The Lieutenant
{{Short description|American television series}}
{{about||the 1975 rock opera|The Lieutenant (musical)|the 2008 novel by Kate Grenville|The Lieutenant (novel)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2025}}
{{Infobox television
| image = The Lieutenant Series, Part 1.jpg
| caption = Cover of Part 1 of the Complete Series DVD
| runtime = 60 minutes
| creator = Gene Roddenberry
| starring = Gary Lockwood
Robert Vaughn
John Milford
Henry Beckman
Richard Anderson
Don Penny
Carmen Phillips
Steve Franken
| country = United States
| language = English
| executive_producer =
| company = Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Television
| network = NBC
| opentheme =
| composer = Jeff Alexander
Arthur Morton
Lyn Murray
Harry Sukman
| camera =
| first_aired = {{Start date|1963|9|14}}
| last_aired = {{End date|1964|4|18}}
| num_episodes = 29
| num_seasons = 1
}}
The Lieutenant is an American television series, the first created by Gene Roddenberry. An hour-long drama, it aired on NBC on Saturday evenings in the 1963–1964 television schedule. It was produced by Arena Productions, one of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's most successful in-house production companies of the 1960s. Situated at U.S. Marine Corps base Camp Pendleton in California, The Lieutenant focuses on enlisted Marines and officers in peacetime with a Cold War backdrop. The title character is Second Lieutenant William Tiberius Rice, a rifle platoon leader and one of the camp's training instructors.
The series involved a number of actors well known for their other roles, including several who would later appear in Roddenberry's more well known work, Star Trek. The central character—whose middle name would be shared with the character James T. Kirk—was played by Gary Lockwood, who was featured in the second Star Trek pilot "Where No Man Has Gone Before".
Synopsis
Gary Lockwood stars as USMC second lieutenant William Tiberius Rice, a recent graduate of the United States Naval Academy who is assigned his first command, that of a rifle platoon. Rice is a young, educated idealist who still has much to learn from an older mentor. Robert Vaughn played Captain Raymond Rambridge, Rice's company commander, an up-from-the-ranks officer. Richard Anderson, remembered for playing Oscar Goldman in The Six Million Dollar Man and The Bionic Woman, had a recurring role as battalion commander Lieutenant Colonel Steve Hiland. Linda Evans, later known for her roles on The Big Valley and as Krystle Carrington in Dynasty, appeared in several early episodes as Colonel Hiland's daughter Nan, who flirted with Rice. The series focused primarily on Rice's various assignments as a junior officer, which often involved special details or difficult situations. Several of the later episodes featured Rice becoming an undercover investigator with military intelligence, allowing for plots and scenarios which Rice would otherwise not be involved with as a second lieutenant.
Production and broadcast
The episode "To Set It Right" drew attention for its handling of contemporary race issues. It featured a black Marine portrayed by Don Marshall, with Dennis Hopper as a racist white Marine; Nichelle Nichols appeared as the black Marine's fiancée, in her television debut. The U.S. Defense Department, which provided the studio with free production assistance for the series, objected to the unflattering portrayal of racism in the Corps, which reportedly led to production being canceled.{{cite book |last=Robb |first=Brian J. |title=A Brief Guide to Star Trek |publisher=Robinson |year=2012 |isbn=978-1-849-01514-1 |location=London |pages=85}}
{{cite book |last1=Gross |first1=Edward |title=The Fifty-Year Mission: Volume One: The First 25 Years |last2=Altman |first2=Marc |publisher=Thomas Dunne Books/St. Martin's Press |year=2016 |isbn=978-1-25006-584-1 |location=New York |pages=62}} Although some sources say the episode was never broadcast,{{cite web |last=Barbrick|first=Greg|title=The Lieutenant The Complete Series Part Two DVD Review: Gene Roddenberry Sows the Seeds of Star Trek|url=http://cinemasentries.com/review/the-lieutenant-the-complete-series-part-two-dvd-review-gene-roddenberry-sows-the-seeds-of-star-trek/ |website=Cinema Sentries|date=7 September 2012 |access-date=19 September 2015}}{{cite web|url=http://www.paleycenter.org/collection/item/?q=john&p=423&item=T78:0377 |title=LIEUTENANT, THE: TO SET IT RIGHT (TV)|publisher=The