The Mod Squad

2025-08-11T02:38:21Z

2600:1700:7800:2A30:9D97:32EE:1D08:B659: /* Impact */ Added one additional applicable television program to the list.

{{Short description|American television series}}
{{other uses}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2025}}
{{Infobox television
| image = Mod Squad.jpg
| caption = Title screen, 1970 to 1973
| runtime = 60 minutes
| creator = Bud "Buddy" Ruskin
| genre = [[Action fiction|Action]] [[Crime drama]]
| developer = Tony Barrett [[Harve Bennett]] Sammy Hess
| starring = [[Michael Cole (actor)|Michael Cole]] [[Clarence Williams III]] [[Peggy Lipton]] [[Tige Andrews]]
| theme_music_composer = [[Earle Hagen]]
| country = United States
| language = English
| executive_producer = [[Aaron Spelling]] [[Danny Thomas]]
| company = Thomas-Spelling Productions
| network = [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]]
| first_aired = {{Start date|1968|09|24}}
| last_aired = {{End date|1973|03|1}}
| num_seasons = 5
| num_episodes = 124
| list_episodes = List of The Mod Squad episodes
}}
'''''The Mod Squad''''' is an American [[crime drama]] series, originally broadcast for five seasons on [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]] from September 24, 1968, to March 1, 1973.<ref name=StJames>{{cite encyclopedia|title=The Mod Squad|url= http://www.encyclopedia.com/article-1G2-3409001694/mod-squad.html| encyclopedia= St. James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture}}</ref> It starred [[Michael Cole (actor)|Michael Cole]] as Peter "Pete" Cochran, [[Clarence Williams III]] as Lincoln "Linc" Hayes, [[Peggy Lipton]] as Julie Barnes, and [[Tige Andrews]] as Captain Adam Greer. The [[executive producer]]s of the series were [[Aaron Spelling]] and [[Danny Thomas]].<ref name=StJames /><ref name= Groovy>{{cite news| archive-date=February 15, 2008| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080215205140/http://www.newsday.com/entertainment/tv/ny-fftv5498334dec16,0,2816943.story | url= http://www.newsday.com/entertainment/tv/ny-fftv5498334dec16,0,2816943.story | title= Groovy kind of law | newspaper= Newsday |date= 16 December 2007| first= Frank |last=Lovece | url-status= dead }}</ref>

The [[counterculture of the 1960s|counterculture]] police series earned six [[Emmy Award]] nominations, four [[Golden Globe]] nominations plus one win for Peggy Lipton, one [[Directors Guild of America Award]], and four [[Logie Award|Logies]].<ref>{{cite web |title= Awards for ''The Mod Squad'' |url= https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0062589/awards |publisher=Internet Movie Database |access-date=April 28, 2017}}</ref> In 1970, the second-season episode, "In This Corner . . . Sol Alpert," script by [[Rita Lakin]] and Harve Bennett, was nominated by the [[Mystery Writers of America]] for an [[Edgar Award]] in the category of [[List of Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Episode in a TV Series winners|Best Mystery Teleplay]], losing to the [[made-for-television movie|TV-Movie]] ''[[Daughter of the Mind]]''. In 1997, a 1970 episode "Mother of Sorrow" was ranked No. 95 on [[TV Guide's 100 Greatest Episodes of All Time]].<ref>{{cite journal |year=1997 |title=Special Collectors' Issue: 100 Greatest Episodes of All Time |journal=[[TV Guide]] |issue=June 28-July 4 }}</ref>

