The Lineup (TV series)

The Lineup
Marshall Reed as Fred Asher and Donna Martel
Also known as	''San Francisco Beat''
Genre	Police drama
Written by	E. Jack Neuman Sidney Marshall Joseph Petracca
Directed by	William Asher Earl Bellamy Seymour Berns Thomas Carr Paul Henreid Hollingsworth Morse Don Siegel Harold D. Schuster
Starring	Warner Anderson Tom Tully
Country of origin	United States
Original language(s)	English
No. of seasons	6
No. of episodes	190
Production
Producer(s)	Cecil Baker Jaime Del Valle Robert Sparks
Running time	30 mins. (1954-1959) 60 mins. (1960)
Release
Original network	CBS
Picture format	Black-and-white
Audio format	Monaural
Original release	October 1, 1954 – January 20, 1960

The Lineup is an American police drama which aired on CBS radio from 1950 to 1953 and on CBS television from 1954 to 1960.

Syndicated reruns of the series were broadcast under the title San Francisco Beat.

Radio

The radio version depicted the investigations of Lieutenant Ben Guthrie (played by Bill Johnstone, one of several actors to play The Shadow on radio) and Sergeant Matt Greb (played by Wally Maher until his death on December 27, 1951), later replaced by Sergeant Pete Carger (played by Jack Moyles), detectives in the police force of an unnamed "great American city."

Television

The television version was set specifically in San Francisco and was produced with the cooperation of the San Francisco Police Department, which received a credit at the close of each episode. It starred Warner Anderson as Guthrie and Tom Tully as Grebb. Grebb was now an inspector instead of a sergeant because at the time the series was made there was no such rank as sergeant in the Bureau of Inspectors, SFPD's investigative division, and a full inspector was the closest equivalent to the generic detective sergeant the character had been on radio. The TV version, a CBS Television production, was filmed on location, using Desilu's production facilities. In the final season, the show expanded to an hour, and the Grebb character was replaced by a number of younger officers, including Policewoman Sandy McAllister (played by Rachel Ames).^[1] Others in the cast were Jan Brooks, Bob Palmer, Skip Ward, William Leslie, Tod Burton, Marshall Reed, and Ruta Lee. The announcer was Art Gilmore.^[2]

The Lineup was a Top 20 Nielsen ratings hit for 3 of its six seasons during its original network run. The series finished at #17 in the Nielsen ratings for the 1955-1956 season, at #16 for 1956-1957 and at #18 for 1957-1958.^[3] It received an Emmy nomination for Best Action or Adventure Series in 1956.^[4]

Guest stars

• Russ Conway appeared in "The Robert Avery Case" (1957) and "The Missing Cargo Case" (1958).
• Walter Coy appeared in "The Murdered Blonde Case" (May 8, 1959).
• Ron Hagerthy appeared in "The Toy Tiger Case" and then as John Oakhurst in "The Security Officer Case" (1957).
• Rodolfo Hoyos, Jr. guest starred as Luis Gonzalez in "The Reluctant Addict Case" (1957).
• Douglas Kennedy appeared in "The Charles Cleveland Case" (1959) and "The Drugstore Cowgirl Case" (1959).
• Joyce Meadows appeared as Paula Adams in "The Boylston Billing Case" (1959).
• Nan Leslie was cast three times, in "The Chick Madison Case" (1958) and "The Pigeon Drop Case" and "The Girls and Guns Case (both 1959).

Film version

The film The Lineup, based on the series, was released in 1958 by Columbia Pictures, with Eli Wallach in the starring role. It was directed by Don Siegel, who had also directed "The Paisley Gang", the pilot episode of the television series.

References

1. Aaker, Everett (2006). Encyclopedia of Early Television Crime Fighters. McFarland & Company, Inc. ISBN 978-0-7864-6409-8. Pp. 13-14.
2. Terrace, Vincent (2011). Encyclopedia of Television Shows, 1925 through 2010. McFarland & Company, Inc. ISBN 978-0-7864-6477-7. P. 608.
3. "ClassicTVHits.com: TV Ratings".
4. "The Line-Up".

External links

• The Lineup at the Internet Movie Database
• The Lineup at TV.com