Paley Center for Media|access-date=1 September 2013}} NBC scheduled it for February 22, 1964, and it was carried in at least some markets;{{cite web |title=Saturday, Feb. 22 |date=February 15, 1964 |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-cincinnati-post/124334954/ |website=www.newspapers.com |publisher=The Cincinnati Post |access-date=9 May 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230130044345/https://www.newspapers.com/image/763207437/?terms=%22the%20lieutenant%22%20%22dennis%20hopper%22&match=1 |archive-date=January 30, 2023 |language=en |url-status=live}}{{cite news |title=Tonight's Television |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/887931152/?terms=%22the%20lieutenant%22&match=1 |newspaper=The Tulsa Tribune |date=February 22, 1964 |access-date=9 May 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230130044333/https://www.newspapers.com/image/887931152/?terms=%22the%20lieutenant%22&match=1 |archive-date=January 30, 2023 |language=en |url-status=live}}{{cite news |title=Best Bet: 'The Defenders' Sheds Light on Addiction |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-state/124335338/ |newspaper=The State |date=February 22, 1964 |access-date=9 May 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230130044344/https://www.newspapers.com/image/749748631/?terms=%22the%20lieutenant%22&match=1 |archive-date=January 30, 2023 |language=en |url-status=live}} Variety ran a review of the episode two days later.{{cite magazine|magazine=variety|title=Reaction, Telepix Followup, THE LIEUTENANT ("To Set it Right")|date=February 24, 1964|page=8}}
After its original broadcast, The Lieutenant was sparsely rerun in syndication, as its run had not been long enough for episodes to be stripped in daily broadcasts. In 2016, digital subchannel network GetTV aired The Lieutenant on Wednesday evenings at 8 p.m. Eastern Time in a block of four episodes, not following the original airdate order.
The series was released on DVD in two half-season sets by the Warner Archive Collection in 2012.{{cite web |last=Lambert |first=David |title=The Lieutenant DVD news: Announcement for The Complete Series, Part 1 and The Complete Series, Part 2 {{!}} TVShowsOnDVD.com |url=http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/news/Lieutenant-The-Complete-Series/17367 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120818122946/http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/news/Lieutenant-The-Complete-Series/17367 |archive-date=18 August 2012 |access-date=15 August 2012}} This release includes a feature film version of the episode "To Kill a Man" that was released in international markets.
Cast members
=Regulars=
- Gary Lockwood – Second Lieutenant William Tiberius Rice
- Robert Vaughn – Captain Raymond Rambridge
- John Milford – Sergeant Kagey
- Henry Beckman – Major Al Barker
- Richard Anderson – Lieutenant Colonel Steve Hiland
- Don Penny – Lieutenant Stanley Harris
- Chuck Haren – Corporal Sandow
- Carmen Phillips – Lily
- Steve Franken – Lieutenant Samwell 'Sanpan' Panosian
- Chris Noel – a regular female cast member, who played various characters
Vaughn received the same compensation as Lockwood, even though he was usually in only one scene per episode.{{citation needed|date=December 2012}} Vaughn asked both MGM Television and Norman Felton (under whose Arena Productions banner The Lieutenant was being produced) for his own series during the run of The Lieutenant. The result was The Man from U.N.C.L.E., which began the next season and proved to be highly successful.
=Guest stars=
Later Star Trek regulars Majel Barrett (who later married Roddenberry), Leonard Nimoy, Nichelle Nichols, and Walter Koenig appeared as guest stars. So did Ricardo Montalbán, who played recurring Star Trek antagonist Khan Noonien Singh. Other Star Trek actors included Paul Comi (appearing in the Star Trek episode "Balance of Terror")Asherman, Allan, "The Star Trek Compendium". Pocket Books, New York (1993) and veteran actor James Gregory ("Dagger of the Mind").
Other guest stars include Rip Torn as a drill instructor, Ted Knight as a yeoman, Vic Tayback as a Marine Corps sentry, veteran character actor Denver Pyle as a Marine Corps major, Eddie Albert, Jack Albertson, Edward Asner, Barbara Babcock, Barbara Bain, Ina Balin, Marian Collier, Russ Conway, Dennis Cross, Robert Karnes, Paul Newlan, Gregg Palmer, Joe Ploski, Penny Santon, Tom Simcox, Ray Teal, and Kelly Thordsen.