==Plot==
{{tone|section|date=January 2025}}
[[File:Mod Squad 1971.JPG|thumb|left|200px|The main cast in 1971 from left: Clarence Williams III, Peggy Lipton and Michael Cole]]
A critic described The Mod Squad as "the hippest and first young undercover cops on TV".<ref>{{cite magazine |first=David |last=Hutchings |title=Can You Dig It? the Mod Squad's Peggy Lipton, One Marriage and 15 Years Later, Returns to Acting |url=http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20098625,00.html |magazine=[[People (magazine)|People]] |date=April 4, 1988 |volume=29 |number=13 |access-date=April 28, 2017}}</ref> Each of these characters represented mainstream culture's principal fears regarding youth in the era:<ref name="The Mod Squad Iconic counter-culture Show">{{cite book |title= Encyclopedia of the Sixties: A Decade of Culture and Counterculture [2 volumes]: A Decade of Culture and Counterculture |editor-last1=Debolt |editor-first1=Abbe A. |editor-last2=Baugess |editor-first2=James S. |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=r4WFjKG6vmUC&pg=PA629 |page=629 |year=2011 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |isbn=9781440801020 |access-date=June 10, 2014}}</ref> long-haired rebel Pete Cochran (Michael Cole) was evicted from his wealthy parents' [[Beverly Hills, California|Beverly Hills]] home, then arrested and put on probation after he stole a car; Lincoln Hayes (Clarence Williams III), who came from a family of 13 children, was arrested in the [[Watts riots]], one of the longest and most violent riots in [[Los Angeles]] history; [[flower child]] Julie Barnes (Peggy Lipton), the "canary with a broken wing,"<ref name="aaron_spelling" />{{rp|64}} was arrested for [[vagrancy]] after running away from her prostitute mother's [[San Francisco]] home; and Captain Adam Greer (Tige Andrews) was a tough but sympathetic mentor and [[father figure]] who convinced them to form the squad.<ref name=StJames /><ref name="The Coolness of the Mod Squad">{{cite web|url =http://www.tvbanter.net/2011/05/coolness-of-mod-squad.html | title= The Coolness of The Mod Squad | date= 17 May 2011 | work= TV Banter | first= Joanne | last= Madden | access-date= 8 February 2015}}</ref><ref name="The Mod Squad Season 1 Volume 1">{{ cite web| url = https://www.amazon.com/The-Mod-Squad-Season-Volume/dp/B000VS6R30 | title= The Mod Squad - Season 1, Volume 1 | website= Amazon | date= 18 December 2007 | access-date= 8 February 2015 }}</ref>

The concept was to take three rebellious, disaffected young social outcasts and convince them to work as unarmed undercover detectives as an alternative to being incarcerated. Their youthful, [[hippie]] personas would enable them to get close to the criminals they would investigate. "The times are changing," Captain Greer explained. "They can get into places we (the regular police) can't." Examples included their infiltrations of a [[Secondary school|high school]] to solve a teacher's murder, of an [[Underground press|underground]] newspaper to find a bomber, and of an acting class to look for a strangler who was preying on blonde actresses.<ref name=StJames /><ref name="The Mod Squad Season 1 Volume 1" />

More than a year before the release of the film ''[[Easy Rider]]'', ''The Mod Squad'' was one of the earliest attempts to deal with the counterculture. The show<ref name=Groovy /> also dealt with issues such as [[abortion]], [[domestic violence]], [[child abuse]], [[Literacy|illiteracy]], [[slumlord]]s, the [[anti-war movement]], [[illegal immigration]], [[police brutality]], [[student protest]], [[sex education]], [[Vietnam veteran|soldiers returning from Vietnam]] and [[Posttraumatic stress disorder|PTSD]], [[racism]], [[euthanasia]], and the [[illegal drug trade]].<ref name="The Mod Squad: The Second Season">{{cite web| title= The Mod Squad: The Second Season, Volume One |url = http://www.gamevortex.com/gamevortex/movie_rev.php/1078/the-mod-squad-the-second-season-volume-one-dvd.html | website= GameVortex.com | first= Kambur O. |last= Blythe |publisher= GameVortex Communications | access-date= 8 February 2015}}</ref> Spelling intended the show to be about the characters' relationships, and he promised that the Squad "would never arrest kids{{nbsp}}... or carry a gun or use one."<ref name="aaron_spelling" />{{rp|63}}

The show was loosely based on creator Bud "Buddy" Ruskin's experiences in the late 1950s as a squad leader for young undercover [[narcotic]]s cops, though it took almost 10 years after he wrote a script for the idea to be [[green-light]]ed by ABC Television Studios.<ref name="The Coolness of the Mod Squad" />

