BEGINNING OF PART THREE

A: Can you recall any (SEARCH) episodes that were suggested, or written, and not
used? Were there any unproduced scripts that you're aware of?

S: Oh, God. There're some SOMEwhere. How you do those shows is you put 18 or 20
stories, uh... into development. And then when some of them don't work out, they
don't work out... you hire 15 writers or 16 writers to do basic scripts and then
they send them to (unintelligible), and we rewrite them.

A: Right. ("We" meaning) you and Mr. Stevens. Now, Stevens left about halfway
through the series...

S: Well, uh... Leslie had a disagreement...

A: Correct. He wanted to do something for CBS at the time that involved a show
that would be telecast in the States, but theatrically released overseas. Right?

S: Right.

A: And NBC didn't care for that too much, correct?

S: That's correct.

A: And that's basically where the friction, uh... came from.

S: Yeah. (NBC) thought the (SEARCH) episodes needed to be more hard-edged. And
Leslie thought they SHOULDN'T be more hard-edged. It was a more 'romantic
adventure story' with some good action in it.

A: Well, that leads into my next question, for which I think a lot of people
have been wanting an answer. You just alluded to the fact that--you said it was
the network that wanted (the show to have) a harder edge?

S: Yup.

A: (During the first 15 episodes of the SEARCH TV series), we saw beautiful
photography, a more colorful look, and softer film stock, a darker Probe
Control, uh... and then (with the 16th episode) everything shifted. We got a
brightly-lit Probe Control with concrete-block walls...

S: That's right.

A: ... and the stories kind of shifted towards a (more standard) 'detective'
drama with a little LESS Probe Control...

S: That's right.

A: ... and that was DIRECTLY related to the network?...

S: That's right.

A: ... and what they wanted? Wow.

S: It wasn't OUR idea. (pause)

A: Simple as THAT, huh?

S: Simple as that.

A: Even the cast changes that occurred at that time with the Probe Control
technicians?

S: Yes sir.

A: Wow. So they didn't care for the 'Ginnys' and the 'Byrons' and the (Probe
Control) people (in the first 15 episodes)?

S: That's correct.

A: And (the network) requested a different look for Probe Control, as well as a
different set of technicians, huh?

S: That's correct.

A: Hmm. And that's why the (set and lighting) changes were made in Probe
Control--to kind of lighten things up and maybe make it appear a little less
'dramatic' and a little more hard-edged?

S: Uh, well... you know... as I told you (during our previous phone
conversation)... one of the things that you do in making television or movies...
is you guide an audience in... to suspend belief...

A: Correct.

S: Okay? Our vision of Probe Control... was this isolated control module for one
or two or three operatives. And, as you saw in the background of this vast
set... there were OTHERS in the distance. Groups just like OUR group, there....

A: Correct.

S: ... that were controlling more than one operative.

A: Right.

S: So, basically... and this was before CGI, you understand.

A: Right. Everything was 'optical.'

===========================

NOTE: Opticals are effects produced through Optical Printing (rephotographing
film frame by frame), including transitions, superimposed titles, etc. Sometimes
called Optical Effects, and were the standard ways to produce special
photographic effects in the pre-CGI (Computer Generated Imagery--images created
with the use of a computer; also called computer graphics (CG), computer
animation, or digital animation) days. More details can be found at:
http://homepage.newschool.edu/~schlemoj/film_courses/glossary_of_film_terms/glos\
sary_index.html

and

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/specialfx2/glossary.html

==========================

S: Everything was 'optical'... and I had to shoot it all. So when I designed the
Main Tiles (for the PROBE pilot film) and had to SHOOT the Main Titles... I SHOT
them all... and CREATED all the elements of that Main Title... just like I did
the Main Title for McCLOUD... and the television series SEARCH, and all the
other ones. Okay? You had to create EVERYTHING that you had. And one of the
things that was difficult to create and suspend belief was the television Probe
Screen. Okay?

A: Correct. The Main Viewscreen in Probe Control.

S: The Main Viewscreen.

A: Because it only had analog numbers rolling. That's all we HAD in those days.
There were no LED 'pop' lights in those days.

A: Right.

S: And Probe Control, if you remember had all those banks of computers and
machines with tapes on them...

A: From Control Data Corporation.

=============================

NOTE: This credit appeared on the End Titles of some SEARCH episodes: "Computer
Equipment furnished by CONTROL DATA CORP." Wikipedia has this to say about
Control Data Corporation: "Control Data Corporation, or CDC, was one of the
pioneering supercomputer firms. For most of the 1960s they built the fastest
computers in the world, by far, only losing that crown in the 1970s to what was
effectively a spinoff. They were well known and highly regarded throughout the
industry at one time, but today are largely forgotten." More can be found at:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Control_Data_Corporation

Control Data Corporation will be mentioned briefly later in my conversation with
Mr. Strong.

=============================

S: That's right. So, that's why it changed, and that's why our original episodes
looked like MOVIES, and the later ones looked like TELEVISION.

A: Well. That's pretty much IT. It was a shift, pretty much from 'night' to
'day', especially relating to (the) Probe Control (set), which was dark and
mysterious, and kind of lush, and like you said, required a suspension of
disbelief... and then everybody threw the lights on. (chuckles) Literally.

S: That's, uh, unfortunately, uh (chuckles)... That's IT, y'know?

A: The name of the game...?

S: (chuckles) 'The Name of the Game' is ANOTHER show we did. (laughs)

A: (chuckles) A sly reference.

