Underplayed Gems

San Francisco International Airport (1970)

San Francisco International Airport poster
Genre
drama
Country
United States
Length
1 season, 7 episodes
Rating
7.0 of 10 from 1 voters
Elsewhere
IMDb
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 series follows the manager of a major airport and his security chief as they handle real life problems like protests and equipment failures. It focuses on their daily work managing the busy airport.

professionalgroundedseriouslow-keydatedproceduralmatter of fact

What happens

San Francisco International Airport is a television drama that was originally aired in the United States by NBC as a part of its 1970–71 wheel series Four in One. The series starred Lloyd Bridges as Jim Conrad, the manager of the gigantic San Francisco International Airport, which at the time of the series aired was said to handle more than 15,000,000 passengers annually and have roughly 35,000 employees. Bob Hatten (Clu Gulager) was his chief of security, an important role at a time when security was beginning to emerge as a real-life major issue in air transport. June (Barbara Werle) was Conrad's secretary. Airport situations drawn from real life were addressed, such as protesting demonstrators, mechanical malfunctions, and similar problems. The pilot, also called San Francisco International Airport or simply San Francisco International, had aired as a TV movie and starred Pernell Roberts in the role of Jim Conrad. The network ordered six series episodes, but only with the stipulation that Bridges play the role instead of Roberts. San Francisco International Airport was the second program in the Four in One rotation, after McCloud. The six episodes were first shown in succession from late October until early December 1970 and were then replaced in the Wednesday night 10 pm Eastern time slot by Night Gallery. Once Night Gallery and The Psychiatrist had completed their first runs, episodes of all four series were rerun interspersed with one another. Night Gallery was picked up for the next season as a stand-alone series and McCloud was renewed as an element in a new wheel series, NBC Mystery Movie, but San Francisco International Airport and The Psychiatrist were cancelled, with no more episodes ordered beyond the initial six. The pilot, starring Roberts, received mediocre reviews and was largely forgotten for years, but it was eventually rescued from obscurity by becoming the subject of a sixth-season episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000 in 1994. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

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