Bert D'Angelo/Superstar
{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2025}}
{{Infobox television
| image = Robert Pine 1976.jpg
| image_alt =
| caption = The inspector Larry Johnson (Robert Pine)
|starring=Paul Sorvino
|company = Quinn Martin Productions
|country=United States
|language=English
|runtime=60 minutes
|num_seasons = 1
|num_episodes =12 (1 unaired)
|list_episodes =
|first_aired={{start date|1976|2|21}}
|last_aired={{end date|1976|7|10}}
|network=ABC
}}
Bert D'Angelo/Superstar (shown as Bert D'Angelo in Britain) is an American police drama that aired on ABC on Saturday Nights from February 21 to July 10, 1976. The series was produced by Quinn Martin.{{cite book |last1=Brooks |first1=Tim |last2=Marsh |first2=Earle F. |title=The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows, 1946-Present |date=June 24, 2009 |publisher=Random House Publishing Group |isbn=978-0-307-48320-1 |page=126 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=w8KztFy6QYwC&dq=%22Bert+D%27Angelo%22&pg=PA126 |access-date=September 21, 2022 |language=en}}
The series spun off from The Streets of San Francisco, although the episode which introduced the character ("Superstar") had its first airing on March 4, 1976,{{cite book |last1=Etter |first1=Jonathan |title=Quinn Martin, Producer: A Behind-the-Scenes History of QM Productions and Its Founder |date=11 July 2015 |publisher=McFarland |isbn=978-1-4766-0506-7 |pages=174–176 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DkXRUpXvKJ0C&dq=%22Bert+D%27Angelo%22&pg=PA174 |access-date=September 21, 2022 |language=en}} after the spinoff premiered. It was screened in Britain on BBC1 in the summer of 1976 (curiously, The Streets of San Francisco was an ITV import).
Premise
Bert D'Angelo was a ten-year veteran of the New York City Police Department transferred to San Francisco, "so as to acquaint the San Francisco Police Department with the way things were done back in New York City". He handled a variety of types of cases, including drugs, murders, and robberies.
Cast
- Paul Sorvino as Bert D'Angelo
- Robert Pine as Inspector Larry Johnson
- Dennis Patrick as Captain Jack Breen
Production
The program was "filmed entirely on location in and around San Francisco".{{cite news |title=Sorvino Starring in New Series |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/109974391/bert-dangelo/ |access-date=September 22, 2022 |work=The Daily Herald |date=February 16, 1976 |location=Utah, Provo |page=31|via = Newspapers.com}} Martin was the executive producer. Directors were Harry Falk, Virgil W. Vogel, Michael Caffey, David Friedkin, and William Hale. Writers were Larry Alexander, D. C. Fontana,{{cite book |last1=Terrace |first1=Vincent |title=Encyclopedia of Television Miniseries, 1936-2020 |date=September 22, 2021 |publisher=McFarland |isbn=978-1-4766-8735-3 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EXpIEAAAQBAJ&dq=%22Bert+D%27Angelo%22&pg=PA19 |access-date=September 22, 2022 |language=en}} and Marion Hargrove.{{cite book |last1=Heil |first1=Douglas |title=Prime-Time Authorship: Works about and by Three TV Dramatists |date=March 1, 2002 |publisher=Syracuse University Press |isbn=978-0-8156-2879-8 |page=24 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PqjCN7glcPAC&dq=%22Bert+D%27Angelo%22&pg=PA24 |access-date=September 22, 2022 |language=en}}
Critical reception
Critic John Camper of the Chicago Daily News found little positive about the program as he wrote, "YOU try to think of something interesting to say about it."{{cite news |last1=Camper |first1=John |title=A Critic's Life Isn't Always Great Fun |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/109973151/bert-dangelo/ |access-date=September 22, 2022 |work=The Parsons Sun |agency=Chicago Daily News |date=February 27, 1976 |page=19|via = Newspapers.com}} He noted about D'Angelo, "With practically no evidence he intuits the entire convoluted murder plot by the end of Act IV."
