McCoy (TV series)
McCoy is an American comedy-drama series that starred Tony Curtis and aired on NBC-TV during the 1975–1976 season.
| McCoy | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Drama |
| Written by | Dean Hargrove Roland Kibbee |
| Directed by | Nicholas Colasanto Richard Quine |
| Starring | Tony Curtis Roscoe Lee Browne Lucille Meredith |
| Composer | Dick DeBenedictis |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language | English |
| No. of seasons | 1 |
| No. of episodes | 5 (including a pilot film) |
| Production | |
| Producer | Roland Kibbee |
| Camera setup | Single-camera |
| Running time | 90 mins. |
| Production company | Universal TV |
| Release | |
| Original network | NBC |
| Original release | October 5, 1975 – January 25, 1976 |
| Related | |
| NBC Sunday Mystery Movie | |
Synopsis
The series stars Tony Curtis as a con man who, along with a team of friends, "out-cons" bad guys in order to steal back their ill-gotten gains and return the loot to its rightful owners. The schemes were elaborate and laced with satirical humor. The series bears resemblances to the then-recent film The Sting, as well as to the contemporary series Switch and the British literary character Simon Templar. Co-starring with Curtis was Roscoe Lee Browne as a nightclub comedian.
Episodes
| Nº | Title | Directed by: | Written by: | Air date | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "The Big Ripoff" | Richard Quine | Dean Hargrove, Roland Kibbee | March 11, 1975 | |
| Series pilot: McCoy schemes to retrieve the ransom money that was paid for an oil tycoon's wife. | |||||
| 2 | "Bless the Big Fish" | Nicholas Colasanto | Philip Chapin | October 5, 1975 | |
| A crafty financial adviser cheats Papa Leone out of $450,000, and Leone tries to commit suicide as a result; McCoy intervenes with a plan to recover the money. | |||||
| 3 | "Double Take" | Richard Quine | Dean Hargrove, Roland Kibbee, Howard Leeds | November 30, 1975 | |
| 4 | "In Again Out Again" | Stan Dragoti | Unknown | January 4, 1976 | |
| J. Carter Sloan takes advantage of dying Bob Mayfield by forcing him to make a $200,000 life insurance contract, which affects Bob's sister's interests. | |||||
| 5 | "New Dollar Day" | Nicholas Colasanto | Unknown | January 25, 1976 | |
Production and reception
The series was produced in the format of two-hour telefilms, that were broadcast as part of the NBC Sunday Mystery Movie as one of several rotating series that would air once a month. Other series involved in the Universal Television franchise package were Columbo, McCloud, and McMillan & Wife. However, McCoy failed to garner the same ratings as its fellow programs and was cancelled after an initial 90-minute pilot TV movie ("The Big Ripoff") and four two-hour episodes were broadcast. A novelization of the pilot, written by Linda Stewart as "Sam Stewart", titled for the series, was published by Dell in 1976, and reprinted as McCoy: The Big Rip-Off, under W.H. Allen's Star imprint in the United Kingdom.