Bearcats!

The short lived action-adventure series "BEARCATS!" starred Austrailan actor Rod Taylor in his second weekly television series. Produced and Created by Douglas Heyes(of "Maverick")and produced by Morton S. Fine and David Friedkin(of "I Spy")under Taylor's production company Rodcor Productions for Filmways Productions. Filmways Productions was basically a studio that was known for cranking rural comedies("The Beverly Hillbillies","Petticoat Junction",and "Green Acres") not to mention other comedies that the company produced("The Addams Family", "Mister Ed",and the short-lived courtroom drama series "The Trials of O'Brien")but this is the first time that Filmways produced a weekly series that was laced with breathtaking adventure and non-stop action. The series "BEARCATS!",produced 13 episodes for Filmways Productions and CBS-TV from September 16,1971 until December 30,1971. The show was placed on the Thursday night timeslot where it went up against the supermacy of the runaway NBC hitmaking powerhouse of "The Flip Wilson Show" and the western "Alias Smith and Jones",which was on ABC. Not bad for a series that had became one of the sleeper hits for the 1971-1972 season,even though it had a short run. Yet,"BEARCATS!" had potential.

The show was a mixture of several shows since it was set in the American Southwest around 1914 at the beginning of the 20th Century,but it had the aspects of a western but set in modern times with a hint of espionage and intrigue woven into each of the story lines. "BEARCATS!" was the story of two adventurers who traveled around looking for lucrative,difficult,and dangerous assignments. Their mode of transportation was a fancy Stutz Bearcat. Rather than charge a fee for taking on an assignment,they requested a blank check from each of their clients. After completing the job they filled in the amount according to what they felt their services were worth. Rod Taylor was Hank Brackett(the brains of the outfit and leader)and his partner was Johnny Reach,his assistant and driver of the Stutz Bearcat (Dennis Cole). Several episodes were in my opinion top notch and were the cream of the crop of action shows that exploded onto TV during the early 1970's. One episode,they were hired to find out who was setting fire to oil wells in a small bordertown;in another their task was to stop mercenaries from sabotaging medical supplies that were being shipped overseas to the Allies during World War I. To mention going uo against very interesting villains which included ruthless Mexican bandits,gunslingers,German officers in order to save the country and the world. Very good show with plenty of non-stop action,adventure and excitement. When CBS-TV cancelled this show in December of 1971,the network replaced with the greatest traversy of them all--by adding one of the worst children's shows of all time--the granddaddy of all pathetic animal shows-"Me And The Chimp"-from the 1971-1972 season,and that show lasted no more than 8 episodes.

I totally agree with my other colleagues here on IMDb this was an excellent series that was shot on location and had a hip....Spaghetti Western-type feel to it...and was not given a chance to have a decent run...I mean ME AND THE CHIMP...come on, I would dare say that was to Ted Bessell who starred in the "series" like MY MOTHER THE CAR was to Jerry Van Dyke......anyway the series was brilliant in the casting, Rod Taylor who could do an American accent better than any Aussie today with the possible exception of Guy Pierce who ironically played George in the remake of THE TIME MACHINE....and Dennis Cole who tragically lost his son via an unsolved homicide that occurred I believe in 1991....both worked off each other quite well, a good buddy series that is very little dated save for the score by Hal Hooper which is quite good and upbeat, very 70's sound, similar to a score to a South African pseudo spaghetti western called THREE BULLETS FOR A LONG GUN that was in release near that time.....and yes the Stutz Bearcat, Americas 1st sports car that could reach speeds of 60 miles and hour...I know this would be asking a lot but this series is calling DVD.....D...V....D and since both Rod and Dennis are both alive and doing fairly well, commentary would be nice....anyway this western adventure, RAWHIDE and THE HIGH CHAPPERAL all deserve the DVD treatment

Ignore the current 7.9 nostalgia score. This isn't for adults. Silly plots, hamfisted action, stilted performances, repetitive low-budget camera work and soundtrack. Don't waste your time.

I remember this show quite well. It lost its thursday 8:00 pm time slot to the most awful show ever produced (Me and the Chimp), and I was forever stunned. The pilot movie for this show was called "PowderKeg", and starred Taylor and Cole (and guest star Fernando Lamas) and gave the back ground of how they traveled around the south west in 1915 cleaning up trouble for a blank check. The movie was available for a while on video (thankfully I bought it) and is just like the show. The show ran only 13 episodes (I wonder if more were produced) and dissappeared in Jan '73. The show was filmed in Old Tuscon studio's and showed off the old west scenery well, and it was an intelligently produced period show. The producers paid quite a lot of attention to detail; for example the other cars shown in the series were actual cars of the time. Like all great shows of that early 70's era (SEARCH was another one) I doubt anything like it will ever be attempted again. The reproduction Stutz Bearcat resides to this day in Geroge Barris's Hollywood car museum. I was surprised to read in another comment column that TVLand ran a few episodes on one of their Sunday showcases--I wish I had known so I could have taped them!!!

In April, 1971, after ten years away from the small screen, Rod Taylor made another attempt to gain a permanent spot on television with the nostalgic CBS series " Bearcats !". With the story unfolding in America's dusty Southwest in 1914, it featured Taylor and Dennis Cole as characters Hank Brackett and Johnny Reach respectively, a pair of trouble shooters for hire. Loaded with period charm, the show took its name from the majestic and sporty roadster in which Reach and Brackett went about their business - a yellow Stutz Bearcat.

As with Taylor's previous series, "Hong Kong", the venture faced stiff competition when it was programmed up against NBC's well established "Flip Wilson Show" and it lasted only thirteen weeks.

"Bearcats" ! was a breezy, action - packed and entertaining production based around a novel idea which featured two excellent stars who had an engaging and believable on screen rapport. Sadly, however, the show is now remembered as being yet another of those noble efforts that fell between the cracks and ended up in the "Brilliant but Cancelled" category of television history.