Coronet Blue

I see this on SuperChannel, which is a Japanese cable channel that's basically a graveyard for short-lived American TV shows. (Shaft, Serpico, Funny Face,...etc.) I got into it quickly.

This is obviously the inspiration for Matt Damon's 'Bourne' films.

The amnesia angle was played very well. Watching Frank Converse do what he felt he needed to do without knowing WHY was eerie.

You really felt for the guy. I'm surprised this show wasn't a hit and Converse wasn't a bigger star.

It was apparent that the cold war was the 'hidden' secret. But since the show never made it...we never really found out until Larry Cohen told us himself.

This show made the summer of 1967. Frank Converse was out of this world. I followed everything he ever did after that, but he didn't do much. Brian Bedford went on to Broadway. We tuned in just to see how much, if anything, he would learn that week. If only they would re-run it. Today it would be a cult classic (even if it was in black and white) I am sure. Or maybe they could remake it. I would certainly watch.

I sat immersed in each and every episode.

I felt personally cheated when the all to short series ended without clearing up what Coronet Blue was .

As enigmatic and mysterious as the phrase was, having it sung as the title song by Frankie Lane ...was absolute theatrical super glue !

I can recognize Frank Converse's voice almost instantly.

I think a whole new series with B&W flashes of the original series would be as good as any JJ Abrams or Joss Weedon production.

If Frank was teamed with Nathan Fillion in some form of X Files/detective'esk treatment I think the brilliance of the original would still hold up.

This was, to me, my first exposure to the possibility of "good television." This show was SOOOO special because it was a 30-year precursor of the ALIAS/LOST/PRISON BREAK intricate continuing series.

In today's entertainment marketing environment, this show would have been through the roof in ratings and been short-listed right into production.

Back then, I think the network was stunned by the audience reaction. By the time they realized what it hit it had on its hands, it was too late to do anything about it. What a shame.

Bravo!!

Artie

I have read various accounts of the premise of Coronet Blue and how the pilot episode opens. There are two details I vividly remember differently and was wondering if anyone else noted them as I did. Most interesting is the origin of the series title. Some websites state Frank Converse's character climbs out of the water himself and mumbles only two words: "Coronet Blue" - hence, the title. I watched the pilot episode the night it first aired on television. Specifically, he was pulled from the water by other people, and unconscious at that. The people go through his pockets looking for identification, but the only thing he has on him is a matchbook with a design of a blue coronet (crown) on the outside of it. Doesn't anyone else remember that detail?