==Impact==
The shows ''[[Hogan's Heroes]]'' (1965-71), ''[[Star Trek: The Original Series|Star Trek]]'' (1966–69), ''[[I Spy (1965 TV series)|I Spy]]'' (1965–68), ''[[The Bill Cosby Show]]'' (1969–71), ''[[Room 222]]'' (1969–74), ''[[Mannix]]'' (1967–75), ''[[Mission: Impossible (1966 TV series)|Mission: Impossible]]'' (1966–73), ''[[Julia (1968 TV series)|Julia]]'' (1968–71), ''[[The Flip Wilson Show]]'' (1970–74), and ''The Mod Squad'' (1968–73) were among the first programs to feature African-Americans as stars since the stereotyped roles of ''[[Amos and Andy|Amos 'n' Andy]]'' and ''[[Beulah (series)|Beulah]]'' (ABC, 1950–53).<ref>{{cite web| url= http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/1513870/Television-in-the-United-States/283625/The-new-cultural-landscape#ref1057458 | website= Britannica.com | title= Television in the United States| first= Steve | last= Allen | access-date= 8 February 2015}}</ref> Significantly, ''The Mod Squad'' presented an African-American character (Linc) as being on an equal footing, as roles went, to the Caucasian characters (Pete and Julie). In one ''Mod Squad'' episode, the script called for Linc to give Julie a "friendly kiss". Since the [[First interracial kiss on television|first interracial kiss on an American television show]] was in 1968, this was still fairly new territory in popular culture.<ref>The ''Star Trek'' episode "[[Plato's Stepchildren]]", often cited as a controversial 'first' of this kind, was not until 1968.</ref> The studio was frightened of a negative public reaction, so they asked Spelling to cut it:<ref name="aaron_spelling">{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IzKcIV1UufoC | title=Aaron Spelling: A Prime-Time Life | publisher=Macmillan | last1=Spelling |first1= Aaron | year=2002 | isbn=9780312313449 | last2= Graham |first2= Jefferson}}</ref>{{rp|67–68}}

<blockquote>"You can't do that," I was told. "You can't have a black man kissing a white girl." I won and ABC agreed to let it in, but they warned me I'd receive thousands of complaint letters. I didn't get one.<ref name="aaron_spelling" />{{rp|68}}</blockquote>

Linc's famous "solid" and "keep the faith" were among the current-day slang used on the show, which included "pad", "dig it", and "groovy."<ref name="The Coolness of the Mod Squad"/><ref name="Short Takes: Mod Squad Star Returns to TV">{{cite news| title= 'Mod Squad' Star Returns to TV | date= 19 October 1990| agency= Times Wire Services | work= Los Angeles Times | url= https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1990-10-19-ca-2935-story.html | access-date= 8 February 2015}}</ref>

The "kids" traveled in Pete's old [[station wagon]], "Woody": a green [[Woodie (car body style)|woodie]]-style [[Mercury Eight#Third generation (1949–1951)|1950 Mercury]] which became famous until it burned up in a fire after going over a cliff during a chase at the end of the second-season episode "The Death of Wild Bill Hannachek".

