The Trials of O'Brien

It's been a long time ago, but I know this was a critical success. When it was canceled, it caused a "save this show" letter-writing campaign, to no avail. It was about a rather deadbeat, but smart lawyer, fending off bill collectors and while taking on even more deadbeat clients. Falk did his usual great job and I think some of this character spilled over to Columbo. I would love to see if any of the 13 was it? episodes still exist. I would buy them all!

I have little detailed recollection of this show - I was only 8 or 9 when it aired - but I remember liking it a lot. I remember one episode that opened with O'Brien having a casket/corpse brought into a courtroom (cannot recall why), much to the annoyance of the judge. It must have been a well-written series, as that would explain why I liked it so much. And Falk, of course, was great. He HAD to have borrowed from this to create the "Columbo" character. I also very much recall the jazzy opening theme! Pity we don't see shows like this aired on TV Land or some other cable venue. Why not?

I remember liking "The Trials of O'Brien" a lot. It wasn't like any other cop show or lawyer show of that time... an unusual mix of the comically absurd and serious drama. Unlike Perry Mason who always stayed within the law (even when it appeared that he hadn't for most of the episode), O'Brien was known to have "bent the truth a little" to make sure his client got a "fair go".

The 90 min (?) O'Brien TV movie, "Too Many Thieves", sometimes appears on the Showtime channel (in America). This movie is an edited version of the two part story "the Greatest Game"...but it really isn't typical of the rest of the series...eg. the Ex-Mrs O'Brien makes only a very brief appearance in it and I can't remember seeing "the Great MacGonigal" at all. Instead the movie is about a jewel heist and O'Brien trying to stop the baddies killing the heroine (Britt Eklund).

Like other fans, I hope the other episodes in this short-lived series will some day be shown again on TV.

Peter Falk won an Emmy for "The Price of Tomatoes", an episode of "The Dick Powell Show" written by Richard Alan Simmons. Inger Stevens, Falk's co-star, was also nominated for an Emmy. In reference to Simmons, Falk said "the man is a mountain." Falk and Simmons continued their partnership with "Trials of O'Brien", and Simmons proved Falk was right.

Falk was superb in the role of Daniel J. O'Brien, a disheveled, odd-ball, humorous attorney, who happened to be very effective. The hour-long series was a comedy/drama/murder mystery. There was no trenchant analysis of social issues as in "The Defenders". Indeed, minimal time was spent in court. The series attempted to capture the sparkle of old movies like "The Thin Man". At the end of most episodes, Falk would gather all the suspects and determine the killer. The consistently high quality of the writing was amazing.

This show was all Falk, but the supporting regulars were also extraordinary. Joanna Barnes was his ex-wife, Ilka Chase was his ex-mother-in-law, David Burns was his investigator, and Elaine Stritch was his secretary. Sexy, sophisticated, smart Joanna Barnes was at her very best here, but she wasn't used anywhere near enough. She could have been a break-out star if she had been given more screen time.

The show was set in and filmed in New York, which almost seemed to be a requirement for quality drama series in the 60's. Many of the guest stars had stunning work ahead of them: Alan Alda, Faye Dunaway, Gene Hackman, Roger Moore, Robert Blake, Angela Lansbury, David Carradine, Martin Sheen, Frank Langella and Jessica Walter, to name a few.

"O'Brien" was on Saturday nights after Perry Mason, another detective-lawyer. The line producer was Jon Epstein ("Owen Marshall, Counselor at Law", "Rich Man, Poor Man").

Richard Alan Simmons later produced a season of the 1970's Columbo, and Jon Epstein produced some Columbo episodes in the early 1990's shortly before his death. A Columbo episode is dedicated to Epstein's memory.

TV Guide critic Cleveland Amory said the best series performance of 1965-66 was given by Patrick McGoohan ("Secret Agent"), but Amory gave honorable mention to Ben Gazzara ("Run For Your Life") and Peter Falk ("Trials of O'Brien"). None of those three actors was nominated for an Emmy that season. Amory said some of the later episodes of "O'Brien" were truly magnificent.

"Trials of O'Brien" may have been a business failure, but Peter Falk and executive producer Richard Alan Simmons achieved greatness with this show.

Although I remember thoroughly enjoying the show at age 15-16, I was aware that it was more adult than most TV fare. I seem to remember only individual incidents rather than plot lines. For example, O'Brien seemed to be having an affair with his ex-wife and them being in a panic when he has lost the key to his apartment and she picks the lock with a hairpin. Always having been a Peter Falk fan I would watch anything he was in, and realized early in life that he was somewhat unconventional. Another memory of the show is of O'Brien driving around in his old convertible with a briefcase of important papers that he has just thrown on the back seat. Would love to see some of the episodes as an adult.