Somebody snuck a November election in between the March 1970 broadcast of the TV movie pilot A CLEAR AND PRESENT DANGER and this debut episode of the series in September of '70. Hays Stowe is suddenly Senator Hays Stowe and apparently has been for quite some time as rumors of presidential ambitions are being voiced. No mention is made of Hays' father Senator Holden Stowe, who in the TV movie was grooming his son as heir apparent to his seat. Little Norma Stowe is still a precocious child struggling with her homework, albeit in a Washington D. C. apartment, so not too much time has transpired.
Accepting things as they are and also accepting Michael Tolan in the role of advisor Jordan Boyle (played by Jospeh Campanella in the movie), one quickly adjusts and adapts. Oh, wait a minute, isn't that Michael Bell, who played Stowe's chauffeur in the movie, now playing FBI agent Paul Shaw? Yes, yes, nothing to see here, just move along.
The plot is one torn from the headlines of the era. A death threat has been made against Senator Stowe. An oblique mention is made of senators being targets, a remark sure to trigger painful memories of Senator Robert F. Kennedy's assassination of two years earlier. And I am confident that Holbrook's striking resemblance to RFK was no accident.
Senator Stowe is controversial, and his upcoming speech at an out-of-state college campus has riled both sides. Boyle says Stowe's taking a centrist position has placed him in the line of crossfire. Instead of canceling the speech as he is implored to do, Stowe stubbornly presses ahead.
A security team is assembled boasting veteran players James Wainwright, Gerald S. O'Loughlin, and Michael Bell. Frank Campanella enjoyed a strong scene as a police detective interviewing the Stowe's earlier.
The arrogance and pervasive self-absorption that I detected as a character flaw in Stowe in the movie carried over here. Rejecting the counsel of his security team, Stowe wants to wade into the gathered press pool, which can be likened to sharks circling a victim. Stowe's motives are questioned. Is this act of heroic courage (or reckless disregard for his life and the wellbeing of his family) merely a ploy for the presidency? Is it a coincidence he will be meeting with a wealthy donor to presidential candidates?
Kudos to the casting department! The reporters look like middle-aged men rounded up from local bars and bus stops. It lent the scene authenticity.
O'Loughlin played the old school Al Capp "hardhat" cop assigned as bodyguard to Stowe. Using him as a sounding board, Stowe learns he's nearing retirement and is estranged from his attorney daughter and is not at all interested in politics. He does, however, possess common sense ideas on hot-button issues such as granting police the right to make no-knock entries into homes where illegal activity is underway. Stowe was opposed to police having that right, but he listens and appears to appreciate learning from the experiences and insights of a veteran cop.
That is a strength of the writing. No side of an issue is made into a straw man and demonized. The young student radical who tells Stowe that even Mao will be up against the wall when the real revolution comes is given a fair showing. As much as Stowe's aloof arrogance irks me, I do like his willingness to listen and learn.
O'Loughlin, set up initially to be the buffoonish old cop, instead became the show's sympathetic and ultimately tragic figure. It's an impressive performance and I am confident won sympathy from viewers of all ages and political leanings.
The villain of the piece, if pressed to name one, is arguably Senator Stowe! He vexes his overworked security team, eliciting an excellent warning from James Wainwright about the limitations of security. If there is an assassin, and "if he wants to trade his life for yours... he's got a deal." Sobering words! Stowe, of course, is nonplussed.
I kept thinking, why is Stowe going to a college not even in his own state to deliver a speech that has already provoked a death threat? Ambition is the word that sprang to my mind. His wife and daughter's fears are pushed aside so he can clear a path to the presidency.
Stowe's speech, by the way, was on the need for dissent in the 1970s. The nascent cancel culture of the era tried to boo him down, but his message is a fundamentally American and necessary one, perhaps more relevant 50-plus years later! My complaint is that Stowe's motivations were tainted by vainglory and aspirations that had nothing to do with educating college radicals about civil dissent.
This is a thoughtful show, but it was also an effective exercise in tension. On the death threat, the producers took a safe exit guaranteed not to result in their receiving death threats.
O'Loughlin is the standout performer, followed closely by Wainwright. Tolan proved himself more than capable of assuming Campanella's character. Holbrook's interpretation of Stowe, unsettlingly stoic and all-politics even in the immediate wake of tragedy, is a character I haven't warmed up to yet, but the series is young!
