What is Search?
When did Probe air?
Why was the pilot named Probe and the
series named Search?
Why was Search never rerun in the US?
Who were the main character/actors?
What does Probe stand for?
Why did the leads change every week?
There were 3 Probe sets, why? What were
the differences?
What's World Securities Corporation?
What's the difference between Probes,
Probe Control, Search and World Securities Corp?
Who's efforts were behind Search?
Did the Probes ever appear in the same
episodes?
What's the missing scene in the pilot?
What is the Search mailing discussion
list?
Why do we need to find other people with
Search scripts?
Search is an American television show that aired on NBC Wedensday nights at 10PM est from September 1972 to August 1973. A two hour tv movie/pilot and 23 one hour episodes were made. The premise of the show centered on Probe, a division of World Securities Corporation. Individuals, companies, governments would hire the Probe Division to "search and recover that which was missing." Probe's agents were equiped with miniturized television scanners, which transmitted picture, sound, medical telemetry and anything else the script writers could think of back to Probe Control, where computer specialists continuously monitored the agent's progress, and analyzed the information the scanner was transmitting. The scanners were small and round and had a magnetic back so they could attach to a ring, tie-tack, locket, or anything with a metal surface. That way the scanner appeared to be an exotic piece of jewelry. The agents also had a small audio receiver implanted behind the left ear, so they could hear sound transmitted from Probe Control. The Control personnel would link up to any data base, government or private, to retrieve information that would help the agent work the case. The agents also had a dental implant they could use to send
beep tones back to control (once for yes, twice for no or continuous for emergency) if the scanner were unavailable or if there were people present...as the agents did not reveal how they were wired for picture and sound if they could help it.
Probe, which was the title of the two hour pilot, aired in February, 1972. When it was rerun in August, 1972 the decision had been made to change the name of the show to Search, so new titles were made for the pilot, changing it's title to Search. Although the series has not run on American television since 1973 the pilot has, and it has run under the title Search.
Why was the pilot named Probe and the series named Search?
The answer to this question comes from series lead Angel Tompkins
(Gloria Harding): "The show was originally called "Probe"
and when the pilot was announced to air in the press there was
a local show back east that was already titled 'Probe' and the
guy threatened to sue if the series was aired under that title,
and he wouldn't sell the title. So the series name after much
conversation back and forth with the network and Leslie Stevens
(series creator) was changed to 'Search.'
During the Pilot presentation to the network, John Christopher
Strong III edited into the title shots a huge penis take off like
a missile to Mars with the title 'Probe' right behind it and fear
and laughter was heard in the network screening room as a joke.
I told the story to the NBC press when they had their big junket
for all their new series without blinking an eye, because I thought
it was funny (and innocent)and Tony Franciosa was with me because
he was being introduced (added) to the show of contract players
and he was embarrassed or speechless."
Why was Search never rerun in the US?
We don't have any answers to that. Usually for any series that ran for only a year the answer would be that there weren't enough episodes to make syndication worthwhile because if you ran it Monday through Friday, you would have run the show twice within two and a half months. Some hour long dramas, which had a special format or twist to them, that had a limited number of episodes made good weekend shows...running once a week on a Saturday or a Sunday (The Time Tunnel is such an example.) But this didn't happen with Search. Another technique studios would use is take some of the episodes and paste them together to make "tv-movies", which could be run in movie time slots. Time Tunnel and Battlestar Galactica are two examples of shows that had syndication life as tv shows, and were reedited into tv-movies (although this is a controversial thing to do in regards to the integrity of the original product.) But this was never done with Search. One thing we do know is a call to Warner Brothers a few years ago revealed that Search was classified for "Foreign Syndication Only" (non USA). There could be ownership or legal disputes that made US syndication impossible...at least back then. If we can get Warner Brothers to reexamine the issue, maybe it could now run in syndication, or on one of the speciality cable stations. If anyone out there has definite answers to this please let us know and we will put it here for all to see.
Who were the main character/actors?
