McCloud was an American television police drama that aired on NBC from 1970 to 1977. The title role was played by Dennis Weaver as Deputy U.S. Marshal Sam McCloud, a law officer from Taos, New Mexico on semi-permanent "special assignment" with the New York City Police Department. The 1986 Peacock logo, designed by Chermayeff & Geismar. ... 1970 was a common year starting on Thursday. ... 1977 was a common year starting on Saturday (the link is to a full 1977 calendar). ... Dennis Weaver (b. ... The United States Marshals Service, part of the United States Department of Justice, is the United States oldest federal law enforcement agency. ... Taos is a city located in Taos County, New Mexico. ... The NYPD Logo The New York City Police Department (NYPD), the largest police department in the United States, has primary responsibility for law enforcement and investigation within the five boroughs of New York City. ...

History

The pilot ("Portrait of a Dead Girl") aired on February 17, 1970, and established the premise by having McCloud escort a prisoner from New Mexico to New York City, only to become embroiled in solving a complicated murder case. February 17 is the 48th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1970 was a common year starting on Thursday. ... State nickname: Land of Enchantment Other U.S. States Capital Santa Fe Largest city Albuquerque Governor Bill Richardson Official languages English and Spanish Area 315,194 km² (5th)  - Land 314,590 km²  - Water 607 km² (0. ... Midtown Manhattan, looking north from the Empire State Building, 2005 New York City (officially named the City of New York) is the most populous city in the United States, and is at the center of international finance, politics, music, and culture. ...

This premise of "a cowboy in the big city" was more or less adapted from the 1968 Don Siegel film Coogan's Bluff, starring Clint Eastwood. Herman Miller (writer) was responsible for the story of Coogan's Bluff and co-wrote the screenplay with Dean Riesner and Howard Rodman (indeed, Miller's work on Coogan's Bluff is credited with inspiring McCloud ). Coogan's Bluff reflects Richard Thorpe's great Tarzan's New York Adventure and the latter-day career of Bat Masterson (Siegel himself appears in "Return to the Alamo" as "2nd Desk Sergeant"). Like Coogan, McCloud galloped the length and breadth of Manhattan (he was joined by a mounted unit in "The 42nd Street Cavalry"), and the absurd sight of McCloud on horseback riding down the middle of a busy street (taken from an early episode) became one of the series' iconic images. 1968 was a leap year starting on Monday (the link is to a full 1968 calendar). ... Don Siegel (October 26, 1912 - April 20, 1991) was an influential American film director. ... Coogans Bluff is the name of a promontory located in upper Manhattan in New York City. ... Clint Eastwood in the 1960s Clint Eastwood Clinton Eastwood, Jr. ... Herman Miller (writer) (1919 - 1999, Los Angeles, California), was a Hollywood writer and producer. ... This article needs cleanup. ... Bat Masterson ( November 24, 1853 or 1856 - October 25, 1921) was a legendary figure of the American West. ...

NBC renewed the show for six 60-minute episodes in the fall of 1970, placing it in the rotation of its "wheel format" series Four in One, along with Night Gallery, San Francisco International Airport, and The Psychiatrist. The 1986 Peacock logo, designed by Chermayeff & Geismar. ... 1970 was a common year starting on Thursday. ... Night Gallery was Rod Serlings follow-up to The Twilight Zone which aired on NBC from 1970 to 1973. ...

In the fall of 1971, NBC placed McCloud. along with two other new series, McMillan and Wife and Columbo, in the rotation of a new drama NBC Mystery Movie which aired on Wednesday night from 8:30-10:00. The running time of each episode was increased to 90 minutes. The umbrella series was a success, finishing at number 14 for Nielsen ratings for the 1971-72 series. The following season, NBC moved McCloud and the other two shows of Mystery Movie to the competitive 8:30-10:00 Sunday night position and added a fourth series, Hec Ramsey to the rotation as the NBC Sunday Mystery Movie. The rotating series was an enormous success and finished at number 5 in the ratings for the season. [1]. 1971 is a common year starting on Friday (click for link to calendar). ... McMillan and Wife was an American crime drama television series that aired on NBC from 1971 to 1978. ... DVD cover of Columbo - The Complete First Season Columbo was an American crime fiction TV series created by Richard Levinson and William Link. ... The NBC Mystery Movie was an American television cycle of movies that aired on NBC from 1971 to 1977. ... When TV viewers or entertainment professionals in the United States mention ratings they are generally referring to Nielsen Ratings, a system developed by the New York City-based firm Nielsen Media Research to determine which shows television viewers watch at what times. ...

Starting in the fifth season in the fall of 1974, the episodes were two hours long, but were dropped again to 90 minutes for the seventh and final season starting in the fall of 1976. The forty-sixth and last episode, "McCloud Meets Dracula", was aired on April 17, 1977. 1974 is a common year starting on Tuesday (click on link for calendar). ... 1976 is a leap year starting on Thursday (link will take you to calendar). ... April 17 is the 107th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (108th in leap years). ... 1977 was a common year starting on Saturday (the link is to a full 1977 calendar). ...

