History Series / DanAugust

Produced by Quinn Martin Productions, the series came out of Martin's first TV movie, ''The House on Greenapple Road'', which was based on a novel by Harold Daniels entitled ''The Red Door Murder''. The movie centered on Lt. Dan August (played by Christopher George, who, in the original novel, was named Dan Nalon), a homicide detective for the police force of the fictional UsefulNotes/{{California}} town of Santa Anita, investigating the disappearance and possible murder of a housewife (Creator/JanetLeigh). Dan's partner was Sgt. Charlie Wilentz (Creator/KeenanWynn), and their boss was Police Chief George Untermeyer (Creator/BarrySullivan). Rounding out the cast were Sgt. Joe Rivera (Ned Romero) and Katy Grant (Ena Hartman), the Chief's secretary. Tim O'Connor played Leigh's husband, a known wife-beater who was the prime suspect, and Martin cast a number of other familiar faces in the movie, including Julie Harris and Creator/WalterPidgeon (both of whom weren't doing much in the way of television at the time), and many of the 'QM Players', like Creator/WilliamWindom, Mark Richman, Burr [=DeBenning=] and Lynda Day George.

* TheInformant: Eddie Downs, who claimed to be the witness to the cop killing in "Trackdown", even claiming to have hit on the female member of the gang. Dan reaches in Eddie's pocket, pulls out a packed with heroin inside and immediately discredits him as a witness.

* TheInformant: Eddie Dodds, who claimed to be the witness to the cop killing in "Trackdown", even claiming to have hit on the female member of the gang. Dan reaches in Eddie's pocket, pulls out a packed with heroin inside and immediately discredits him as a witness.

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/dan_august.jpg]]

Produced by Quinn Martin Productions, the series came out of Martin's first TV movie, ''The House on Greenapple Road'', which was based on a novel by Harold Daniels entitled ''The Red Door Murder''. The movie centered on Lt. Dan August (played by Christopher George, who, in the original novel, was named Dan Nalon), a homicide detective for the police force of the fictional UsefulNotes/{{California}} town of Santa Anita, investigating the disappearance and possible murder of a housewife (Creator/JanetLeigh). Dan's partner was Sgt. Charlie Wilentz (Creator/KeenanWynn), and their boss was Police Chief George Untermeyer (Creator/BarrySullivan). Rounding out the cast were Sgt. Joe Rivera (Ned Romero) and Katy Grant, the Chief's secretary (Ena Hartman). Tim O'Connor played Leigh's husband, a known wife-beater who was the prime suspect, and Martin cast a number of other familiar faces in the movie, including Julie Harris and Creator/WalterPidgeon (both of whom weren't doing much in the way of television at the time), and many of the 'QM Players', like Creator/WilliamWindom, Mark Richman, Burr [=DeBenning=] and Lynda Day George.

** Harlan Venable in "The King Is Dead" and Arthur Mannering in "Circle of Lies" were both wife abusers who wound up taking a bullet.

* ClearTheirName: Charlie helps out Corey Davis, who saved his life when he was a patrolman. Corey, an automobile test driver, is accused of deliberately destroying a prototype car by his overbearing boss, Arthur Mannering, and then accused of murder when Mannering is found shot to death. Corey's penchant for stretching the truth interferes with Charlie and Dan, who are trying to clear him.

For such a small town, Santa Anita could easily be the murder capital of California, as there was always a brutal murder for Dan and the others to solve. And since it was a small town, it was very likely that Dan knew at least one person involved in the case, be it a victim or a suspect. Conversely, a lot of folks knew Dan--he'd been a college football star prior to joining the police force. Many times, Dan would subdue a suspect using a football tackle.

[[caption-width-right:350:Seated: Dan August. Standing, left to right: Sgt. Rivera, Chief Untermyer, Sgt. Wilentz, and Katy Grant.]]

