names Heather Thomas, Gary Graham, and Randi Oakes; J. Jay Saunders, Jenny O’Hara, Alan Vint; voice artist king Michael Bell; Lana Wood, Ed Harris, Ed Nelson, Barry Nelson; horror faces Christopher Stone and Cliff Emmich; Jacques Aubuchon, Vince Howard, Joe Santos, Ken Swofford; ladies Jenny Sherman, Robin Dearden, Barbara Tarbuck, and Christina Hart; Paul Koslo, Vincent Bagetta, Tom Simcox, Craig Stevens, Carl Weintraub, Justin Lord, and Frank Converse.

Even if David Cassidy couldn’t always pull off the undercover assignments to my expectations, the episodes for the most part were decent to good. I particularly liked the twist of the college baby ring. Instead of coercing knocked up college girls to give their babies up for adoption to couples who could pay the huge fees, they solicited willing college students to make designer babies the old-fashioned way. Paying couples could flip through a book of headshots and pick the DNA they wanted. Then the chosen two would bow chicka wow wow their way to a baby and a payday. The problem was there was no take-backs and those who tried to back out of the deal were dealt with harshly. And that’s where Dan came in.

The episode in which Dan goes undercover as a junkie was also quite good, but more for the relationship that Dan established with another junkie. Sure, he used and manipulated him, but it was also clear that Dan cared about the man, too.

That’s the thing about the show. It’s very earnest. Dan is not only big on getting justice, but also on doing the right thing. The show humanizes addicts and sex workers, when most shows at the time still treated them as castoffs, undesirables, and garden variety criminals. That doesn’t stop them from playing Joanne as a petty, insecure wife when Dan is undercover as a pimp (I know) and working closely with a sex worker. Which is a shame because most of the time, their relationship is pretty grounded. She worries for him and gets frustrated with his work, but they also have silly, loving moments together that work really nicely to keep her from being a typical serious police wife.

I think the show would have benefited by keeping Dan’s undercover assignments toward his strengths of looking like a young, hip guy and/or derelict, juxtaposing that with his home life as a husband and father, but apparently, there’s more excitement in trying to convince us that Dan is a tough prison thug (I was not convinced; nothing to do with the acting, everything to do with the looks).

The show does tend dampen any climax peril for Dan. The only time I ever actually feared for him was when he was nearly molested in prison (which wasn’t the climax) and even then he quickly dispatched the offender. Most of the time the episodes wrap up pretty quickly and neatly with the bad guys not fighting back a whole lot. Sometimes it makes sense, but I expect James Whitmore Jr. not to go so quietly.

Even so, I enjoyed the show.

It’s just more evidence that I’ll watch Simon Oakland yell in anything.