Dwight Newton, writing in the San Francisco Examiner, compared Bert D'Angelo to the film Dirty Harry (1971), dubbing D'Angelo "Dirty Bert" because the TV character bent rules like the film character did.{{cite news |last1=Newton |first1=Dwight |title=Dirty Harry, Dirty Bert |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/109975334/bert-dangelo/ |access-date=September 22, 2022 |work=The San Francisco Examiner |date=February 23, 1976 |page=15|via = Newspapers.com}} Newton described the show as "similar slop" to the film and called the program a "garbage-heap clinker". He praised Sorvino for his performance: "Sorvino imbues his cop role with vitality, finesse, humaneness and, when called upon, great roaring fervor."
Episodes
{{Episode table
|background=#000
|overall=5
|title=30
|airdate=20
|total_width=70
|episodes=
{{Episode list
|EpisodeNumber=1
|Title=Murder in Velvet
|OriginalAirDate={{Start date|1976|2|21}}
|ShortSummary=After a woman is murdered, D'Angelo discovers evidence that implicates a close friend in the crime.
|LineColor=000
}}
{{Episode list
|EpisodeNumber=2
|Title=Cops Who Sleep Together
|OriginalAirDate={{Start date|1976|2|28}}
|ShortSummary=An investigation into the death of a newlywed policeman is hampered when his widow, who's also a police officer, seeks revenge.
|LineColor=000
}}
{{Episode list
|EpisodeNumber=3
|Title=Men with No Past
|OriginalAirDate={{Start date|1976|3|6}}
|ShortSummary=Three seemingly ordinary men are murdered in a professional manner, resulting in the discovery by D'Angelo that the killer is a hit man eliminating former government informants.
|LineColor=000
}}
{{Episode list
|EpisodeNumber=4
|Title=The Brown Horse Connection
|OriginalAirDate={{Start date|1976|3|13}}
|ShortSummary=D'Angelo receives help from a Mexico City policewoman in the search for a mysterious bomber intent on blowing up a convention of law enforcement officials.
|LineColor=000
}}
{{Episode list
|EpisodeNumber=5
|Title=The Book of Fear
|OriginalAirDate={{Start date|1976|3|20}}
|ShortSummary=After a young girl is tortured and murdered while trying to escape from a call girl ring, D'Angelo makes an effort to find the mysterious head of the operation.
|LineColor=000
}}
{{Episode list
|EpisodeNumber=6
|Title=A Noise in the Street
|OriginalAirDate={{Start date|1976|3|27}}
|ShortSummary=An international hit man and his girlfriend hold a priest hostage while taking refuge in a church.
|LineColor=000
}}
{{Episode list
|EpisodeNumber=7
|Title=A Concerned Citizen
|OriginalAirDate={{Start date|1976|4|3}}
|ShortSummary=A hijacking ring turns to murder, resulting in D'Angelo being assigned to help break it up before another death occurs.
|LineColor=000
}}
{{Episode list
|EpisodeNumber=8
|Title=Flannagan's Fleet
|OriginalAirDate={{Start date|1976|6|5}}
|ShortSummary=In order to fund the buying of guns and other war supplies, a mercenary group plots to rob several armored cars.
|LineColor=000
}}
{{Episode list
|EpisodeNumber=9
|Title=What Kind of Cop Are You?
|OriginalAirDate={{Start date|1976|6|12}}
|ShortSummary=The death of a vagrant becomes a top priority when evidence points to the involvement of organized crime loan sharks.
|LineColor=000
}}
{{Episode list
|EpisodeNumber=10
|Title=Scag
|OriginalAirDate={{Start date|1976|6|19}}
|ShortSummary=D'Angelo is in a race with a desperate man to be the first to find a cache of heroin worth over $1 million.
|LineColor=000
}}
{{Episode list
|EpisodeNumber=11
|Title=Serpent's Tooth
|OriginalAirDate={{Start date|1976|7|10}}
|ShortSummary=Two feuding organized crime families are ready to go to war with each other unless D'Angelo can find a way to stop it.
|LineColor=000
}}
{{Episode list
|EpisodeNumber=12
|Title=Requiem for a Rip-Off
|OriginalAirDate=Unaired
|ShortSummary=
|LineColor=000
}}
}}
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- {{IMDb title|73963}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bert D'Angelo Superstar}}
Category:1976 American television series debuts
Category:1976 American television series endings
Category:American Broadcasting Company television dramas
Category:1970s American crime television series