Checkmate

The 70 black and white hour-long episodes of "Checkmate" were originally broadcast from 1960-62 on CBS. Those who only remember Sebastian Cabot as the prissy butler "French" on "Family Affair" will be surprised at his superior acting talent, which was nicely showcased in this series.

"Checkmate Inc." was an unusual organization based in San Francisco, a posh detective agency whose specialty was thwarting crimes "before" they occurred. The plot line for each episode was structured to resemble a chess game, which reflected the series title.

Middle age detective Don Corey (Anthony George) operated the firm out of his elegant Nob Hill apartment. Young Jed Sills (Doug McClure) was the designated hunk of the series. Dr. Carl Hyatt (Cabot) was a trained criminologist who served as the organization's brain trust. The three mostly worked as a team and a lot of the humor came from Cabot's frequent frustration over the dimness of his two associates.

Warner Brothers had hit on a successful formula for the intelligent detective series (insert "Surfside Six", "77 Sunset Strip", etc. here) and Jack Benny's "JaMco Productions" appropriated this and turned it into "Checkmate". At least they eliminated Warner's obligatory weird side-kick/informer and good looking but airheaded singer/girlfriend/etc.

So they basically had a main character targeted at all age levels of the female demographic, with one of which almost any male viewer could identify. And each episode included some attractive young actress(s) and a couple has-been movie stars in the cast.

The early John Williams' theme music was a memorable jazz instrumental for which he received a Grammy nomination. As often happens with these things they tried to get cute between seasons and added Jack Betts to the cast as investigator Chris Devlin and they moved the agency into a normal office suite. It limped through its second season until cancellation.

15 episodes from Season One are now out in a DVD package with the misleading title "Best of Checkmate:Season One". It does not appear that any effort was made to actually cull out the "best" episodes for this release, it looks more like this group was included because they were the only ones to which Edi Video had the rights and/or the only ones in good enough condition for digital re-mastering. The DVD package has no special features and is a relatively low-budget but serviceable effort. A similar collection of Season Two episodes is due for release in March 2008.

Then again what do I know? I'm only a child.

Most fictional detectives work out of dingy offices and where clothes that look like they've slept in them. Jim Rockford in the Rockford Files operates out of a trailer. But the three who operate the Checkmate Agency live pretty good out of a posh apartment that serves as their office as well. Doing the grunt work are Anthony George and Doug McClure, but they do it elegantly and only resort to violence when necessary.

George and McClure have a high priced consultant in Oxford professor Sebastian Cabot who is now transferred to San Francisco. He lectures on criminology at Berkeley. But the man has a Sherlock Holmes like mind and misses nothing. The other guys are on their toes as well.

Checkmate lasted three seasons and for three seasons gave us some really literate scripts, well plotted stories and unfortunately a black and white view of San Francisco. Pity CBS wasn't doing color at the time.

I just acquired the complete episodes of the show. It's going to be nice to relive the days of Corey, Sills, and Hyatt.

I loved this series, and I do not like television series in general. The cast was perfect: Corey as tough, worldly-wise chief of "Checkmate" and mentor to partner Doug McClure, who here was able to get away from the grinning, pretty-boy roles that would dog his career, playing the younger detective with (for him) a subdued grittiness. And then there was Sebastian Cabot--vested suits, walking stick, sparkling eyes, he stole every scene he was in. The writing was excellent, and yes, the opening was way ahead of its time. An all-around classy show with terrific guest stars...naturally it is not available on VHS or DVD. Another reason that even at that age I was in agreement with Newton Minnow's description of television programming as a "vast wasteland." And the waste is the stuff that makes it to TVland and DVD. Which would be fine if shows like "Checkmate" were not lost forever.

I remember Checkmate. It had great style, action, plots & characters. I never knew it was created by Eric Ambler, the author of A Coffin For Dimitrios.

I had just moved to San Francisco in 1960 & it was a very exciting place to be - the fog, the cable cars, the bridges, Alcatraz & Chinatown. They all appeared in episodes of Checkmate. I recall the series was saturated with a sense of the city.

It would be great to see some of those old episodes again. They might seem corny now, but I'd like to see that great gray city by the bay again the way it was way back then.

I remember Checkmate from when I was four years old, oddly. I have a few other memories from that age but the swirling colors in the opening, even in black and white, stuck with me and somehow I enjoyed the show even at that age, though I'd have understood little behind the stories.

As an adult, I years ago bought the DVD set. I haven't watched it all by a long shot. To be truthful the episodes are a bit dated by now and not all of their plot points really hold together that well. A lot of things happened because it was 'convenient' for the writers, rather than a plot point making good sense.

Still, the episodes are enjoyable and a window into the world of the early 60s. If you have a hankering for this type of classic show, 77 Sunset Strip is head and shoulder better than Checkmate, but I've seen most of 77 Sunset Strip twice. LOL I'd say the story quality of Checkmate is more in line with Hawaiin Eye.

This show was made when networks bought almost twice as many episodes as they have for many years. You can still pick the DVD set up for just more than 50 cents an episode. That's a good value.