Search

As a brat raised in LA during the mid 60s, I was mad about UNCLE, I Spy, The Avengers, THE Cat, all the good old TV spy and action shows. Returning to Japan in '68 was a big culture change, especially the dull and boring TV shows (not much change in 2006, even worse). It was around '73 that one of the network here aired 5 or 6 episodes of Search. It was called Purobu Sousa Shirei (Probe Criminal Investigations Command). It was dubbed in Japanese (no bilingual TV at that time), and I can't remember any story, but the brilliant titleback and the superb theme music is something that I wish to see and hear again. One scene I recall is a bird's eye view of an orange Nissan Z car driven by one of the Probe agent. I thought it was so cool! Oh, and did I mention Angel Tompkins, she was so beautiful! It seems difficult to see this series even in the USA now, but I am sure that there are thousands of "hidden Search fans" in the world. I will definitely buy the whole series if sold on DVD.

This was one of the great shows that didn't last.

The teamwork shown by the group working behind the scenes was perhaps too "upbeat" for people. You didn't watch the show expecting the good guys to fail, but instead tried to guess which specialist or gadget would get them out of a jam this time.

I don't remember how good the writing and dialog was, but I clearly remember Burgess Meredith's character as a very compelling influence in the "control room". I would love this show to return to the air or come out on DVD, but I suppose it has been gone for so long that any chance of that happening is pretty low.

In any case, it is good to see the show immortalized to some extent by being listed properly here (I searched for "Search" a long time ago and couldn't find it).

I learned of this show even before it aired on NBC back in 1972 (prepublicity), and decided I liked it even before seeing it. One thing that I thought was really cool was how Probe Control communicated to the agents via an implanted audio pickup through radio telescope communications. Of course, Burgess Meredith was essentially the show stealer every time; not many other actors could give an engaging performance sitting at a computer panel. He had this funny way of adjusting his micro headset and almost punching his console when flustered. I managed to record many episodes onto a handy cassette machine. A couple of years ago a local TV station rebroadcast the pilot episode, co-starring John Gielgud (sp?), and I caught the whole thing on VHS. When they decided to cancel the series, I was actually put out enough to send in a letter of protest. (Well, it was a perfect show for a 12-year-old boy). After all, it had cool effects, mostly involving things that could be seen in other parts of the spectrum, picked up by the agents' ring-bound scanners.

Search had some of the best elements of the spy genre (handsome persuasive and strong male leads, beautiful women, exotic rich locales, and mysterious missing objects, etc) and of the science fiction genre (an elaborate Mission Control center, computer assisted artificial intelligence information, man/machine embedded implants etc).

The plots where were sometimes not that interesting or hung together well but the relationship of the characters (especially Probe Control irascibly trying to keep the three independent minded agents in line) was fun to watch.

When you consider the ongoing popularity of the spy genre and the enthusiastic support of science fiction series by it's fans the series Search should have been a very good success. It could be that it was just a little ahead of its time. I encourage the TV production community to consider the creation of a new Search series or something along the same lines. The TV audience is more interested in both the spy genre (James Bond, the Bourne series etc) and the science fiction series (Star trek, Star Wars, etc than at any time in the past.

A very nice set-up for a series that looked like it was going far. In the pilot (The film 'Probe') the controller, B.C. Cameron (The late Burgess Meredith)warns Probe 1 (Hugh Lockwood, played by Hugh O'Brian) that he should avoid a head-cold as it messes with the electronics. Well I think that the Network got a head cold over this ahead-of-its-time semi-sf spy series. Like another reviewer, I would love to see the series restarted, perhaps someone could persuade a network to buy the rights? Leslie Stephens created several series like this (Invisible Man etc), and it seems a pity to waste such inventiveness.

As to casting, I wouldn't dare to put forward a suggestion, except that, as a Brit, I wouldn't mind them filming an episode or two in the U.K. with a British 'Probe'...