Chase (1973 TV series)


Chase is an American crime drama television series that aired on the NBC network from September 11, 1973, to August 28, 1974. The show was a production of Jack Webb's Mark VII Limited for Universal Television and marked the first show created by Stephen J. Cannell, who later became known for creating and/or producing his own programs, including NBC's The A-Team. Jack Webb directed the pilot, which aired March 24, 1973.

Overview

The show's title had a double meaning: it was at once the first name of the lead character, Chase Reddick, the leader of a special team of the Los Angeles Police Department that specialized in solving unusually difficult or violent cases, and indicative of the show's emphasis on the determined pursuit and undercover surveillance of hardened criminals. The unit, headquartered in an old firehouse, relied mainly on alternate/undercover means of transportation such as helicopters, motorcycles, custom vans, taxis, four-wheel-drive vehicles, sports and muscle cars, work trucks and high-speed driving to apprehend its suspects.
For the first fourteen episodes, Reddick, an LAPD captain, was accompanied by K-9 Sergeant Sam MacCray and three young officers: Steve Baker, Norm Hamilton, and Fred Sing. In January 1974, Webb and Universal dropped all the regulars except Ryan and Maunder in favor of a new group of officers: Frank Dawson, Ed Rice, and Tom Wilson. Never seen, but "appearing" in every episode was actual LAPD dispatcher Shaaron Claridge, who had worked on Dragnet and Adam-12; according to the pilot script, she was assigned especially to Chase.
NBC first scheduled the show on Tuesdays at 8 p.m. Eastern, opposite CBS' hit series Maude and Hawaii Five-O. At about the same time as the casting change, the network moved Chase to Wednesday nights at 8 p.m. against the Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour. Despite the declining appeal and ratings of the latter, Chase did no better there and ended after a one-season run. Cannell would re-use the format of a team of specialists in The A-Team, co-created with Frank Lupo a decade later. Robert A. Cinader, who also supervised Mark VII's Adam-12 and Emergency!, was executive producer of Chase.

Cast

TitleOriginal air date