The Blue Knight (TV series)
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{{Infobox television
| image = George Kennedy The Blue Knight 1976.JPG
| caption = George Kennedy as Bumper Morgan.
| genre = {{unbulleted list|Action|Police drama}}
| runtime = 60 minutes (per episode)
| based_on = The Blue Knight by Joseph Wambaugh
| developer = E. Jack Newman
Albert Ruben
| starring = George Kennedy
| theme_music_composer = Henry Mancini
| company = Lorimar Productions
| executive_producer = Lee Rich
Philip Capice
| country = United States
| language = English
| network = CBS
| first_aired = {{start date|1975|12|17}}
| last_aired = {{end date|1976|10|20}}
| num_seasons = 2
| num_episodes = 23 (6 unaired)
| list_episodes =
}}
The Blue Knight is an American crime drama series that aired on CBS from December 17, 1975 until October 20, 1976. It stars George Kennedy as Officer Bumper Morgan. The show was based on the 1973 novel of the same name by Joseph Wambaugh and produced by Lorimar Productions. It was also inspired by the 1973 TV film The Blue Knight, starring William Holden, which ran before the TV show premiered.
Plot
Bumper Morgan is a veteran police officer in Los Angeles, who continues to patrol the streets in uniform. The series dealt with Morgan's daily dealings with dangerous criminals and drug dealers.
Guest stars included Jim Davis, Robert Hays, Vivi Janiss, Harry Lauter, Gerald McRaney, Bruce Glover, Robert Hoy, and Lee Weaver. After a run of twenty-three episodes, the series was cancelled by CBS.
Episodes
=Pilot (1975)=
{{Episode table |total_width= |background=#000000 |overall=6 |title=39 |director=15 |writer=25 |airdate=15 |episodes=
{{Episode list
| EpisodeNumber = Pilot
| Title = The Blue Knight
| DirectedBy =
| WrittenBy =
| OriginalAirDate = {{start date|1975|5|9}}
| ShortSummary = 75-minute pilot episode: Reaching his last week on the force before retirement, Bumper decides to devote his time to searching for a fellow officer's killer.
| LineColor = 000000
}}
}}
=Season 1 (1975–76)=
{{Episode table |total_width= |background=#000070 |overall=6 |season=6 |title=33 |director=15 |writer=25 |airdate=15 |episodes=
{{Episode list
| EpisodeNumber = 1
| EpisodeNumber2 = 1
| Title = Two to Make Deadly
| DirectedBy =Paul Krasny
| WrittenBy ={{StoryTeleplay|s= Don G. Letney |t= Don G. Letney & Herman Groves}}
| OriginalAirDate = {{start date|1975|12|17}}
| ShortSummary = Bumper's beat becomes a powder keg of murder and theft when two hoods decide it would be safer to rob other lawbreakers.
| LineColor = 000070
}}
{{Episode list
| EpisodeNumber = 2
| EpisodeNumber2 = 2
| Title = Triple Threat
| DirectedBy =
| WrittenBy =
| OriginalAirDate = {{start date|1975|12|24}}
| ShortSummary = Bumper Morgan wounds a suspected mugger, then tangles with the injured man's fiercely protective sister, an attorney who will not believe that her brother is a criminal.
| LineColor = 000070
}}
{{Episode list
| EpisodeNumber = 3
| EpisodeNumber2 = 3
| Title = Odds Against Tomorrow
| DirectedBy =Daniel Haller
| WrittenBy =Anthony Lawrence
| OriginalAirDate = {{start date|1975|12|31}}
| ShortSummary = When the mistress of a sadistic crime boss tries to leave him he beats her up, and vice officers ask Bumper Morgan's help in using the incident to persuade the girl to lead them to her long-wanted boyfriend.
| LineColor = 000070
}}
{{Episode list
| EpisodeNumber = 4
| EpisodeNumber2 = 4
| Title = A Fashionable Connection
| DirectedBy =
| WrittenBy =
| OriginalAirDate = {{start date|1976|1|7}}
| ShortSummary = Bumper discovers that a high style fashion firm, headed by a shrewd woman designer, is the front for a smoothly-operated narcotics trade.
