Underplayed Gems

The Men (1970)

The Men poster
Country
United States
The 3D catalogue: film cases on wooden shelves, with the cat sitting at the counter next to its greeting.

The catalogue in 3D

The film shelves have a room of their own that you can walk around in. The cat behind the counter is the AI Catbot, and they pick real films from the same catalogue when you tell them what you feel like watching. Nothing is for sale, here or in there. Go in from here and this series is already out on the counter, with more like it waiting on the shelf next to it.

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How it feels

This 1970s TV series is a rotating block of three crime and adventure shows. Each one follows a tough hero who works alone on important cases. The series shifted its schedule but did not succeed in the ratings.

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What happens

The Men was an umbrella title for three crime/adventure dramas aired in the United States by ABC as part of its 1972-73 lineup. The Men comprised Assignment Vienna, Jigsaw, and The Delphi Bureau. The common element in each of those hour-long series was that its hero was a rugged individualist, working essentially alone with little or no supervision on matters of vital significance. The series' stars, respectively, were Robert Conrad, James Wainwright, and Laurence Luckinbill. The program originally aired on Thursday nights, with each element appearing in a regular rotation, every third week. But when The Men was moved to Saturday nights, in January 1973, the elements began to be aired with several episodes of the same one appearing in consecutive weeks. Unlike the similar NBC Mystery Movie wheel, the elements of The Men all came from different TV studios—Assignment Vienna, Jigsaw, and The Delphi Bureau were respectively produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Television, Universal Television (the same studio behind the Mystery Movie), and Warner Bros. Television. While the series was a failure in the Nielsen TV ratings, its theme song—composed and recorded by Isaac Hayes—was a minor R&B hit. (A disco version of that theme was recorded by Joe Bataan in 1976 and a smooth jazz version was recorded by Gerald Albright in 2008.) (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

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