Among the series' guest stars were [[Desi Arnaz Jr.]], [[Ed Asner]] (three episodes in three different roles), [[René Auberjonois]], [[Jim Backus]], [[Joe Don Baker]], [[Tom Bosley]], [[Victor Buono]], [[David Cassidy]], [[Jack Cassidy]], [[Tyne Daly]] (two episodes in two different roles), [[Sammy Davis Jr.]] (three episodes in three different roles), [[Tony Dow]], [[Richard Dreyfuss]] (two episodes in two different roles), [[Sam Elliott]], [[Harrison Ford]] (uncredited role), [[Meg Foster]] (two episodes in two different roles), [[Anthony Geary]], [[Louis Gossett Jr.]], [[Lee Grant]], [[Andy Griffith]], [[Clint Howard]], [[Rodolfo Hoyos Jr.]] (three episodes in three different roles), Spelling's ex-wife [[Carolyn Jones]], [[Fernando Lamas]], [[Cleavon Little]], [[Barbara McNair]], [[Leslie Nielsen]], [[Stefanie Powers]], [[Vincent Price]], [[Richard Pryor]], [[Robert Reed]], [[Sugar Ray Robinson]], [[Cesar Romero]], [[Marion Ross]], [[Martin Sheen]], [[Bobby Sherman]] (two episodes in two different roles), [[Vic Tayback]], [[Danny Thomas]] (as well as being co-executive producer of the show), [[Daniel J. Travanti]] (three episodes in three different roles), [[Jo Van Fleet]], [[Fritz Weaver]], [[Billy Dee Williams]] and [[William Windom (actor)|William Windom]].<ref name="Peggy Lipton as Julie Barnes">{{cite web| url= http://www.classictvbeauties.com/peggylipton.html | title= No. 12: Classic TV Beauties 1960s Countdown: Peggy Lipton as Julie Barnes in "The Mod Squad"| website= ClassicTVBeauties.com | access-date= 8 February 2015}}</ref>

==Episodes==
{{main|List of The Mod Squad episodes}}
{{:List of The Mod Squad episodes}}

==Broadcast history and Nielsen ratings==
{| class="wikitable" style=text-align:center
|-
! Season !! Time !! Rank !! [[Nielsen ratings|Rating]]
|-
| [[1968–69 United States network television schedule|1 (1968–69)]] || rowspan="4"|Tuesday at 7:30-8:30 pm || No. 28 || 20.5 (tied with ''The Lawrence Welk Show'')
|-
| [[1969–70 United States network television schedule|2 (1969–70)]] || No. 23 || 20.8
|-
| [[1970–71 United States network television schedule|3 (1970–71)]] || No. 11 || 22.7
|-
| [[1971–72 United States network television schedule|4 (1971–72)]] || No. 21 || 21.5
|-
| [[1972–73 United States network television schedule|5 (1972–73)]] || Thursday at 8:00-9:00 pm ||#54|| 16.5
|}

==Syndication==
In the United States, [[Me-TV|MeTV]] reran the series from May 26 to August 29, 2014, and again on Sunday afternoons from January 4 to August 30, 2015.
[[Decades (TV network)|Decades]] re-ran part of the series on February 24–25, 2018, and again on January 30–31, 2021, for their binge weekend programming block; they presented one final Decades Binge of it on March 25–26, 2023 before the network changed into [[Catchy Comedy]]. ''Mod Squad'' is currently airing on [[MeTV+]] weekdays at 2 pm ET.

==Related productions==
A [[television pilot]] was shot in 1968, with a running time of 74 minutes, but it was never aired in its entirety. The film was edited to 50 minutes and aired as the show's first episode. The uncut 74-minute version appears on the DVD set as the opening episode, with the title "The Teeth of the Barracuda."

A TV reunion movie, ''The Return of the Mod Squad,'' was transmitted on ABC on May 18, 1979, featuring the entire original cast. Tom Bosley, a guest star during the original run, also participated as an antagonist targeting Julie Barnes herself. Peggy Lipton said she participated in it as a favor to Aaron Spelling.{{Citation needed|date=January 2022}}

In 1999, the series was adapted into a [[The Mod Squad (film)|feature film with the same title]] by [[Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer|MGM]]; however, this film, which starred [[Giovanni Ribisi]], [[Omar Epps]], [[Claire Danes]], and [[Dennis Farina]] in Cole's, Williams III's, Lipton's, and Andrews's roles respectively, was not a box-office success.

==Home media==
[[CBS Home Entertainment|CBS DVD]] (distributed by [[Paramount Home Entertainment|Paramount]]) has released the first two seasons of ''The Mod Squad'' on DVD in [[DVD region code#1|Region 1]].