| LineColor = 000070
}}
{{Episode list
| EpisodeNumber = 5
| EpisodeNumber2 = 5
| Title = The Cop Killer
| DirectedBy =
| WrittenBy =
| OriginalAirDate = {{start date|1976|1|14}}
| ShortSummary = A deranged ex-con, blaming Bumper Morgan for putting him behind bars, hires a killer to carry out his revenge.
| LineColor = 000070
}}
{{Episode list
| EpisodeNumber = 6
| EpisodeNumber2 = 6
| Title = The Creeper
| DirectedBy =
| WrittenBy =
| OriginalAirDate = {{start date|1976|1|28}}
| ShortSummary = Bumper Morgan sets out to track down a mentally deranged hotel sneak thief.
| LineColor = 000070
}}
{{Episode list
| EpisodeNumber = 7
| EpisodeNumber2 = 7
| Title = The Candy Man
| DirectedBy =
| WrittenBy =
| OriginalAirDate = {{start date|1976|2|4}}
| ShortSummary = After arresting a major drug pusher, Bumper finds the man is apparently immune to the law when federal narcotics agents put him back on the street.
| LineColor = 000070
}}
{{Episode list
| EpisodeNumber = 8
| EpisodeNumber2 = 8
| Title = Mariachi
| DirectedBy = Charles S. Dubin
| WrittenBy = Earl Wallace
| OriginalAirDate = {{start date|1976|2|11}}
| ShortSummary = The savage beating of an elderly gambler sets Bumper on the trail of a loan shark and his sadistic henchman.
| LineColor = 000070
}}
{{Episode list
| EpisodeNumber = 9
| EpisodeNumber2 = 9
| Title = Snitch's Karma
| DirectedBy =
| WrittenBy =
| OriginalAirDate = {{start date|1976|2|25}}
| ShortSummary = Eager to catch an elusive thief, Bumper reluctantly uses a small-time hood as an informant.
| LineColor = 000070
}}
{{Episode list
| EpisodeNumber = 10
| EpisodeNumber2 = 10
| Title = A Slower Beat
| DirectedBy = Paul Krasny
| WrittenBy = Walter Dallenbach
| OriginalAirDate = {{start date|1976|3|3}}
| ShortSummary = Gunmen are holding up everybody on Bumper Morgan's beat—including his girlfriend—and detectives belittle him at every turn.
| LineColor = 000070
}}
{{Episode list
| EpisodeNumber = 11
| EpisodeNumber2 = 11
| Title = To Kill a Tank
| DirectedBy =
| WrittenBy =
| OriginalAirDate = {{start date|1976|3|10}}
| ShortSummary = A dangerous criminal, armed with a stolen anti-tank gun, goes looking for a big score with his reluctant sidekick as Bumper tries to find him.
| LineColor = 000070
}}
{{Episode list
| EpisodeNumber = 12
| EpisodeNumber2 = 12
| Title = The Pink Dragon
| DirectedBy =
| WrittenBy =
| OriginalAirDate = {{start date|1976|3|24}}
| ShortSummary = Bumper's campaign to close a hangout for crooks pits him against a hood who tries to trap him with a pretty girl.
| LineColor = 000070
}}
{{Episode list
| EpisodeNumber = 13
| EpisodeNumber2 = 13
| Title = Everybody Needs a Little Attention
| DirectedBy =
| WrittenBy =
| OriginalAirDate = {{start date|1976|3|31}}
| ShortSummary = Bumper demonstrates to his partner that "everybody needs attention" after a massage parlor manager files a false complaint that threatens his badge.
| LineColor = 000070
}}
}}
=Season 2 (1976)=
{{Episode table |total_width= |background=#0000A0 |overall=6 |season=6 |title=33 |director=15 |writer=25 |airdate=15 |episodes=
{{Episode list
| EpisodeNumber = 14
| EpisodeNumber2 = 1
| Title = Bullseye
| DirectedBy =
| WrittenBy =
| OriginalAirDate = {{start date|1976|9|22}}
| ShortSummary = A trigger-happy cop forces Bumper into an all-out battle by endangering a valuable informer.
