Quinn Martin, Producer: A Behind-the-Scenes History of QM Productions and Its Founder

by Jonathan Etter

"Quinn Martin was the most innovative and most creative of his kind. He was a man in touch with the future, far more than the times. His characters were not stereotypical characters. His production methods were not stereotypical either. He was unique in a number of ways. That's why his shows did so well"--Lynda Day George, guest star on QM's The Fugitive, The FBI, and other shows. Producer of such television shows as The Invaders, Barnaby Jones, The Untouchables, The Streets of San Francisco, Cannon and 12 O'Clock High, Quinn Martin was widely admired for his devotion to his shows, his hands-on approach to the writing, casting and editing of each episode, his interactions with network executives, and the high standards he set for his crew and actors. This detailed study of Martin and his company examines each of his series in detail, from development through cancellation.

232 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 2003

Reviews

[Jim Thomsen · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you're an American and an TV viewer "of a certain age," as those of us over fifty say wryly, you probably remember one of more of these TV series: THE FUGITIVE, THE FBI, CANNON and BARNABY JONES. There were more than a dozen others under the Quinn Martin Productions banner, but most of those were shorter-lived or less popular, then or now in syndication. And you probably remember those crisp QM values: four-act storytelling, sharp plotting, plenty of action, and lots of white men in well-fitting suits (and lots of white women looking stricken and weeping melodramatically into their well-fitting outfits). And a loyal repertory company of actors: Christopher George, Lynda Day George, Peter Mark Richman, Richard Anderson, Dina Merrill, and many more names and faces that evoke a gauzy and pleasant nostalgia for a simpler time ... or at least a time made simpler by the black-and-white morality plays of a QM production.

The stories behind these shows and all the others are told, entertainingly, in this book. It must be said that author Jonathan Etter does a superb job of going far and wide for interviewes with just about every surviving member of Martin's repertory company, both in front of and behind the scenes. Not only do you get to hear from the stars what it was like to work on the crisply professional, demanding but rewarding set of a given QM show, you get a generous peek behind the scenes from film editors, line producers, script supervisors, assistant directors, production assistants and the like; this is a welcome celebration of the sausage-making craft behind putting out a first-rate show once a week under grueling conditions that calls to mind Anthony Bourdain's celebration of a restaurant kitchen's unsung heroes, particularly line cooks. (The star interviews are great, too; and particularly compelling are the warm and detailed memories of Lynda Day George, an all-time QM favorite who made multiple guest appearances on virtually every QM production.)

All the attention to production detail, however, can't quite cover up a glaring weakness of the book, however: its inability or unwillingness to place the show in any social or cultural or political context. Quinn Martin was a conservative, and his shows, with their white male leads, were all about reinforcing a staid moral order during the sociopolitically tempestuous 1960s and 1970s. (Particulary crying out for a more analytical approach are the chapters about THE FBI (1965-1974), QM's longest-running series, which happened only when J. Edgar Hoover found a producer willing to meet his detailed demands about how is agency was depicted to the world, and Martin was more than willing to carry out Hoover's propagandist vision.) Hippies and other nonconformists were often depicted in QM shows as shallow, unreliable kooks, and women were shown predominantly as nags, neurasthenics, ineffectual or criminally devious. And while the show didn't ignore minorities, it was definitely behind the curve in recognizing the social changes during the time that elevated their power and status. I would have loved to read an analysis of QM in that time that showed why his shows were successful for a while, then, as the social upheavals of the 1960s took firm root in the 1970s, why they increasingly failed to find their audience. By the latter half of the 1970s, audiences were not much in the mood for conservative white-male-dominated TV with morally simplistic storytelling, and QM was either ill-prepared or unwilling to recognize the societal shifts. By 1980, with the end of BARNABY JONES — a show that survived as long as it did purely on the charm of Buddy Ebsen and others in the cast — QM was all but done, and the book doesn't really explore why,

That said, for nostalgists who associate QM shows with happy memories, QUINN MARTIN: PRODUCER is an entertaining read, and you'll savor the hundreds of trivial tidbits it drops along the way.

[Lee Goldberg · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've been waiting for a book about Quinn Martin... one of television's most prolific and successful producers... and finally Jonathan Etters has given us one. The book is a comprehensive look at ALL of QM's productions, from THE UNTOUCHABLES through CARIBE and even their unsold pilots. There are plenty of interesting details and lots of back-stabbing trivia about troublesome actors. As much fun as this book is, it doesn't quite hit the mark. The author, an admitted TV outsider, doesn't know enough about production, or the television business, to ask the really interesting questions about the development, production, and ultimate success or failure of the various TV series. He concentrates far too much on the observations of occasional guest-stars rather than indepth interviews with the showrunners (Philip Saltzman, John Wilder,Bill Yates, etc.). While he did talk to those people, he just didn't know the right questions to ask. You don't get any real insight into the creative process behind the shows or the business behind QM Productions. That said, this book is still great fun and long overdue...!