The Defenders (1961 TV series)

The Defenders is an American courtroom drama series that ran on CBS from 1961 to 1965. It was created by television writer Reginald Rose. Original music for the series was scored by Frank Lewin and Leonard Rosenman. This series is not related to the 2010s CBS series of the same name.

The Defenders
Title card
Created by	Reginald Rose
Starring	E. G. Marshall Robert Reed Joan Hackett Polly Rowles
Theme music composer	Leonard Rosenman
Country of origin	United States
No. of seasons	4
No. of episodes	132 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producer	Herbert Brodkin
Producers	Bob Markell George Justin
Production locations	Filmways Studios, New York City[1]
Editor	Lyman Hallowell
Camera setup	Single-camera
Running time	45–48 minutes
Production companies	Plautus Productions Defender Productions CBS Television Network
Distributor	CBS Television Distribution
Release
Original network	CBS
Picture format	Black-and-white
Audio format	Monaural
Original release	September 16, 1961 – May 13, 1965

Plot

It starred E. G. Marshall and Robert Reed as father-and-son defense attorneys who specialized in legally complex cases, with defendants such as neo-Nazis, conscientious objectors, demonstrators of the Civil Rights Movement, a schoolteacher fired for being an atheist, an author accused of pornography, and a physician charged in a mercy killing.[1]

Cast

E.G. Marshall and Robert Reed

• E. G. Marshall as Lawrence Preston
• Robert Reed as Kenneth Preston
• Polly Rowles as Helen Donaldson (1961–1962)
• Joan Hackett as Joan Miller (1961–1962)

Episodes

Season		Episodes		Originally aired
				First aired	Last aired
	1	32		September 16, 1961	May 26, 1962
	2	34		September 15, 1962	May 25, 1963
	3	36		September 28, 1963	June 27, 1964
	4	30		September 24, 1964	May 13, 1965

Production

Development

The series was a slight reworking of Rose's 1957 two-part drama, The Defender, from the anthology series Studio One. In the original program, Ralph Bellamy played the father and William Shatner played his son. Shatner guest-starred in various roles in the later series, and the original drama later was incorporated into an episode of his series, Boston Legal.

According to creator Reginald Rose, "the law is the subject of our programs: not crime, not mystery, not the courtroom for its own sake. We were never interested in producing a 'who-done-it' which simply happened to be resolved each week in a flashy courtroom battle of wits."[1] And unlike Perry Mason, which also ran on CBS, victory was "far from certain on The Defenders—as were morality and justice."[1]

Topics featured in the series included abortion, capital punishment, "no-knock" searches, custody rights of adoptive parents, the insanity defense, the "poisoned fruit doctrine", immigration quotas, the Hollywood blacklist, jury nullification, and Cold War visa restrictions.[1]

Writers for the show included Rose in many early episodes, with later episodes by Albert "Al" Ruben and Ernest Kinoy – both Jewish Americans holding socially liberal views.[2]

Controversial episodes

A 1962 episode entitled "The Benefactor"—in which the father–son legal team defended an abortionist—was the most controversial; all of the series' three regular advertisers (Brown & Williamson, Lever Brothers and Kimberly-Clark) refused to sponsor the episode, so it was only transmitted after a last-minute sponsor was found, [Speidel Watches], for a discounted advertising rate.[3] In 2008, this incident was used as the basis for a second season episode of the drama Mad Men, set in the 1960s.

The December 7, 1963 episode, "Climate of Evil," was originally titled "The Gentle Assassin", but was changed two weeks earlier in the aftermath of the John F. Kennedy assassination. In addition, the January 4, 1964 episode, "Clare Cheval Died in Boston", was originally scheduled for the weekend of the assassination, and subsequently had reference to "President Kennedy" deleted from the episode.

Broadcast history

Note: The most frequent time slot for the series is in bold text.

• Saturday at 8:30–9:30 p.m. on CBS: September 16, 1961 – May 25, 1963; November 30, 1963 – June 27, 1964
• Saturday at 9:00–10:00 p.m. on CBS: September 28 – November 16, 1963
• Thursday at 10:00–11:00 p.m. on CBS: September 24, 1964 – May 13, 1965

Reception

Awards

The Defenders won 13 Emmy Awards (including three in a row for Outstanding Drama Series) and received an additional seven nominations.

