Dan Oakland

From the first episode,the short-lived television series "Dan August" lived up to its title and then some. Set in Santa Luisa,California, Burt Reynolds portrayed Dan August,a straight tough as nails police cop who works for the Santa Luisa Police Department along with Sergeant Charles Wilentz(Norman Fell)and Sergeant Joesph Rivera(Ned Romero)while under the supervision of the commander and chief(not to mention Dan's boss)George Untermeyer(Richard Anderson). And since August had grown up with many of the people he had to deal with in Santa Luisa,he became more personally involved in the cases that were assigned to him than most most big city detectives. In spite of all this August would go to great lengths in locating the clues,track down the suspects responsible for the crimes committed and in true fashion,always brings get his man in true TV detective fashion(whether it was jumping from the roof of a building onto his prey or hanging onto the hood a car to apprehend a dangerous suspect).

"Dan August" was just that and then some:one action packed police drama show that was top of the norm during the early 1970's and kept viewers in tuned to see what would happen next. From the first telecast of the series on September 23,1970 to the final telecast on April 8,1971, the series produced 26 episodes all in color for the ABC-TV network. However,ABC repeated these 26 episodes from April of 1971 until August 26,1971. "Dan August" was one of the great cop/detective shows produced by Quinn Martin(who served as executive producer of this series)along with producers John Conwell,Arthur Fellows,and Adrian Samish(executives in charge of production)also with producers Robert Lewin and Anthony Spinner. And this was one show that went by the standard Quinn Martin format(Acts One Thru Four and Epilogue)and each week combined mystery and suspense with high powered action with Reynolds doing most of his own stunts(with the assistance of stunt coordinator Hal Needham). This was a series that brought some of the best directors in the business and it features Gene Nelson,Ralph Senensky, Michael Caffey, Walter Grauman,Virgil W. Vogel and some fine writing from the talents of Richard Carr,Jack Turley,Chester Krumholz,Rick Husky,Richard Landau, Robert Dozier,William Wood,and Nicholas E. Baehr. Add this with the opening theme score from composer Dave Grusin and you're in for a treat.

"Dan August" was so good that during its short-lived run was nominated for a Golden Globe in 1971 with Burt Reynolds nominated for Best Actor in a Dramatic Role in a television series. The guest stars that were on board for this series consisted of several that consistently stand-out as the best and they're usually the regular Quinn Martin players that were in different episodes throughout its run. The series did very well for one of new ABC shows that premiered during the 1970-1971 season. The show premiered on Wednesday nights and it had stiff competition from The NBC Mystery Hour and also went up against the CBS powerhouse crime drama "Hawaii Five-O". During its run on ABC from 1970-1971,the series faltered to mediocre ratings and was not renewed for a second season. Shortly thereafter Reynolds became a major celebrity through feature films and other exposure (he did "Deliverance" after the series ceased production)making him one of the hottest box office stars of the 1970's. However,repeated episodes brought it back for CBS in May of 1973 and the network broadcast it in prime-time during May of 1973 until October of 1973,and again from April of 1975 until June of 1975 when CBS showed during its CBS Late Night lineup of shows.

Great short-lived series. Reynolds in another cop show after Hawk, but this time in color, with more cast members and under a Quinn Martin format (Prologue, Acts 1 to 4, Epilogue). Social topics of the day (student unrest, race relations, changing morals) were woven into the episodes and Burt with his stunts; what more can you ask for?

Quinn Martin made hour-long dramas, from crime to science-fiction, most notably THE INVADERS, that had the colors and sets, and sometimes acting, of situation comedies, and DAN AUGUST, starring a young Burt Reynolds before his signature mustache, is no different...

Taking place in a small California town based on Santa Barbara, the plot-device is that Reynolds' title character, once a football hero of the local college, knows everybody he investigates: so everyone accused of murder are either a friend or friend-of-a-friend, family-of-a-friend, friend-of-the-family, or merely an acquaintance, but he does what he can...

Not with the kind of likeable persona that would make Burt a huge star not long after, beginning with DELIVERANCE and really igniting with SMOKEY AND THE BANDIT, the Reynolds here his robotic and unfeeling, morose, monotone and pretty cold, actually, but it seems deliberate...

Not a bad series; a kind of mystery more based on modernized film noir than progressive modern cop, but it's that too, taking on subjects from race to Vietnam to drugs... it's just too bad Burt didn't let himself out a little more here... the whole thing, no matter the serious issues, needed more joy within the investigative process.

'The House on Greenapple Road' was the original pilot for this series, and in fact starred Christopher George as Dan August, not Burt Reynolds. The was never an episode called 'Once is Not Enough', let alone it being the pilot episode 'introducing us to the character of Dan August'. For goodness sake, there is an episode list alongside the subject! It's so easy to verify your facts. People use the IMDb as a source of reliable information, so unreliable information such as that previously posted on this subject, and many others I might add, should not be allowed to find its way here. I thought the IMDb personnel vetted these postings?

I seem to recall that "Dan August" had a really good theme song ... most of the Quinn Martin shows did, but I remember this one being really up tempo and it fit the character Reynolds played ... the show was all right, but it's hard to imagine Norman Fell playing a cop ... lol