"The F.B.I." (1965) TV series 1965-1974

User Rating:

8.0/10   

Directors:

Carl Barth
Earl Bellamy

Writers:

Norman Borisoff (story)
Jonathan Box (writer)

Seasons:

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9

Release Date:

19 September 1965 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Crime

Plot:

The cases of the US Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Plot Keywords:

FBI | Based On Film | Police | Acronym In Title

Awards:

Nominated for Golden Globe. Another 2 nominations

Cast

Efrem Zimbalist Jr.	...	Inspector Lewis Erskine / ... (239 episodes, 1965-1974)
Philip Abbott	...	Arthur Ward / ... (163 episodes, 1965-1974)
Marvin Miller	...	Narrator (117 episodes, 1966-1974)
William Reynolds	...	Special Agent Tom Colby / ... (108 episodes, 1966-1974)

Runtime:

60 min (239 episodes)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Filming Locations:

Angeles National Forest, California, USA

Company:

Quinn Martin Productions (QM)

Trivia:

In June of 2009, real life FBI director Robert Mueller honored Efrem Zimbalist Jr. with a plaque and badge making Zimbalist an honorary FBI Agent for his work on the series.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Barney Miller: Atomic Bomb (#4.11)" (1977)

Soundtrack:

F.B.I. Theme

a good series but early episodes are different from later ones

Now that the show is back in syndication, I've watched as many as I can and see some major differences between the early shows (1965 or so) and later ones (in the early 70s). The early ones SHOWED more violence and often the bad guys were "pushing up daisies" by the end of the show. Later, the FBI agents hardly ever shot the bad guys or if they did it was just in the leg or arm--hardly realistic, but an apparent bow to overly sensitive pressure groups that had grown in the early 1970s. Also, the earlier episodes made the characters seem a little more human--often, Erskine was shown with a good looking woman or would complain about having to work too hard, while later he was pretty much a robot. Finally, the earlier episodes were occasionally more histrionic--sometimes too much and some times very juicy and exciting! In general, I prefer the earlier shows--they may have been a little campier, but they seemed more exciting.