The series only lasted for one season and was destined to be forgotten, when all of a sudden, Burt became a huge star with the one-two punch of the hit movie ''Film/{{Deliverance}}'' and a nude centerfold in ''Cosmopolitan'' magazine. Creator/{{CBS}}, sensing a huge opportunity, bought the rights to the series and ran it during the Summer of 1973, to huge ratings. Two years later, they ran it again, and with Reynolds now the top box-office draw in the country, the ratings were huge once again. A few years later, the Samuel Goldwyn Company acquired the rights to ''Dan August'' and spliced together several episodes to make TV-movies out of the series (Richard Anderson was brought in to shoot connecting footage). For a number of years, this was the only way to see any episodes of the series, until GetTV obtained the rights a couple of years ago. Additionally, VEI Entertainment released a DVD set containing the pilot film and all 26 episodes.

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!! Dan August features these tropes:

* AssholeVictim: Gabe Redfern in "Murder By Proxy". Even DAN had reason to kill him, because of his dirty tactics on the local race track where they both raced cars, but the murder had more to do with him having an affair with a married woman than anything else.

Dan August is a short-lived PoliceProcedural that ran on Creator/{{ABC}} during the 1970-71 TV season.

Produced by Quinn Martin Productions, the series came out of Martin's first TV movie, ''The House on Greenapple Road'', which was based on a novel by Harold Daniels entitled ''The Red Door Murder''. The movie centered on Lt. Dan August (played by Christopher George, who, in the original novel, was named Dan Nalon), a homicide detective for the police force of the fictional UsefulNotes/California town of Santa Anita, investigating the disappearance and possible murder of a housewife (Creator/JanetLeigh). Dan's partner was Sgt. Charlie Wilentz (Creator/KeenanWynn), and their boss was Police Chief George Untermeyer (Creator/BarrySullivan). Rounding out the cast were Sgt. Joe Rivera (Ned Romero) and Katy Grant, the Chief's secretary (Ena Hartman). Tim O'Connor played Leigh's husband, a known wife-beater who was the prime suspect, and Martin cast a number of other familiar faces in the movie, including Julie Harris and Walter Pidgeon (both of whom weren't doing much in the way of television at the time), and many of the 'QM Players', like Creator/WilliamWindom, Mark Richman, Burr [=DeBenning=] and Lynda Day George.

Martin wanted Christopher George to star in the series, but George had to decline, as he'd already committed to another series for that season, Series/TheImmortal. Chris made a suggestion to the producer...hire Creator/BurtReynolds! He showed the producer some episodes of Reynolds' earlier cop series, Hawk, which led Martin to cast the rugged actor in the new series. Additionally, the other two main roles were recast: Sgt. Wilentz would now be played by Norman Fell, and Richard Anderson took over the role of Chief Untermeyer. Ned Romero and Ena Hartman were the only holdovers from the movie.

For such a small town, Santa Anita could easily be the Murder Capital of UsefulNotes/California, as there was always a brutal murder for Dan and the others to solve. And since it was a small town, it was very likely that Dan knew at least one person involved in the case, be it a victim or a suspect. Conversely, a lot of folks knew Dan--he'd been a college football star prior to joining the police force. Many times, Dan would subdue a suspect using a football tackle.

The series only lasted for one season and was destined to be forgotten, when all of a sudden, Burt became a huge star with the one-two punch of the hit movie Film/{{Deliverance}} and a nude centerfold in Cosmopolitan magazine. Creator/{{CBS}}, sensing a huge opportunity, bought the rights to the series and ran it during the Summer of 1973, to huge ratings. Two years later, they ran it again, and with Reynolds now the top box-office draw in the country, the ratings were huge once again. A few years later, the Samuel Goldwyn Company acquired the rights to Dan August and spliced together several episodes to make TV-movies out of the series (Richard Anderson was brought in to shoot connecting footage). For a number of years, this was the only way to see any episodes of the series, until GetTV obtained the rights a couple of years ago. Additionally, VEI Entertainment released a DVD set containing the pilot film and all 26 episodes.

