by Frank Calvillo
I feel that second to westerns, crime procedurals are perhaps the most used type of setting for prime time television. It’s easy to see why this is. Shows dealing with crime and the disorder within society are often the best representations of both human behavior as well as the overall state of the modern world.
For writers, such series give them carte blanche to point out all the flaws and foibles of the present day while actors are allowed to go to town with dynamic characters as well as powerhouse scenes and audiences get wrapped up in stories featuring the compelling darkness of the real world.
Though it was never able to blossom into the series it could have been, one such show, The Bold Ones: The Protectors hung around long enough to still be considered a groundbreaking piece of television.
Debuting in the fall of 1969, The Bold Ones: The Protectors starred Leslie Nielsen as Deputy Police Chief Sam Danforth, the main law enforcer of a crime-ridden California city. Gruff and ultra-conservative, Danforth is a no-nonsense lawman who has seen it all and trusts no one as a result. Paired with young, liberal, black DA William Washburn (Hari Rhodes), the two form the most volatile of alliances as their differing views and approaches to the law clash in their ongoing fight to keep the city safe.
The Protectors was part of an umbrella series called The Bold Ones. In case you’re wondering, an umbrella series was a TV format where a series which consisted of multiple shows, with each one presented on a weekly rotation. The Bold Ones had four shows living under its title, each of which focused on some aspect of modern life which affected the general public in one way or another. Besides The Protectors, there was The Senator with Hal Holbrook, The Lawyers featuring James Farentino and The New Doctors starring E.G. Marshall.
Though it takes place in California, there’s very little of that sunshine and waves imagery in The Protectors. Instead, the series’ setting is shown as an angry beast of a landscape that best resembles the New York of the 70s where crime is high, the people are ruthless, and loyalty is just a concept. I’ve personally never bought crime shows set in L.A. due to producers’ habits of presenting dark stories against a glossy, sheen-filled city. The genius of The Protectors is that its makers never cared about the gloss and sheen factor, and thankfully set its intense storylines against a city with as much hard grit and dirt as the people who live there.
Another aspect of The Protectors which instantly separated it from the pack is that there is no theme music. Though it was made at an age when theme music for TV shows were more or less at their height, the show’s producers elected to give the show a stark realism by featuring no music throughout each of its hour-long episodes and instead, opened every installment with a description of that week’s plot presented through a radio call-in show.
Likewise, the show’s sharp camera angles, tricks and movements elevated it from standard TV fare and instead gave The Protectors a heightened cinematic quality all its own. Such technical moves may have thrown viewers off, but looking back at them now, its hard not to marvel at the technically innovative approach to the medium. Given that the show was honed by legendary TV producer Jack Laird, the man behind Kojak and the ever-underappreciated Night Gallery (a personal favorite), it’s easy to recognize the unique passion and creativity that made every episode of The Protectors a memorable one.
If the idea of pairing a rigid, old-school, borderline racist Chief of Police with a young, black, idealistic and liberal District Attorney (perhaps one of the most revolutionary characters on TV during that time), was considered bold and daring, it was nothing compared to the cases the pair took on each week. Throughout the run of The Protectors, Danforth and Washburn fought (usually with each other) over cases dealing with capital punishment, campus unrest and corruption, with the writing oftentimes highlighting both sides of the fence for whatever issue was the subject of the episodes.
Moreover, there is an ongoing racial tension that exists between the two characters, which never fully ceases despite an eventual mutual respect for one another.
The chemistry between the two stars is beyond great. Both Nielsen and Rhodes play off of each other so well, bringing to the forefront the essences of their characters as well as their stark differences. The two have a certain rapport that I don’t think I’ve seen in other partner characters in past crime dramas. Nielsen perfectly nails Danforth’s struggle to hold onto the past, while Rhodes gets Washburn’s hope and belief for the future. It’s always apparent when actors believe in the material they’re working with and in each episode of The Protectors, there is a plethora of A-level acting among the topic-driven episodes.
It’s hard to say why The Protectors didn’t last beyond its seven-episode run, especially since the other counterparts of The Bold Ones (The New Doctors and The Lawyers) were able to find varying degrees of success. Even The Senator, which only lasted one episode longer, walked away with nine Emmy nominations.
My guess is that the harshness of the reality shown, the toughness of the two main characters, and the important and honest subject matters were simply too much for the average American family to sit down and watch together in 1969.
Yet The Protectors was an important show that succeeded in pointing out the truth of the changing decade and all the problems that society needed to face. The show wasn’t always pleasant, but it was honest and real. In an age where sponsors and guest stars are counted on for driving audience shares, how many shows can claim to be as thematically successful as The Protectors?
The Bold Ones: The Protectors hit DVD on Sept. 15th from Timeless Media Group, an imprint of Shout! Factory