| LineColor = 0000A0
}}
{{Episode list
| EpisodeNumber = 15
| EpisodeNumber2 = 2
| Title = A Slight Case of Murder
| DirectedBy =
| WrittenBy =
| OriginalAirDate = {{start date|1976|9|29}}
| ShortSummary = Police machinery is hard to stop when evidence points to an old wino as a cop killer.
| LineColor = 0000A0
}}
{{Episode list
| EpisodeNumber = 16
| EpisodeNumber2 = 3
| Title = Upward Mobility
| DirectedBy =
| WrittenBy =
| OriginalAirDate = {{start date|1976|10|13}}
| ShortSummary = Bumper stirs up trouble on his beat when he tries to steer a young girl into a safer life.
| LineColor = 0000A0
}}
{{Episode list
| EpisodeNumber = 17
| EpisodeNumber2 = 4
| Title = The Rose and the Gun
| DirectedBy =
| WrittenBy =
| OriginalAirDate = {{start date|1976|10|20}}
| ShortSummary = An overeager young cop shoots and kills a suspect, then hints that Bumper was afraid to fire.
| LineColor = 0000A0
}}
{{Episode list
| EpisodeNumber = 18
| EpisodeNumber2 = 5
| Title = Everything in Life is 3 to 1 Against
| DirectedBy =
| WrittenBy =
| OriginalAirDate = Unaired
| ShortSummary = A retired cop is heavily in debt to a bookmaker Bumper has doggedly tried to shut down.
| LineColor = 0000A0
}}
{{Episode list
| EpisodeNumber = 19
| EpisodeNumber2 = 6
| Title = A Matter of Justice
| DirectedBy =
| WrittenBy =
| OriginalAirDate = Unaired
| ShortSummary = Defying Bumper's warning about taking the law into his own hands, a vigilante goes after a band of hoodlum-robbers who raped his daughter.
| LineColor = 0000A0
}}
{{Episode list
| EpisodeNumber = 20
| EpisodeNumber2 = 7
| Title = Great Wall of Chinatown
| DirectedBy =
| WrittenBy =
| OriginalAirDate = Unaired
| ShortSummary = Bumper investigates the shooting death of a Chinese gang leader
| LineColor = 0000A0
}}
{{Episode list
| EpisodeNumber = 21
| EpisodeNumber2 = 8
| Title = Point of View
| DirectedBy =
| WrittenBy =
| OriginalAirDate = Unaired
| ShortSummary = Bumper goes back to the Police Academy to take a course designed to update veterans in modern techniques. An ex-con has a job, but an informer says he is in on plans for a big robbery.
| LineColor = 0000A0
}}
{{Episode list
| EpisodeNumber = 22
| EpisodeNumber2 = 9
| Title = Throwaway
| DirectedBy =
| WrittenBy =
| OriginalAirDate = Unaired
| ShortSummary = Bumper is relieved from duty while officials investigate his fatal shooting of a hood.
| LineColor = 0000A0
}}
{{Episode list
| EpisodeNumber = 23
| EpisodeNumber2 = 10
| Title = Death Echo
| DirectedBy =
| WrittenBy =
| OriginalAirDate = Unaired
| ShortSummary = Bumper tells down-and-out bum Joey to stop disturbing the police when he keeps confessing that he is the one responsible for raping and murdering four women. But when Joey begins to give details which only the cops and the murderer know, Bumper realizes that Joey has become the sounding-board for a maniac.
| LineColor = 0000A0
}}
}}
References
{{Reflist}}
- [https://books.google.com/books?id=AKlgjBCPPnsC&dq=The+Blue+Knight+george+kennedy&pg=PA53 Encyclopedia of Television Series, Pilots and Specials: 1974-1984 Written by Vincent Terrace]
- [https://books.google.com/books?id=_6VkAAAAMAAJ&q=The+Blue+Knight+george+kennedy Television detective shows of the 1970s: credits, storylines, and episode guides for 109 series by David Martindale]
External links
- {{IMDb title|id=0072478}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Blue Knight (TV series), The}}
Category:1975 American television series debuts
Category:1976 American television series endings
Category:1970s American crime drama television series
Category:American English-language television shows
Category:Fictional portrayals of the Los Angeles Police Department
Category:Television shows based on American novels
Category:Television series by Lorimar Television