CHECKMATE Season 2

Sebastian Cabot with Bismark, the true star of the show

CHECKMATE Season Two. 1961.

The second season of the show about an agency whose aim is to prevent crimes before they happen is not as good as the first, but it does have some memorable episodes. Jed Sills (Doug McClure) is as amiable as ever, while Don Corey (Anthony George) sometimes comes off like a pious schmuck, and Dr. Hyatt (Sebastian Cabot) is so huge that he seems to be having a positive love affair with high-calorie food. His adorable little dachshund, Bismark, appears in only one episode. A new character named Chris Devlin (Jack Betts) helps out the boys and appears in a few episodes. The show still boasted some high-powered guest stars such as Eleanor Parker, Claire Bloom, Patricia Neal, Jack Benny, and Mary Astor, among others. Among the more memorable stories: "Juan Moreno's Body" has Jed investigating a murder supposedly committed by a migrant worker and features a knock-out performance by Diana Lynn. In "Death Beyond Recall" Walter Pidgeon plays a lawyer facing disbarment who arranges to have himself murdered. "The Sound of Nervous Laughter" is about an aging actor, his loving wife, and a series of death threats, and boasts outstanding performances from George Sanders, John Emery, and Margaret Phillips. Dana Andrews gives one of his best performances as a judge who is being targeted by one of the students in his legal course in "Trial By Midnight;" Carolyn Craig of House on Haunted Hill is also notable. Don Taylor is very impressive in "The Someday Man," about a former athlete with deadly gambling debts and other problems; Julie Adams is fine as his wife. If there was any problem with this second and final season of Checkmate, it was that some excellent episodes were interspersed with some pretty awful stories, the worst of which was "An Assassin Arrives, Andante," an intriguing idea ruined by muddle-headed writing and a weak lead performance from Richard Conte.

Verdict: Some great writing and acting but perhaps too many pretentious and tedious clunkers in the bunch. **1/2.

CHECKMATE Season 1

McClure, Cabot and George of Checkmate, Inc.

CHECKMATE Season One. 1960. Created by Eric Ambler.

This detective/suspense program aired for two seasons in the early sixties and took place in San Francisco. The premise was that Checkmate Inc., an agency, did its best to stop crimes before they occurred, thus in quite a few episodes they were hired to find out who was trying to kill a particular individual. Don Corey (Anthony George) was the head of the outfit, with able assistance from girl-happy Jed Sills (Doug McClure) as well as from consultant criminologist Dr. Carl Hyatt (Sebastian Cabot). Late in the first season Donna Douglas [The Beverly Hillbillies] became their secretary, but she was given little to do and eventually just disappeared.The three leads all had a different style, played well together, and were very well-cast.

The show was respected enough to sign up some pretty hefty guest stars, including Anne Baxter, Jane Wyman, Joan Fontaine, Peter Lorre and even the inestimable Charles Laughton! [Betty Garde, who played the tough maid on a classic episode of The Honeymooners, has a good dramatic turn in "Hot Wind in a Cold Town."] Most of the episodes were solidly in the "B+" category but there were a number of "A"s as well: In "Face in the Window" Joseph Cotten cancels his engagement to Julie Adams after he sees a man whom he presumed dead looking in at him through a shop window. In "Deadly Shadow" a grown-up Margaret O'Brien is a marine's widow plagued by a shadowy assailant. Barbara Rush plays a troubled woman with two distinct personalities in "The Dark Divide." In "Mask of Vengeance," with Janice Rule and Cloris Leachman, the Chinese community is outraged after a diplomat's daughter claims immunity after running over a child. In "The Murder Game" a dying defense attorney, beautifully-played by John Williams, plans to kill the one guilty client that he got off. In "Terror from the East" Charles Laughton superbly plays a missionary who's come to San Francisco to warn a man who has been targeted for death. [This episode also marks the first appearance of Hyatt's adorable daschund, Bismark, who figures in an especially cute prologue in "Tight as a Drum."] "Melody for Murder" has pop singer Jimmie Rodgers threatened by an unknown female out for revenge. "Voyage into Fear" guest stars Joan Fontaine as a neurotic woman who is convinced her husband has sent a hit man after her on a cruise ship, but is she right or is she nuts?

Verdict: Memorable crime drama with fine performances and an especially interesting guest cast. ***.