Episodes
class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="width:100%; margin-auto;" |
style="color:white"
! scope="col" style="background-color:#006400;"| Nº ! scope="col" style="background-color:#006400;"| Title ! scope="col" style="background-color:#006400;"| Directed by ! scope="col" style="background-color:#006400;"| Written by ! scope="col" style="background-color:#006400;"| Original air date {{Episode list | EpisodeNumber = 1 | Title = A Million Miles from Clary | DirectedBy = Don Medford | WrittenBy = Ed Waters | OriginalAirDate = {{start date|1963|9|14}} | ShortSummary = Platoon morale is threatened when an easygoing enlisted man (Bill Bixby) uses his friendship with Rice to gain favors. | LineColor = 006400 }} {{Episode list | EpisodeNumber = 2 | Title = Cool of the Evening | DirectedBy = Robert Gist | WrittenBy = Sheldon Stark | OriginalAirDate = {{start date|1963|9|21}} | ShortSummary = Rice goes to the aid of a dishonest young woman (Kathryn Hays) when he hears her scream in a dark alley, but then finds himself facing serious charges. | LineColor = 006400 }} {{Episode list | EpisodeNumber = 3 | Title = The Proud and the Angry | DirectedBy = Andrew McLaglen | WrittenBy = Jerome B. Thomas | OriginalAirDate = {{start date|1963|9|28}} | ShortSummary = Rice goes undercover at a boot camp as a private to investigate charges that Sgt. Karl Kasten (Rip Torn) is brutal in his training of new recruits. | LineColor = 006400 }} {{Episode list | EpisodeNumber = 4 | Title = The Two Star Giant | DirectedBy = Richard Donner | WrittenBy = Beirne Lay, Jr. | OriginalAirDate = {{start date|1963|10|5}} | ShortSummary = Rice is mistakenly assigned as an aide to General Stone (Neville Brand) just as the general is ordered to Washington to defend his policies at a Senate hearing. | LineColor = 006400 }} {{Episode list | EpisodeNumber = 5 | Title = A Very Private Affair | DirectedBy = Buzz Kulic | WrittenBy = Gene Roddenberry | OriginalAirDate = {{start date|1963|10|12}} | ShortSummary = Pilot episode: 2ndLt. William T. Rice reports for his first assignment, and is forced to choose between winning the confidence of his new platoon by overlooking a fight or revealing the truth to Capt. Raymond Rambridge. | LineColor = 006400 }} {{Episode list | EpisodeNumber = 6 | Title = To Take Up Serpents | DirectedBy = Andrew V. Mclaglen | WrittenBy = Jay Simms | OriginalAirDate = {{start date|1963|10|19}} | ShortSummary = Rice is assigned to an air base for training and comes to the realization that he has a fear of flying. | LineColor = 006400 }} {{Episode list | EpisodeNumber = 7 | Title = A Touching of Hands | DirectedBy = Don Medford | WrittenBy = Sy Salkowitz | OriginalAirDate = {{start date|1963|10|26}} | ShortSummary = Rice offers sympathy to the lonely wife of a fellow officer (Ina Balin), but soon finds himself the subject of malicious gossip. | LineColor = 006400 }} {{Episode list | EpisodeNumber = 8 | Title = Captain Thomson | DirectedBy = Leon Benson | WrittenBy = Sheldon Stark | OriginalAirDate = {{start date|1963|11|2}} | ShortSummary = A gruff and tactless guerilla warfare instructor (Paul Burke) makes impossible demands on his trainees. | LineColor = 006400 }} {{Episode list | EpisodeNumber = 9 | Title = Instant Wedding | DirectedBy = David Alexander | WrittenBy = Ellis Marcus | OriginalAirDate = {{start date|1963|11|9}} | ShortSummary = Rice tries to protect a fellow officer's girlfriend from the romantic attentions of a Navy officer. | LineColor = 006400 }} {{Episode list | EpisodeNumber = 10 | Title = A Troubled Image | DirectedBy = Don Medford | WrittenBy = Herman Groves | OriginalAirDate = {{start date|1963|11|16}} | ShortSummary = Rice trains a group of Vietnamese combat officers and finds one of them is a beautiful woman. | LineColor = 006400 }} {{Episode list | EpisodeNumber = 11 | Title = Fall from a White Horse | DirectedBy = John Brahm | WrittenBy = George Eckstein | OriginalAirDate = {{start date|1963|11|30}} | ShortSummary = Rice is asked to provide legal defense by a fellow Marine officer (Andrew Prine) who is accused in a hit-and-run accident and is in danger of being court-martialed. | LineColor = 006400 }} {{Episode list | EpisodeNumber = 12 | Title = Alert! | DirectedBy = Don Taylor | WrittenBy = Lee Erwin | OriginalAirDate = {{start date|1963|12|14}} | ShortSummary = Rice falls in love with a business executive's daughter (Sharon Farrell) who gives him an ultimatum of either leaving the Marine Corps or breaking off the relationship. | LineColor = 006400 }} {{Episode list | EpisodeNumber = 13 | Title = The Art of Discipline | DirectedBy = Arnold Butler | WrittenBy = Archie L. Tegland | OriginalAirDate = {{start date|1963|12|21}} | ShortSummary = Rice loses control of his new platoon when he relaxes discipline to win friends. | LineColor = 006400 }} {{Episode list | EpisodeNumber = 14 | Title = The Alien | DirectedBy = Michael O'Herlihy | WrittenBy = {{StoryTeleplay|s= George Eckstein|t= "Robert Wesley"}} | OriginalAirDate = {{start date|1963|12|28}} | ShortSummary = Rambridge conducts a double courtship in an effort to marry a stewardess (Madlyn Rhue) as quickly as possible in order to adopt a Korean orphan. | LineColor = 006400 }} {{Episode list | EpisodeNumber = 15 | Title = O'Rourke | DirectedBy = E. W. Swackhammer | WrittenBy = Jay Simms | OriginalAirDate = {{start date|1964|1|4}} | ShortSummary = A famous author (Eddie Albert) decides to prove the contemporary Marine Corps is far less effective than it was during World War II. | LineColor = 006400 }} {{Episode list | EpisodeNumber = 16 | Title = Gone the Sun | DirectedBy = James Goldstone | WrittenBy = Robert Dozier | OriginalAirDate = {{start date|1964|1|18}} | ShortSummary = Returning to his hometown while escorting a dead soldier, Rice is blamed for the death of a Marine during maneuvers by the parents of the deceased man, and connects with the beautiful sister (Sherry Jackson) of a friend. Strother Martin plays a taxi driver. | LineColor = 006400 }} {{Episode list | EpisodeNumber = 17 | Title = Between Music and Laughter | DirectedBy = Vincent McEveety | WrittenBy = Sy Salkowitz | OriginalAirDate = {{start date|1964|1|25}} | ShortSummary = A party girl (Patricia Crowley) asks Rice to help her win back the affections of her ex-husband, Captain Rambridge. | LineColor = 006400 }} {{Episode list | EpisodeNumber = 18 | Title = Interlude | DirectedBy = Richard Donner | WrittenBy = {{StoryTeleplay|s= Robert E. Thompson|t= Paul Schneider & Margaret Schneider}} | OriginalAirDate = {{start date|1964|2|1}} | ShortSummary = Rice's career in the Marine Corps is threatened when he is paralyzed in an automobile accident, but he finds love during his rehabilitation with a woman (Joanna Moore) dying of a brain tumor. | LineColor = 006400 }} {{Episode list | EpisodeNumber = 19 | Title = Capp's Lady | DirectedBy = David Alexander | WrittenBy = Robert J. Shaw | OriginalAirDate = {{start date|1964|2|8}} | ShortSummary = Rice makes an effort to warn Sgt. Horace Capp (James Gregory) that the woman he plans to marry has both a notorious reputation and a police record. | LineColor = 006400 }} {{Episode list | EpisodeNumber = 20 | Title = Green Water Green Flag | DirectedBy = Leon Benson | WrittenBy = Sy Salkowitz | OriginalAirDate = {{start date|1964|2|15}} | ShortSummary = Rice meets Lt. Joe Worth, an old adversary just when he is suddenly given command of important maneuvers due to Rambridge's appendicitis. | LineColor = 006400 }} {{Episode list | EpisodeNumber = 21 | Title = To Set It Right | DirectedBy = Vincent McEveety | WrittenBy = Lee Erwin | OriginalAirDate = N/A | ShortSummary = Rice tries to play peacemaker when he has to resolve a racial dispute between two young members (Dennis Hopper and Don Marshall) of his platoon. Nichelle Nichols plays the black soldier's fiancee. | LineColor = 006400 }} {{Episode list | EpisodeNumber = 22 | Title = In the Highest Tradition | DirectedBy = Marc Daniels | WrittenBy = Blanche Hanalis | OriginalAirDate = {{start date|1964|2|29}} | ShortSummary = Rice is assigned as a technical advisor with a film crew making a movie about a Marine lieutenant in World War II. Leonard Nimoy plays a Hollywood producer and actor. Majel Barrett plays Nimoy's assistant. | LineColor = 006400 }} {{Episode list | EpisodeNumber = 23 | Title = Tour of Duty | DirectedBy = Andrew V. McLaughlin | WrittenBy = Art Wallace | OriginalAirDate = {{start date|1964|3|7}} | ShortSummary = A Marine (Ricardo Montalbán) returns from overseas and learns that his wife was killed while riding with another man, then takes advantage of Rice's sympathies. | LineColor = 006400 }} {{Episode list | EpisodeNumber = 24 | Title = Lament for a Dead Goldbrick | DirectedBy = Robert Butler | WrittenBy = Sy Salkowitz | OriginalAirDate = {{start date|1964|3|14}} | ShortSummary = A newspaper reporter (Robert Duvall) writing an exposé of Marine training methods holds Rice responsible for the accidental death of a Marine. | LineColor = 006400 }} {{Episode list | EpisodeNumber = 25 | Title = Man with an Edge | DirectedBy = Vincent McEveety | WrittenBy = {{StoryTeleplay|s= Beirne Lay, Jr.|t= Beirne Lay, Jr. and Lee Erwin}} | OriginalAirDate = {{start date|1964|3|21}} | ShortSummary = Rice loses his girlfriend to a Naval Academy football All-American (Chad Everett), who also happens to be the nephew of the colonel. | LineColor = 006400 }} {{Episode list | EpisodeNumber = 26 | Title = Operation Actress | DirectedBy = Leonard Horn | WrittenBy = Robert J. Shaw | OriginalAirDate = {{start date|1964|3|28}} | ShortSummary = Rice is shocked when a conniving Hollywood actress (Leslie Parrish) announces that she is going to marry him. | LineColor = 006400 }} {{Episode list | EpisodeNumber = 27 | Title = Mother Enemy | DirectedBy = Vincent McEveety | WrittenBy = Robert J. Shaw | OriginalAirDate = {{start date|1964|4|4}} | ShortSummary = Rice recommends Sgt. John Delwyn (Walter Koenig) for officer's school, but then discovers that the man's mother is a leading member of the American Communist party. | LineColor = 006400 }} {{Episode list | EpisodeNumber = 28 | Title = The War Called Peace | DirectedBy = Andrew V. McLaughlin | WrittenBy = Anthony Wilson | OriginalAirDate = {{start date|1964|4|11}} | ShortSummary = Rice is assigned to run a surreptitious check on carelessness in security measures that has developed on a top-secret scientific project called "The War Called Peace." | LineColor = 006400 }} {{Episode list | EpisodeNumber = 29 | Title = To Kill a Man | DirectedBy = Vincent McEveety | WrittenBy = Gene Roddenberry | OriginalAirDate = {{start date|1964|4|18}} | ShortSummary = Rice is assigned to deliver top-secret military information to combat troops in Vietnam, but when his helicopter is shot down, he and a Vietnamese aide (James Shigeta) are forced to fight their way back. A feature-film version of this episode was released internationally, though not in the United States. | LineColor = 006400 }} |
In other media
Dell Comics published a single issue tie-in comic book.[http://www.mikesamazingworld.com/main/features/series.php?seriesid=8103 The Lieutenant]
Transogram published a board game based on the series in 1963.[https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/29468/lieutenant The Lieutenant ]
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- {{IMDb title|0056771}}
{{Gene Roddenberry}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lieutenant, The}}
Category:1963 American television series debuts
Category:1964 American television series endings
Category:American military television series
Category:Black-and-white American television shows
Category:NBC television dramas
Category:Television shows about the United States Marine Corps
Category:Television series by MGM Television