Search had three rotating stars. Hugh O'Brian played agent Hugh Lockwood, whose designation was Probe One. He handled all types of cases that were not specifically crime/mob related. Tony Franciosa played agent Nick Bianco...designation Omega Probe. The Omega division specialized in criminal/organized crime cases. Doug McClure played agent C.R. Grover...designated Stand By Probe. He was called in if a last minute case or emergency required an agent to step in at a moment's notice. The C.R. stood for "Christopher Robin". Back at Control supervising the missions was V.C.R Cameron, played by Burgess Meredith. Cameron supervised the room full of computer/telemetry specialists, making sure the agents had
whatever they needed to solve the case, keep them from getting injured, and keep them from breaking too many of Probe Division's regulations (all of Probe's activities were recorded for the case record.) Quite a few people came and went as the technicians. Angel Tompkins played medical telemitrist Gloria Harding, who had a quick-witted attitude, as well as a personal relationship with Lockwood, and she would take delight in giving him grief, especially when he dealt with the women he would encounter on the cases. Albert Popwell played Griffin, who previously worked for the U.N, and could translate any language for the agents, break any code, or direct the agents in breaking any lock. Ginny Golden played data specialist Keach, Bryon Chung was Kuroda, A Martinez and Ron Castro played Carlos, Amy Farrel was medical specialist Murdock, Deanna Lund was medical specialist Linda Harte, Mary Frann was medical specialist Burnside, Cheryl Stopplemore played Miss Love (she went on to other things as Cheryl Ladd), Tom Hallic played Harris and Pamela Jones played Miss James. There are more people to list, and as we watch and rewatch the episodes, we will update this list. Also, we would love to hear from any of you who appeared on the show.
In the pilot, Lockwood explains that "Probe" stands for "Programmed Retrieval Operations." He puts off explaining what the B and E stand for, saying it's top secret. To the best of our knowledge, the B and E were never explained. Since the scene above was more of a light moment, it's possible series creator Leslie Stevens never came up with meanings for the B & E.
Why did the leads change every week?
Hugh O'Brian played Lockwood in the pilot. This was his return to series tv after a number of years (he was also a part owner of the show.) We don't have any definite sources as to why they decided to go with rotating leads for the series, although there was precedent for this. Tony Franciosa starred in the pilot for the Name Of The Game series. When the show went to series, it had three rotating leads, and Leslie Stevens worked on the show. He may have liked that set up (which made for a bigger variety of stories and styles) and always intended it for Search. Or it's possible Hugh O'Brian didn't want the grind of 12 hour days for 24 straight weeks, or a variety of other possibilities. If anybody out there knows for sure, please let us know.
There were 3 Probe sets, why? What were the differences?
The first one was in the pilot. The second (which was very similar to the first) was in the first 15 episodes. The third one covered the final eight episodes.
Leslie Stevens described Control as being dark, like a cockpit, with the personnel's faces lit up from their consoles. We see this in the first and second control sets. In the second set they used red lights aimed on the computer equipment to give a sense of darkness (which they didn't use on the first set.)
Stevens also wrote that in the background you could see other units working on other cases. Behind the row of tape banks you can see another unit, and even a free standing wall, which is supposed to be that other unit's main screen. When shooting across Cameron's left, in the direction of Keach, you can see yet other people and activity. At the end of the pilot, Lockwood puts the scanner in his pocket. In control we are looking diagonally from Cameron to Griffin and beyond, and in the distance we see yet another unit.
In the second set we see nothing behind the row of tape units except some flashing lights, probably there to break up the monotony of the blackness. On each end of the row of tape units there are two catycornered consoles with seats, facing away from us, and usually when the shot would include these consoles, they would have extras sitting in these places. These consoles had no flashing lights of any kind, and I suspect their facing away from us meant they were supposed to be the people working on other cases, because as far as I know, Cameron never addressed these people.
The first set had reel to reel standing machines that came up to about chin height on an average person. The second set had reel to reel standing machines that were taller, and more narrow.
The Probe screen was the same in the first two sets.
With more shooting time and budget, there were more varied shots of control in the pilot, which included the main screen photographed with the actors standing in front of it. In the pilot they did wide angle from above shots of control, and they had a free-standing wall in front that you could see the back of which was supposed to be the main screen. They did similar overhead shots in the second set, but they did not have a free-standing wall in front to represent the main screen.
The third set was a complete change from the format as Stevens created it. I have not come across any explanation as to why they did it, or the thinking that went behind it. The scripts dated November, 1972 and beyond all use the third set. So at some point within the first two months of the show airing, either the production staff, or the network, decided to make this change. (What is very interesting here is that it wasn't too long after this...maybe even some overlap...where Fred Harpman, who designed the
various Probe sets, created the Newscenter set which NBC used on their network new sets, as well as on their owned stations news sets...and the news sets looked very similar in lighting and design...especially the main screen...to the third Probe set.)
Where the first two sets had two rows of three people set up in front of the main screen, the third set had one row of three. The consoles were the same as used in the first two sets: Cameron's three sided console in the middle, the left sided console to his left, and the right sided console to his right.
The set was brightly lit, with the walls looking like white brick. This set was much smaller, with a definite "room" feel. The row of tape machines behind Cameron were eliminated altogether, and in the background you would see the front-sided-only consoles that were used in the previous two sets, scattered around the background, all facing forward. They were manned, and Cameron would bark orders at them. They even used the non-descript consoles from the second set in the background. In the
background there were technicians walking back and fourth going to various machines that were not in any previous sets. There were also new standing flashing light banks that were not in the previous sets. They also had a few very short, squat reel to reel standing machines that were not in the previous sets.