The character was brought back for a made-for-television movie, The Return of Sam McCloud, which aired on November 12, 1989. November 12 is the 316th day of the year (317th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 49 days remaining. ... 1989 is a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Dennis Weaver received Emmy nominations in 1974 and 1975 for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series. An Emmy Award. ... 1974 is a common year starting on Tuesday (click on link for calendar). ... 1975 was a common year starting on Wednesday (the link is to a full 1975 calendar). ...

The executive producer was Glen A. Larson, who wrote brilliantly for the series (as did Peter Allan Fields, Lou Shaw, Jimmy Sangster and others). Larson won an Edgar for "The New Mexican Connection". Glen A. Larson (born 1937) is a television writer and producer. ...

Recurring Themes and Characters

The Westerner in New York City

The most enduring theme of the show was the conflict between the good-natured, clear-eyed buoyancy of McCloud and the metropolitan cynicism of the residents of New York City, including his fellow officers. McCloud's attire, typically consisting of a sheepskin coat or Western jacket, kerchief tie and cowboy hat, allowed for implied comic relief in many encounters with New Yorkers. That New Yorkers might mistake him for a naif because of his appearance occasionally worked to his advantage. He would often allay suspicion of his motives by insisting he was in New York "to observe and learn." Midtown Manhattan, looking north from the Empire State Building, 2005 New York City (officially named the City of New York) is the most populous city in the United States, and is at the center of international finance, politics, music, and culture. ...

The signature of McCloud's character was his Western unflappability and seeming inability to recognize an insult, especially from Clifford, whose jibes ("send in the sagebrush Sherlock Holmes") he never would take personally. Weaver's grin and drawling twang represented McCloud as the embodiment of the American law officer who always sees the good in people but knows the real stakes and spares no pain to catch the bad guy. The character's signature catch phrase was his line of encouragement, "there ya go," often received with bemusement or puzzlement by the listener. A catch phrase is a phrase or expression that is popularized, usually through repeated use, by a real person or fictional character. ...

Antagonism with Chief Clifford

Another recurring theme in the show was the conflict between McCloud and his superior, NYPD Chief of Detectives Peter B. Clifford, played in every episode but the pilot by J.D. Cannon. In the first episodes, their relationship was portrayed as somewhat amiable, with Clifford showing a wary respect for the unconventional Westerner assigned to his command. The relationship quickly soured, however, based mostly on McCloud's seeming disregard of authority combined with a charm that let him escape many of the consequences of his "cowboy-like" determination. Clifford's attitude to McCloud became one of cynical antagonism, bordering at times on apopletic rage, but sown with more or less grudging respect for McCloud's ability to solve intractable cases. J.D. Cannon (born April 24, 1922 in Salmon, Idaho), is an American actor. ... A cowboy (Spanish vaquero) tends cattle and horses on cattle ranches in North and South America. ... Apoplexy is an old-fashioned medical term, generally used interchangeably with cerebrovascular accident (CVA or stroke) but having other meanings as well. ...

Friendship with Sgt. Broadhurst

In many episodes, McCloud was partnered with Sgt. Joe Broadhurst, played by Terry Carter. Broadhurst, a New Yorker, was portrayed with a certain existential pessimism to counter McCloud's high spirits. Like Chief Clifford, Broadhurst felt himself wise to McCloud's peculiarities, but was without the anger, and usually wound up resigned to being drawn into McCloud's schemes to solve particular cases, sometimes against direct orders. He would then sometimes play the role of voluntary lightning rod for Clifford's anger, and absorb as much of the blame for McCloud's initiative as McCloud himself (Broadhurst served as acting Chief of Detectives three times during Clifford's absence, in "This Must Be the Alamo", "Return to the Alamo" and "'Twas the Fight Before Christmas..."). Existentialism is a philosophical movement that views the individual, the self, the individuals experience, and the uniqueness therein as the basis for understanding the nature of human existence. ... Nikola Teslas Lightning-Protector U.S. Patent 1266175 A lightning rod is a metal strip or rod, usually of copper or similar conductive material, used to protect tall or isolated structures (such as the roof of a building or the mast of a vessel) from lightning damage. ...

Other Characters

Other recurring characters on the show included the gravel-voiced Sgt. Grover, played by Ken Lynch, who seemed to be forever at his desk in the squad room. The ever-smiling but somewhat batty Sgt. Phyllis Norton was played by Teri Garr. Teri Garr (born December 11, 1949 in Lakewood, Ohio) is a United States actor. ...

Love Interests

McCloud was portrayed as something of a ladies' man, and the characters played by the frequent female guest stars would often fall for his protective charm. He was also given a recurring love interest, the tough-spoken but soft-hearted Chris Coughlin, played by frequent guest star Diana Muldaur, whose duties as newspaper writer ("never a reporter") sometimes came into conflict with McCloud's police work. Diana Muldaur (born August 19, 1938 in New York, New York), is an American television actress. ...

