M Squad

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Template:Short description Template:Use mdy dates Template:Infobox television

M Squad is an American crime drama television series that ran from 1957 to 1960 on NBC. It was produced by Lee Marvin's Latimer Productions and Revue Studios. Its main sponsor was the Pall Mall cigarette brand; Lee Marvin, the program's star, appeared in its commercials during many episodes.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite AV mediaTemplate:Cbignore</ref> Alternate sponsors were General Electric (GE), Hazel Bishop and Bulova watches.

Synopsis

Set in Chicago, Illinois, the show starred Marvin as Detective Lieutenant Frank Ballinger, a member of "M Squad", a special unit of the Chicago Police, assisting other units in battling organized crime, corruption and violent crimes citywide. Paul Newlan co-starred as his boss, Captain Grey. Although Marvin had been appearing in feature films since 1951, it was this series that made him a star, and he later went on to an even bigger film career afterward. Nelson Case was the announcer.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> The popularity of M Squad was proven in the ratings wars by the NBC network choosing a Friday night time slot opposite ABC's The Frank Sinatra Show in the fall of 1957 and Phil Silvers' long running CBS comedy, Sgt. Bilko, in 1958. Both series were eventually cancelled.

Music

The theme music for the first season was composed by Stanley Wilson,<ref name="Patch">Template:Cite web</ref> who was nominated for the 1959 Grammy Award for the Best Soundtrack Album and Background Score from Motion Picture or Television.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In the second and third seasons, the new theme was composed by Count Basie.<ref name="Patch" />

A soundtrack album, Music from M Squad, with liner notes by Lee Marvin, was released by RCA Victor Records in 1959 during the last season of the show.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="Patch" />

Home media

Timeless Media Group released M Squad: The Complete Series on DVD in Region 1 on November 11, 2008.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> This release has been discontinued and is out of print.

On November 4, 2014, Timeless Media re-released the complete series on DVD in a new 16-disc special edition collection that contains an entire disc of bonus content.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Episodes

{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}} List of M Squad episodes

Guest stars

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Notes

File:Lee Marvin M Squad.JPG
Lee Marvin in M Squad

In episode "The Jumper", an officer was depicted taking bribes. This prompted Richard J. Daley, the Mayor of Chicago at the time, to discourage motion picture and television location filming in Chicago for the rest of his administration (1955–1976). (He made an exception for the 1975 John Wayne film Brannigan, because of Daley's personal admiration for Wayne.) The Blues Brothers, released in 1980, marked the reversal of the policy under then-mayor Jane Byrne.Template:Citation needed

Lee Marvin as Lt. Frank Ballinger carried two Colt Cobra snub nosed revolvers, the lightweight variant of Colt's "Detective's Special" revolver, which was popular with detectives at the time. Lt. Ballinger was the first TV police detective, of any note, to carry a backup revolver. The second Cobra revolver was carried in a more concealed position than the other.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref><ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>

A novel was published in 1962, M Squad: The Chicago Cop Killer, by David Saunders. It was published by Belmont Books, New York.

The 1982 TV series Police Squad!, which spun off into the The Naked Gun film, was a direct parody of M Squad. The opening credits of Police Squad are a shot-for-shot parody of the M Squad opening, and the Police Squad pilot is an extended line-for-line, shot-for-shot send-up of the season 2 M Squad episode "More Deadly".

See also

References

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