Year	Result	Category	Who	Episode
1962	Awarded	Outstanding Continued Performance by a Lead Actor in a Series	E. G. Marshall
		Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Drama	Franklin J. Schaffner
		Outstanding Program Achievement in the Field of Drama
		Outstanding Writing Achievement in Drama	Reginald Rose
1963	Awarded	Outstanding Continued Performance by a Lead Actor in a Series	E. G. Marshall
		Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Drama	Stuart Rosenberg	"The Madman"
		Outstanding Program Achievement in the Field of Drama
		Outstanding Writing Achievement in Drama	Robert Thom Reginald Rose	"The Madman"
	Nominated	Outstanding Single Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role	Don Gordon (for playing "Joey Tassili")	"The Madman"
		Outstanding Single Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role	Sylvia Sidney (for playing "Adela")	"The Madman"
		Program of the Year		"The Madman"
1964	Awarded	Outstanding Program Achievement in the Field of Drama
		Outstanding Single Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role	Jack Klugman (for playing "Joe Larch")	"Blacklist"
		Outstanding Writing Achievement in Drama - Original	Ernest Kinoy	"Blacklist"
	Nominated	Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Drama	Paul Bogart	"Moment of Truth"
		Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Drama	Stuart Rosenberg	"Blacklist"
		The Program of the Year		"Blacklist"
1965	Awarded	Outstanding Individual Achievements in Entertainment - Directors	Paul Bogart	"The 700 Year Old Gang"
		Outstanding Individual Achievements in Entertainment - Writers	David Karp	"The 700 Year Old Gang"
	Nominated	Outstanding Program Achievements in Entertainment	Bob Markell

The Museum of Broadcast Communications called it "perhaps the most socially conscious series the medium has ever seen", a show "singularly resonant with New Frontier liberalism".[1]

In 2002, The Defenders was ranked #31 on TV Guide's 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time,[4] and in 2013 TV Guide ranked it #8 in its list of The 60 Greatest Dramas of All Time.[5]

Ratings

• 1961–1962: #26 (22.4)
• 1962–1963: #18 (23.9)
• 1963–1964: N/A
• 1964–1965: N/A

As a top 30 series, The Defenders has an average rating of 23.2.

Home media

On July 12, 2016, Shout! Factory released the complete first season on DVD in Region 1.

Sequel and spin-offs

The 1997 version

A re-envisioned version of the series debuted on the Showtime network in 1997. Still called The Defenders, it featured E. G. Marshall in his original role as Lawrence Preston. However, the three Showtime films focused on Beau Bridges as Don Preston, a previously unmentioned second son of Lawrence, and Martha Plimpton as M.J., the daughter of Ken Preston, Robert Reed's character, who is said to have died (as had Reed in 1992). Don and M.J. worked as lawyers and carried on the family legacy. However, Marshall died after completion of the second episode ("Choice of Evils"). Production was halted and the remaining episode, "Taking the First", aired as a movie special in 1998.

References in other media

The second season of Mad Men contains an episode named "The Benefactor" that featured a brief clip from The Defenders' episode of the same name.[6] In the Mad Men episode, the Sterling Cooper advertising agency is trying to secure sponsors for The Defenders' episode, which contains a plot involving abortion (originally telecast on April 28, 1962), after the regular sponsors pulled out because they claimed the episode (and subject matter) was too controversial. The episode also offers a fictional backstory for the episode; that it was written for the third season of the series but rejected by the network for the usage of abortion as a plotline. The following season, the writers produced a script that revolved around the theme of cannibalism but the episode was rejected by the director who was assigned to film the episode due to the content. The director's refusal led to the network being forced to film the abortion-centric script, which an executive assigned to find advertisers for the show proclaims was the plan all along.

References

1. Mark Alvey. "The Defenders: U.S. Legal Drama". Museum of Broadcast Communications. Retrieved 2009-09-30.
2. Buhle, Paul (2004). From the Lower East Side to Hollywood: Jews in American Popular Culture. Verso. p. 146. ISBN 9781859845981.
3. "The Defenders U.S. Legal Drama". Encyclopedia of Television. Museum Of Broadcast Communications. Retrieved 6 November 2014.
4. TV Guide Names Top 50 Shows
5. Roush, Matt (February 25, 2013). "Showstoppers: The 60 Greatest Dramas of All Time". TV Guide. pp. 16–17.
6. Episode 3: The Benefactor from the AMC TV network website

External links

• The Defenders at IMDb
• The Defenders at TV.com
• Finding aid to The Defenders scripts and papers at Columbia University. Rare Book & Manuscript Library.