Dan August

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.

I always enjoyed Burt Reynolds film and TV career but after purchasing this DVD TV series and watching it again some fifty (50) years later I would have to say that the story lines were almost all similar and for todays standards, pretty stale. Most of the episodes focused on a murder of a rich affluent person(s) in the tony neighborhoods of Santa Luisa, California, and Lt. Dan August (Burt Reynolds) and his dower looking sidekick Sgt. Charles Wilentz (Norman Fell) who continually chases after Dan August like a lap dog, whilst Dan is running down his suspects and usually gang tackling them in mid air.

To the series credit, it does attempt to bring to the forefront some racial injustices, homosexuality and social injustices, but good old Dan always figures out by the end of each episode whose the bad guy(s) and who the victims are that deserve our sympathy and/or respect.

There were some cameo appearances by some very young and upcoming superstars such as Harrison Ford, Billy Dee Williams, Jan-Michael Vincent, Joan Van-Ark, Martin Sheen, Donna Mills, David Soul and Larry Hagman, and with a bevy of veteran actors far too many to name.

The TV series theme music is a period piece that brings us back down memory lane for the 1970's Quinn Martin productions, nothing more, nothing less.

I am glad that I watched this memorable TV series once again some five (5) decades later just to watch Burt Reynolds in his TV prime before he went on to film stardom, but sadly it is not something I would watch a third time. Anyone interested in purchasing a slightly used DVD copy of the 1970 Dan August TV series?

I give the series a so so grade of 6 out of 10 IMDb rating.

'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?

Dan August starred Burt Reynolds as a homicide detective working cases in a fictional California town. The opening scene usually depicted a murder being committed by a concealed figure, and the episode would eventually reveal the killer. Despite a solid supporting cast and thoughtful episodes centered on topical issues like prejudice, workers' rights and military desertion, the show was never really given a chance, ending its run after only 26 episodes.

Many television executives cannot exactly be accused of being visionaries, and it's obvious they didn't know what they had in Dan August, which was at least on par with many of the other similarly-themed shows of the time. Ironically, the impetuous, short-sighted decision to cancel the series led to great success for three of its principal characters: Both Richard Anderson and Norman Fell, two solid character actors would each later co-star in highly successful television series The Six Million Dollar Man and Three's Company respectively. And of course Burt Reynolds went on to box office superstardom in the 1970s and later returned to television, winning an Emmy for the show Evening Shade. Producer Quinn Martin didn't miss a beat and continued his track record of successful series, conceiving Cannon, Barnaby Jones and The Streets of San Francisco throughout the decade. Nonetheless, one can't help but wonder what a little patience could have meant for the trajectory of Dan August.