On August 20, 2013, it was announced that [[Visual Entertainment]] had acquired the rights to the series (under license from [[Paramount Home Entertainment|Paramount]]) and would release season 3 on DVD on September 24, 2013. Season 4 would be released on October 1, 2013.<ref>[http://tvshowsondvd.com/news/Mod-Squad-The-Complete-Series/18872 Half-Season Sets Scheduled for 'Season 3' and 'Season 4'] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130823163919/http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/news/Mod-Squad-The-Complete-Series/18872 |date=August 23, 2013}} at TVShowsonDVD.com</ref> In Canada, Season 3 was released on DVD a week earlier, on September 17, 2013, and Season 4 was released on October 8, 2013. Season 5 was released in Canada on November 19, 2013 and in the US on December 17, 2013.<ref>[https://www.amazon.com/The-Squad-Season-Five-Volume/dp/B00ESLAIYK/ ''The Mod Squad'' Season 5, Volume One] at Amazon.com</ref><ref>[https://www.amazon.com/The-Squad-Season-Five-Volume/dp/B00ESL6GMI/ ''The Mod Squad'' Season 5, Volume Two] at Amazon.com</ref> A Complete Series set was released in Canada and the US on November 12, 2013.<ref name=CompleteC>[http://www.visualentertainment.tv/products/the-mod-squad-the-complete-collection-dvd ''The Mod Squad: The Complete Collection''] at VisualEntertainment.tv</ref>

{| class="wikitable"
!DVD name
!Ep #
!Release date
|-
| Season 1, Volume 1
| align="center"|13
| December 18, 2007 (US & Canada)
|-
| Season 1, Volume 2
| align="center"|13
| March 11, 2008 (US & Canada)
|-
| Season 2, Volume 1
| align="center"|13
| November 25, 2008 (US & Canada)
|-
| Season 2, Volume 2
| align="center"|13
| May 26, 2009 (US & Canada)
|-
| Season 3, Volume 1
| align="center"|12
| September 24, 2013 (US){{Clear}}September 17, 2013 (Canada)
|-
| Season 3, Volume 2
| align="center"|12
| September 24, 2013 (US){{Clear}}September 17, 2013 (Canada)
|-
| Season 4, Volume 1
| align="center"|12
| October 1, 2013 (US){{Clear}}October 8, 2013 (Canada)
|-
| Season 4, Volume 2
| align="center"|12
| October 1, 2013 (US){{Clear}}October 8, 2013 (Canada)
|-
| Season 5, Volume 1
| align="center"|12
| December 17, 2013 (US){{Clear}}November 19, 2013 (Canada)
|-
| Season 5, Volume 2
| align="center"|12
| December 17, 2013 (US){{Clear}}November 19, 2013 (Canada)
|-
| Complete Series
| align="center"|124
| November 12, 2013 (US & Canada)<ref name=CompleteC />
|}

==References elsewhere in popular culture==

The term "Mod Squad" had been introduced the previous year in ''[[Dragnet 1967]]'s'' sixteenth installment, "The Big Kids," where it described a club of high schoolers who had to shoplift at least $20 to become members.

In 1990 on the TV series ''[[Twin Peaks]],'' in which Lipton was a regular, Williams appeared in two episodes. The pair shared a brief scene that appears to have been an intentional reunion.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://decoy.tvpassport.com/q_a/q-it-true-actress-who-played-norma-twin-peaks-was-girl-mod-squad-back-60s?subid=national-00001|title=Q&A|last=Thomlison|first=Adam|publisher=TV Media|access-date=September 24, 2015}}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist|30em}}

==External links==
*{{IMDb title|id=0062589|title=The Mod Squad (1968)}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20110421035931/http://syndicationbible.cbstvd.com/ CBS Television Distribution Syndication Bible (including ''The Mod Squad'')]
* [http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/662331/Mod-Squad ''Mod Squad'']

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mod Squad, The}}
[[Category:1968 American television series debuts]]
[[Category:1973 American television series endings]]
[[Category:American action television series]]
[[Category:1960s American crime drama television series]]
[[Category:1970s American crime drama television series]]
[[Category:Television shows adapted into films]]
[[Category:Television shows set in Los Angeles]]
[[Category:Television series by CBS Studios]]
[[Category:Television series by Spelling Television]]
[[Category:American English-language television shows]]
[[Category:American detective television series]]
[[Category:American Broadcasting Company crime dramas]]

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The Mod Squad