Portrayal of New York City in the 1970s

The show, which was in some senses a big city Western, was set in New York City during what was arguably the nadir of the city's existence in the late 20th century, a period following the troubled 1960s and leading up to the fiscal crisis of 1975 (which figured in "The Day New York Turned Blue", for example). Broncho Billy Anderson, from The Great Train Robbery The Western movie is one of the classic American film genres. ... Midtown Manhattan, looking north from the Empire State Building, 2005 New York City (officially named the City of New York) is the most populous city in the United States, and is at the center of international finance, politics, music, and culture. ... In astronomy, the nadir is the, obviously invisible, point on the sky vertically downward, i. ... (19th century - 20th century - 21st century - more centuries) Decades: 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s As a means of recording the passage of time, the 20th century was that century which lasted from 1901–2000 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar (1900–1999 in the... The 1960s, or The Sixties, in its most obvious sense refers to the decade between 1960 and 1969, but the expression has taken on a wider meaning over the past twenty years. ... 1975 was a common year starting on Wednesday (the link is to a full 1975 calendar). ...

At the time, the city seemed to be on an inexorable downward slide into chaos, a theme that was explored in a more brutal fashion in William Friedkin's film The French Connection which was released the year after the pilot of McCloud. In some episodes (such as "Walk in the Dark") the city was portrayed as particularly crime-ridden, with the danger of muggings and bodily harm at every turn. Such lurking evil was often more in the dialogue than the pictures, however, and the show retained a somewhat whimsical and sunny flavor despite the subject matter. William Friedkin (born August 29, 1935 in Chicago, Illinois) is a movie and television director, producer, and writer best known for directing The Exorcist and The French Connection in the early 1970s. ... The French Connection is a 1971 Hollywood film directed by William Friedkin which tells the story of two New York City policemen who are trying to intercept a heroin shipment coming in from France, based on the actual, infamous French Connection trafficking scheme. ... Common stereotype of a criminal A crime in a broad sense is an act that violates a political or moral law. ...

McCloud was filmed partially on location (the unit was in New York for "A Little Plot at Tranquil Valley" notably, and traveled to Hawaii for "A Cowboy in Paradise", to Mexico City and Teotihuacan for "Lady on the Run", and to Sydney for "Sharks!"—second-unit footage came from London, Paris, Monaco, Rome, and Moscow at various times), but utilized the Universal back lot for many scenes.

A recurring theme in many episodes was the incorporation of a plot device from Hollywood cinema, particularly at the climax of an episode. Examples included chases on horseback to lasso cattle rustlers ("The Colorado Cattle Caper"), a 1930s-style gangster shoot-out (the film-within-a-film shot on location in "The Gang That Stole Manhattan,"), a Jesse James-style train hold-up on the Long Island Rail Road ("Butch Cassidy Rides Again"), and a showdown with a vampire on the Third Street Bridge ("McCloud Meets Dracula"). A plot device is a person or an object introduced to a story to affect or advance the plot. ... ... A lasso is a loop of rope that is designed to be thrown around a target and tighten when pulled. ... // Events and trends The 1930s were spent struggling for a solution to the global depression. ... Jesse James in 1876 Jesse Woodson James (September 5, 1847 - April 3, 1882), American outlaw, was born in Kearney, Missouri. ... The Long Island Rail Road or LIRR is a railroad that serves the length of Long Island, New York. ... This article contains information that is not verifiable. ... The Third Street Bridge is a double-leaf Scherzer rolling lift bascule, supporting Third Street over the Gowanus Canal in the Borough of Brooklyn. ...

Since leaving the air in 1977, the show has played regularly and often in syndication. In 1989, Dennis Weaver reprised the role in The Return of Sam McCloud in which his character was now a senator from New Mexico. 1977 was a common year starting on Saturday (the link is to a full 1977 calendar). ... 1989 is a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... State nickname: Land of Enchantment Other U.S. States Capital Santa Fe Largest city Albuquerque Governor Bill Richardson Official languages English and Spanish Area 315,194 km² (5th)  - Land 314,590 km²  - Water 607 km² (0. ...

Revival plans

In 2003, USA Network announced plans for a new McCloud series. The new series was to be a "reimagining" of the Dennis Weaver original, with the character changed to a woman and played by comedian Brett Butler. As of 2004 this project has yet to go forward, though USA did launch a reimagined version Kojak starring Ving Rhames that year. 2003 is a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... USA Networks new logo was implemented on July 8, 2005 as part of the networks 25th anniversary rebranding campaign. ... Brett Butler can refer to different people: Brett Butler, the comedienne. ... Telly Savalas as Theo Kojak Kojak was a US detective TV series which ran between 1973 and 1978 on CBS, starring Telly Savalas as bald New York City policeman Lt. ... Irving Ving Rhames (born 1959) is an American actor. ...

External links

• McCloud titles and air dates
• Episode Guide
• McCloud crew guide
• Museum of Broadcast Communication: NBC Mystery Movie
• IMDb: McCloud