Wednesday, February 08, 2012

Random TV Title: Paris

CBS got only thirteen episodes of his critically acclaimed crime drama. In retrospect, it's difficult to understand why PARIS didn't go, even though it was lodged in a tough Saturday timeslot against HART TO HART.

PARIS starred the great James Earl Jones as a Los Angeles police detective in charge of a bunch of rookie detectives. Woody Paris also moonlighted as a criminology professor at a local college and had a loving wife played by Lee Chamberlin. PARIS was created by Steven Bochco, who had recently worked on DELVECCHIO, COLUMBO, RICHIE BROCKELMAN, PRIVATE EYE, and other cop shows, but had not quite yet become "Steven Bochco."

So why didn't PARIS work? Hard to say. It worked out well for Jones, of course, who not only moved on to other stage, film, and television work, but also married his co-star Cecilia Hart! Another regular, Michael Warren, worked on Bochco's next television series, HILL STREET BLUES (which turned him into "Steven Bochco"), playing Officer Bobby Hill.

PARIS' only Emmy nomination was for Fred Karlin's scoring of the episode "Decisions." Karlin also composed the PARIS theme, which you will hear in this main title sequence for the episode "Pawn," directed by Georg Stanford Brown and penned by Edward DiBlasio.



Consider the Bill Bixby cameo a bonus!

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