* ShortRunner

Produced by Quinn Martin Productions, the series came out of Martin's first TV movie, ''The House on Greenapple Road'', which was based on a novel by Harold Daniels entitled ''The Red Door Murder''. The movie centered on Lt. Dan August (played by Christopher George, who, in the original novel, was named Dan Nalon), a homicide detective for the police force of the fictional UsefulNotes/California town of Santa Anita, investigating the disappearance and possible murder of a housewife (Creator/JanetLeigh). Dan's partner was Sgt. Charlie Wilentz (Keenan Wynn), and their boss was Police Chief George Untermeyer (Creator/BarrySullivan). Rounding out the cast were Sgt. Joe Rivera (Ned Romero) and Katy Grant, the Chief's secretary (Ena Hartman). Tim O'Connor played Leigh's husband, a known wife-beater who was the prime suspect, and Martin cast a number of other familiar faces in the movie, including Julie Harris and Walter Pidgeon (both of whom weren't doing much in the way of television at the time), and many of the 'QM Players', like Creator/WilliamWindom, Mark Richman, Burr [=DeBenning=] and Lynda Day George.

** Barbara Winslow in "Invitation to Murder" and Jenny in "When the Shouting Dies", both beautiful girls who blackmailed, respectively the guy that got her pregnant and the guy she was having an affair with. Barbara was brutally strangled to death, Jenny fatally pushed from her apartment window.

Produced by Quinn Martin Productions, the series came out of Martin's first TV movie, ''The House on Greenapple Road'', which was based on a novel by Harold Daniels entitled ''The Red Door Murder''. The movie centered on Lt. Dan August (played by Christopher George, who, in the original novel, was named Dan Nalon), a homicide detective for the police force of the fictional California town of Santa Anita, investigating the disappearance and possible murder of a housewife (Creator/JanetLeigh). Dan's partner was Sgt. Charlie Wilentz (Keenan Wynn), and their boss was Police Chief George Untermeyer (Creator/BarrySullivan). Rounding out the cast were Sgt. Joe Rivera (Ned Romero) and Katy Grant, the Chief's secretary (Ena Hartman). Tim O'Connor played Leigh's husband, a known wife-beater who was the prime suspect, and Martin cast a number of other familiar faces in the movie, including Julie Harris and Walter Pidgeon (both of whom weren't doing much in the way of television at the time), and many of the 'QM Players', like Creator/WilliamWindom, Mark Richman, Burr [=DeBenning=] and Lynda Day George.

For such a small town, Santa Anita could easily be the Murder Capital of California, as there was always a brutal murder for Dan and the others to solve. And since it was a small town, it was very likely that Dan knew at least one person involved in the case, be it a victim or a suspect. Conversely, a lot of folks knew Dan--he'd been a college football star prior to joining the police force. Many times, Dan would subdue a suspect using a football tackle.

Produced by Quinn Martin Productions, the series came out of Martin's first TV movie, ''The House on Greenapple Road'', which was based on a novel by Harold Daniels entitled ''The Red Door Murder''. The movie centered on Lt. Dan August (who, in the original novel, was named Dan Nalon), a homicide detective for the police force of the fictional California town of Santa Anita, investigating the disappearance and possible murder of a housewife (Creator/JanetLeigh). Dan's partner was Sgt. Charlie Wilentz (Keenan Wynn), and their boss was Police Chief George Untermeyer (Creator/BarrySullivan). Rounding out the cast were Sgt. Joe Rivera (Ned Romero) and Katy Grant, the Chief's secretary (Ena Hartman). Tim O'Connor played Leigh's husband, a known wife-beater who was the prime suspect, and Martin cast a number of other familiar faces in the movie, including Julie Harris and Walter Pidgeon (both of whom weren't doing much in the way of television at the time), and many of the 'QM Players', like Creator/WilliamWindom, Mark Richman, Burr [=DeBenning=] and Lynda Day George.