S: Right (chuckles)

A: Are you aware of why Warner Bros. made the decision to syndicate the show
only overseas, and NOT in the U.S.? I mean, I know it was a single-season
series, but is that the primary reason...?

S: We had TWO seasons.

A: Pardon?

S: We did two seasons.

A: (pause) You did TWO seasons?

S: Yeah. How many episodes do you have?

A: Twenty-three, sir.

S: That's RIGHT. Our initial order was (for) thirteen (episodes)...

A: Oh! That was considered TWO seasons?

S: Right.

A: Still... a (full season order) in those days was around 25 episodes, and a
bit earlier, it had been as many as 30...

S: Right.

A: So in essence, (SEARCH) had an episode (count) that was that of a single
season. Still, it was never, uh, syndicated domestically. Any reason for that?

S: You know what? I'm not sure. It's amazing to me, because, when it was on.. I
got some amazing response to the show... and we were all very PROUD of it. And
we all work in this business, and move from job-to-job, from movie-to-movie, and
from television series-to-television series... and you don't find a 'family.'
Most of these GOOD shows had 'families.' Well, we had a good 'family' there.
(pauses) Tony Franciosa, went out one night, went and jumped off a dock onto
some pads and broke his shoulder... (unintelligible) for one of our directors
Barry Shear.

==========================

Note: Barry Shear started his directorial career in the late 50's, and was a
popular television director in the 60's and 70's, directing for such TV series
as THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E., THE GIRL FROM U.N.C.L.E., and STARSKY & HUTCH. He
created/produced and directed 1962's multiple-Emmy-winning THE LIVELY ONES,
starring Vic Damone. Prior to SEARCH, Shear directed episodes of McCLOUD and THE
NAME OF THE GAME--both series on which Mr. Strong also worked. The episode of
SEARCH that Shear directed was entitled 'The 24-Carat Hit', and though I cannot
link a specific scene to the incident that Mr. Strong is describing, it's
possible that it was cut out of the final episode. After being injured,
listmember Don Harden reminds me that Franciosa would have had a couple of weeks
to recover, as the next episode in the production order was 'Numbered for Death'
(a 'Grover' episode), followed by 'Countdown to Panic' (the last 'Lockwood'
episode), and then 'The Clayton Lewis Document' (the next Bianco episode).

List of episodes & production order at: http://www.probecontrol.com/Scripts.html

More on Barry Shear at: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0790395/

==========================

S: I said, "Barry! What the f**k are you DOING?!" Barry said, "He didn't want a
stuntman to do it. He wanted the audience to see his face."

A: (laughs)

S: I said, "Well (let the audience) see his face when he LANDS!" You know? Go
wide on the 'big leagues' and it'll look the same!

A: You're saying Franciosa did that (stunt) because he cared deeply--even with
the risk involved--about the series?

S: Absolutely. Look at O'Brian! It would been easy for Hugh to say, "Look! My
f***ing knee is in a CAST for the next 28 days. I can't DO this!"

A: Right. And to postpone everything.

S: He went through pain, he went through hell. I don't know if you remember the
mission in which he had the fight in the wine cellar...

A: Absolutely. In the PROBE pilot.

S: Well, the way we shot him, his wheelchair was on top of a table.

A: Oh my gosh! No way!

S: Yep!

A: That's amazing! You'd have NO idea! Which speaks for the creativity and
dedication of the people involved.

S: Yeah.

A: If the series had gone into (another) season, what changes would YOU like to
have seen, personally?

S: Well, uh... the (unintelligible) of action-adventure is, uh... if you
remember MOONLIGHTING...

A: Very well. Glenn Gordon Caron.

=========================

NOTE: MOONLIGHTING was the popular 1985-1989 ABC network series which starred
Cybil Shepherd, and launched the career of Brice Willis. Glenn Gordon Caron was
the show's creator and original Executive Producer.

=========================

S: That's right. If you had a relationship like Lockwood had with Angel
Tompkins... I'd like to have seen her more in the episodes. I'd like to have put
someone else with Tony, and someone with Doug.

A: Kind of match'em up, huh?

S: Yeah... to give'em a... whether it's a guy, or a girl, or a kid... SOMETHING.

A: Somebody to 'bounce off' of.

S: Somebody to 'bounce off' of. Rather than just 'bouncing off' of Probe
Control.

A: Gotcha. (Having a regular person to bounce off of) rather than just the guest
cast. Having someone like you're referring to would offer the audience a
specific relationship that they would come to enjoy.

S: That's right. We knew nothing about their lives!

A: Well, that was part of the 'mysterioso' that you were talking about earlier.

S: Right.

A: It kind of worked for MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE, I guess.

S: It did. It did. But if you look back at MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE, some of those
shows are very sterile.

A: Oh, VERY sterile!

S: Okay, so... I started a kid named Sam Elliott. I starred him as Evel
Knievel...

=====================

Sam Elliott played the title role of the famed motorcycle stunt rider in a
failed 1974 CBS pilot called EVEL KNIEVEL. Elliott also played an IMF Agent
named 'Doug' in the 1970-1971 Season of MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE.

=====================

S: I got him a job with Danny Petrie in a show called LIFEGUARD...

=====================

More on LIFEGUARD and Daniel Petrie can be found here:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0074798/

======================

S: I mean, there are stories all over town... So, I would liked to have known
something about them PERSONALLY, so you CARED what happened about them always.

A: And you can only do that by getting to know them better.

S: Yes.

END OF PART THREE


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]