They also made a change to the main screen. In the first two sets, the screen had rolling numbers to the upper right of the screen. In the third set, they replaced the numbers with rows of flashing, swirling lights (it looks like they took out the numbers and stuck the flashing lights up against the rectangular holes where the numbers had been.) In Moment of Madness, we can see that the rows of lights below the screen go down to the floor, like they did on the screen in the first set. With this special shot in MOM, the screen (not bathed in red like in the first two sets) is a white wall piece standing against the white brick of the set wall.
It is funny because by changing the set, they had to go and shoot new stock footage of hands pushing controls, and various shots of the screen, to use in the episodes. By doing this, they ended up reviving something they did in the pilot. In the pilot they had the head-on shots of the main screen, but they also had angled shots to show what it looked like from Keach's viewpoint, and Harding's etc. Watching one of the third set episodes they had an angle shot of the screen showing what it looked like from Miss James' position.
They had one closeup shot of the third set screen that back then, and now, for some reason looked like a miniture, rather then a closeup of a huge screen with flashing lights and images.
In the first two sets they shot from left to right, and from right to left, when needed and desired. In the third set they only shot from left to right, except for some straight on shots of Miss James. I cannot tell if they used multiple cameras during shooting of the third set, like they definitly did with the second set. To the best of my knowledge, they did not shoot right to left (where Harris would be in the foreground and Miss James in the background.) I suspect this was to eliminate the need to have a "fourth wall", which required more setup time...and thus more cost.
One of the things that has bugged most fans over the years has been the question as to why they changed the set. This is the biggest question we hope someone out there can answer for us.
What's World Securities Corporation?
World Securities Corporation is a firm that protects and insures banks, national treasures, art collections and the like. Probe Division is that part of the company that conducts investigations.
What's the difference between Probes, Probe Control, Search and World Securities Corp?
Probes are the agents who go out into the field and conduct the investigations. Probe Control is the physical area of the World Securities building where the investigations are monitored. Search is the name of the show, and had no meaning within the show itself (the organization was not called SEARCH, nor was there a "SEARCH Headquarters"...as the American TV Guide magazine tended to call it.) World Securities Corporation was the company that operated the Probe Division, which was the focus of the show. Unless for special circumstances, the agents would identify themselves as employees of World Securities, rather then as being from "Probe", which was not an entity in the public eye.
Who's efforts were behind Search?
Search was created by Leslie Stevens, who served as Executive Producer. Robert H. Justman line produced the first 15 episodes, and Anthony Spinner produced the last eight episodes. Dominic Frontiere composed the music.
Did the Probes ever appear in the same episodes?
The three leads only appeared in their own episodes. O'Brian and Franciosa each made eight, and McClure made seven. Probe had agents all over the world, and some episodes had other agents joining the leads in whatever the case was about. Just as in Star Trek if you wore a red shirt, in Search there were agents who were killed, making it necessary for one of the leads to take over the case.
What's the missing scene in the pilot?
There are two opening scenes to the pilot. The first one, which may be the more widly know one, and which is the one on the VHS copy sold by Unicorn Video (Under the title Probe...get to your video dealer and order it...#1249) has Lockwood rescuing a diplomat being held hostage. After he succeeds it seques into the opening credits. In the script, (which you can view by clicking here) this scene is numbered with regular numbers (page one, page two etc.) The alternate opening starts with the credits, and hard cuts to Cameron and Dr. Laurent talking to Lockwood on the phone convincing him to give up his vacation to take an important case. In the script this scene is numbered 1A, 2A etc. Both scenes would fit into the pilot with the rescue, the credits, and the men asking Lockwood to come back. For some reason, the pilot opening with the rescue, and the version opening with the phone call are both in syndication in the US. If anybody knows the reason for this...let us know.
What is the Search mailing discussion list?
We've set up an email list to talk about Search, share news about finding episodes, and to argue about individual episodes. You subscribe to the list and then when somebody sends a message to the list, everyone gets a copy. You can just read along with the discussion, or you can add your own opinions to the fray. To sign up, just click here.
Why do we need to find other people with Search scripts?
Gene Roddenberry's company Lincoln Enterprises sold copies of Search scripts back in the 70's. They were great except that some of them were missing pages. Recently we found someone who had a copy of the pilot script and it was missing a different page then our copy was. Two trips to the photocopier later and we now both have complete copies of the pilot script. So if anybody out there has any Search scripts, please write to
actingman@iname.com. Maybe you can complete some of my scripts, and I will be happy to complete yours.
...End Run...