Produced by Quinn Martin Productions, the series came out of Martin's first TV movie, ''The House on Greenapple Road'', which was based on a novel by Harold Daniels entitled ''The Red Door Murder''. The movie centered on Lt. Dan August (who, in the original novel, was named Dan Nalon), a homicide detective for the police force of the fictional California town of Santa Anita, investigating the disappearance and possible murder of a housewife (Creator/JanetLeigh). Dan's partner was Sgt. Charlie Wilentz (Keenan Wynn), and their boss was Police Chief George Untermeyer (Creator/BarrySullivan). Rounding out the cast were Sgt. Joe Rivera (Ned Romero) and Katy Grant, the Chief's secretary (Ena Hartman). Tim O'Connor played Leigh's husband, a known wife-beater who was the prime suspect, and Martin cast a number of other familiar faces in the movie, including Julie Harris and Walter Pidgeon (both of whom weren't doing much in the way of television at the time), and many of the 'QM Players', like Creator/WilliamWindom, Mark Richman, Burr DeBenning and Lynda Day George.

Dan August is a short-lived PoliceProcedural that ran on Creator/ABC during the 1970-71 TV season.

Produced by Quinn Martin Productions, the series came out of Martin's first TV movie, ''The House on Greenapple Road'', which was based on a novel by Harold Daniels entitled ''The Red Door Murder''. The movie centered on Lt. Dan August (who, in the original novel, was named Dan Nalon), a homicide detective for the police force of the fictional California town of Santa Anita, investigating the disappearance and possible murder of a housewife (Creator/JanetLeigh). Dan's partner was Sgt. Charlie Wilentz (Keenan Wynn), and their boss was Police Chief George Untermeyer (Creator/BarrySullivan). Rounding out the cast were Sgt. Joe Rivera (Ned Romero) and Katie, the Chief's secretary (Ena Hartman). Tim O'Connor played Leigh's husband, a known wife-beater who was the prime suspect, and Martin cast a number of other familiar faces in the movie, including Julie Harris and Walter Pidgeon (both of whom weren't doing much in the way of television at the time), and many of the 'QM Players', like Creator/WilliamWindom, Mark Richman, Burr DeBenning and Lynda Day George.

The series only lasted for one season and was destined to be forgotten, when all of a sudden, Burt became a huge star with the one-two punch of the hit movie Film/{{Deliverance}} and a nude centerfold in Cosmopolitan magazine. Creator/CBS, sensing a huge opportunity, bought the rights to the series and ran it during the Summer of 1973, to huge ratings. Two years later, they ran it again, and with Reynolds now the top box-office draw in the country, the ratings were huge once again. A few years later, the Samuel Goldwyn Company acquired the rights to Dan August and spliced together several episodes to make TV-movies out of the series (Richard Anderson was brought in to shoot connecting footage). For a number of years, this was the only way to see any episodes of the series, until GetTV obtained the rights a couple of years ago. Additionally, VEI Entertainment released a DVD set containing the pilot film and all 26 episodes.

Ena Hartman is the only surviving cast member from the series. Norman Fell passed away in 1997, Ned Romero in 2009, Richard Anderson in 2017 and Burt Reynolds in 2018.

Produced by Quinn Martin Productions, the series came out of Martin's first TV movie, ''The House on Greenapple Road'', which was based on a novel by Harold Daniels entitled ''The Red Door Murder''. The movie centered on Lt. Dan August (who, in the original novel, was named Dan Nalon), a homicide detective for the police force of the fictional California town of Santa Anita, investigating the disappearance and possible murder of a housewife (Janet Leigh). Dan's partner was Sgt. Charlie Wilentz (Keenan Wynn), and their boss was Police Chief George Untermeyer (Creator/BarrySullivan). Rounding out the cast were Sgt. Joe Rivera (Ned Romero) and Katie, the Chief's secretary (Ena Hartman). Tim O'Connor played Leigh's husband, a known wife-beater who was the prime suspect, and Martin cast a number of other familiar faces in the movie, including Julie Harris and Walter Pidgeon (both of whom weren't doing much in the way of television at the time), and many of the 'QM Players', like Creator/WilliamWindom, Mark Richman, Burr DeBenning and Lynda Day George.

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