The Trials of O'Brien

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?

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.

I recall nothing else about this wonderful show except that the writing was SO good even as a teenager I could tell it was special. The only actor who registered with me was the superb Peter Falk. Now that I see that Joanna Barnes and Elaine Stritch were regulars it gives me even more desire to see those old shows again. I remember I was a fan of the show from the very first episode and was sorry no one else was noticing it.

I enjoyed this Series very much back in the Sixties and used to stay up late just to watch it. Peter Falk has always been one of my favourite actors and was excellent in this series and I enjoyed the comedy in it - especially the frequent references to "the Great McGonagle". I always thought and hoped it would achieve a higher profile and was very disappointed when it just "disappeared" from the TV schedules and I've never seen it since. However, Peter Falk went on to achieve more success with "Columbo". I also enjoyed the performance of Joanna Cassidy, who I think was the actress who played the former wife of Peter Falk's character in "Trials". There was good chemistry between them. I would love to watch it again but don't know where to look for it!

This series was way ahead of its time, with a main character who was a divorced, cynical, slightly seedy lawyer, and was very rumpled -- a Columbo prototype. Peter Falk's charm was evident, and David Burns added a vaudeville touch. The plots were clever, although not memorable after forty years. But I thought it was terribly sophisticated at the time, and, yes, I can still hum the theme music. Even the cast was ahead of its time. In its one year, the guest cast featured the up-and-coming Frank Langella, Cloris Leachman, Faye Dunaway, Estelle Parsons, Britt Ekland, David Carradine, Gene Hackman, Martin Sheen, Alan Alda, Charles Grodin, Tony Roberts, and Brock Peters; and it was a veritable who's who of familiar faces like Vincent Gardenia, Murray Hamilton, Will Geer, Tammy Grimes, Norman Fell, Jack Albertson, Philip Bosco, Barnard Hughes, Angela Lansbury, Tony Musante, and Al Freeman Jr., among many others. Even the playwright Marc Connelly! I've never caught any reruns, but I would love to see some episodes again to see if it was as good as I thought it was. Doesn't anyone else remember The Trials of O'Brien?