The Lieutenant

Synopsis

Gary Lockwood stars as USMC second lieutenant William Tiberius Rice, a recent graduate of the United States Naval Academy who is assigned his first command, that of a rifle platoon. Rice is a young, educated idealist who still has much to learn from an older mentor. Robert Vaughn played Captain Raymond Rambridge, Rice's company commander, an up-from-the-ranks officer. Richard Anderson, remembered for playing Oscar Goldman in The Six Million Dollar Man and The Bionic Woman, had a recurring role as battalion commander Lieutenant Colonel Steve Hiland. Linda Evans, later known for her roles on The Big Valley and as Krystle Carrington in Dynasty, appeared in several early episodes as Colonel Hiland's daughter Nan, who flirted with Rice. The series focused primarily on Rice's various assignments as a junior officer, which often involved special details or difficult situations. Several of the later episodes featured Rice becoming an undercover investigator with military intelligence, allowing for plots and scenarios which Rice would otherwise not be involved with as a second lieutenant.

Production and broadcast

The episode "To Set It Right" drew attention for its handling of contemporary race issues. It featured a black Marine portrayed by Don Marshall, with Dennis Hopper as a racist white Marine; Nichelle Nichols appeared as the black Marine's fiancée, in her television debut. The U.S. Defense Department, which provided the studio with free production assistance for the series, objected to the unflattering portrayal of racism in the Corps, which reportedly led to production being canceled. Although some sources say the episode was never broadcast, NBC scheduled it for February 22, 1964, and it was carried in at least some markets; Variety ran a review of the episode two days later.

After its original broadcast, The Lieutenant was sparsely rerun in syndication, as its run had not been long enough for episodes to be stripped in daily broadcasts. In 2016, digital subchannel network GetTV aired The Lieutenant on Wednesday evenings at 8 p.m. Eastern Time in a block of four episodes, not following the original airdate order.

The series was released on DVD in two half-season sets by the Warner Archive Collection in 2012. This release includes a feature film version of the episode "To Kill a Man" that was released in international markets.

Cast members

Regulars

• Gary Lockwood – Second Lieutenant William Tiberius Rice
• Robert Vaughn – Captain Raymond Rambridge
• John Milford – Sergeant Kagey
• Henry Beckman – Major Al Barker
• Richard Anderson – Lieutenant Colonel Steve Hiland
• Don Penny – Lieutenant Stanley Harris
• Chuck Haren – Corporal Sandow
• Carmen Phillips – Lily
• Steve Franken – Lieutenant Samwell 'Sanpan' Panosian
• Chris Noel – a regular female cast member, who played various characters Vaughn received the same compensation as Lockwood, even though he was usually in only one scene per episode. Vaughn asked both MGM Television and Norman Felton (under whose Arena Productions banner The Lieutenant was being produced) for his own series during the run of The Lieutenant. The result was The Man from U.N.C.L.E., which began the next season and proved to be highly successful.

Guest stars

Later Star Trek regulars Majel Barrett (who later married Roddenberry), Leonard Nimoy, Nichelle Nichols, and Walter Koenig appeared as guest stars. So did Ricardo Montalbán, who played recurring Star Trek antagonist Khan Noonien Singh. Other Star Trek actors included Paul Comi (appearing in the Star Trek episode "Balance of Terror") and veteran actor James Gregory ("Dagger of the Mind").

Other guest stars include Rip Torn as a drill instructor, Ted Knight as a yeoman, Vic Tayback as a Marine Corps sentry, veteran character actor Denver Pyle as a Marine Corps major, Eddie Albert, Jack Albertson, Edward Asner, Barbara Babcock, Barbara Bain, Clive Clerk, Ina Balin, Marian Collier, Russ Conway, Dennis Cross, Robert Karnes, Paul Newlan, Gregg Palmer, Joe Ploski, Penny Santon, Cosmo Sardo, Tom Simcox, Ray Teal, Garrison True and Kelly Thordsen.

Episodes

In other media

Dell Comics published a single issue tie-in comic book.

Transogram published a board game based on the series in 1963.

References

References

1. Robb, Brian J.. (2012). "A Brief Guide to Star Trek". Robinson.
2. Barbrick, Greg. (7 September 2012). "The Lieutenant The Complete Series Part Two DVD Review: Gene Roddenberry Sows the Seeds of Star Trek".
3. "LIEUTENANT, THE: TO SET IT RIGHT (TV)". The Paley Center for Media.
4. (February 15, 1964). "Saturday, Feb. 22". [[The Cincinnati Post]].
5. (February 22, 1964). "Tonight's Television". The Tulsa Tribune.
6. (February 22, 1964). "Best Bet: 'The Defenders' Sheds Light on Addiction". The State.
7. (February 24, 1964). "Reaction, Telepix Followup, THE LIEUTENANT ("To Set it Right")".
8. Lambert, David. "The Lieutenant DVD news: Announcement for The Complete Series, Part 1 and The Complete Series, Part 2 {{!}} TVShowsOnDVD.com".
9. Asherman, Allan, "The Star Trek Compendium". Pocket Books, New York (1993)
10. [http://www.mikesamazingworld.com/main/features/series.php?seriesid=8103 The Lieutenant]
11. [https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/29468/lieutenant The Lieutenant ]