Barnaby Jones (1973–1980)

The exploits of milk-swilling, geriatric private eye Barnaby Jones.

Stars:

Buddy Ebsen, Lee Meriwether, John Carter

Nominated for 2 Golden Globes. Another 2 nominations.

Cast

Complete series cast summary:
Buddy Ebsen	...	Barnaby Jones (178 episodes, 1973-1980)
Lee Meriwether	...	Betty Jones (178 episodes, 1973-1980)
John Carter	...	Lt. John Biddle (94 episodes, 1973-1980)
Mark Shera	...	Jedediah Romano "J.R." Jones (93 episodes, 1976-1980)

Storyline

Barnaby Jones was a former private eye who temporarily came out of retirement to track down the killer of his son Hal, who had taken over the family business. After bringing Hal's murderer to justice (with the assistance of fellow CBS gumshoe Frank Cannon), Jones decided retirement just wasn't his bag after all, and rehung his shingle with the assistance of daughter-in-law Betty, who ran the office and Barnaby's personal crime laboratory, and (later) young distant cousin Jedidiah, who did the cases' legwork.

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Plot Keywords:

widow | detective | daughter in law | los angeles california | elderly | 

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Mystery

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

28 January 1973 (USA)

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Quinn Martin Productions (QM), Woodruff Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

60 min 60 min (178 episodes)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

4:3

Did You Know?

Trivia

William Conrad appeared on many early episodes of the show as Frank Cannon. Barnaby and Betty had originally appeared on Cannon after Barnaby's son Hal, who was a good friend of Frank's, was murdered. Cannon helped Barnaby eventually track down his son's killers.

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Connections

Referenced in Mystery Science Theater 3000: Santa Claus Conquers the Martians (1991)

User Reviews

Good Show

Buddy Epson & Lee Merriwether- very good acting & put together with Quinn Martin another winning combo. Actually, this show was CBS payback to Buddy who was extremely upset with CBS for canceling the Beverly Hillbillies while they were still a hit show. He kind of felt like he lost his family there & felt the execs at the network were a little nuts.

Buddy was right about that. This show is well done & CBS had raided ABC to get Quinn Martin to do this & Cannon. CBS wanted to change it's country image & these shows became a moderately successful way to do that. Trouble is CBS execs wasted more of the number 1 networks success & by the 1908's after they forced Walter Cronkrite to retire & dumbed down & tarted up their news with Dan Rather, they had pretty much become a second rated network.

This show's success along with MASH & a few others kept them on top through the 1970's. Buddy Ebsen was so talented that he could play almost anybody & make them believable. He comes off here as a fine detective & Lee Merriwether came into her own during this show.

Ebsen is one of the few TV actors to be part of successful shows in the 1950's, 60's, & 70's. It is a fitting tribute to such a unique talent who made his first splash in movies in the 1930's. He has an enduring legacy and this show is the last piece of it.