McMillan and Wife

Susan Saint James and Rock Hudson

A part of NBC's early-1970s rotating series The NBC Mystery Movie, McMillan and Wife followed the adventures of San Francisco Police Commissioner Stewart McMillan (Rock Hudson) and his wife Sally (Susan Saint James), assisted by his aide Sergeant (later Lieutenant) Charles Enright (John Schuck) and the McMillans' shrewd and sharp-tongued housekeeper Mildred (Nancy Walker). The couple's cases were as apt to arise from their personal life as from his professional one (attending a charity event that is robbed, or finding a skeleton in the wall of their house after an earthquake).

The series emphasized the McMillans' marriage with a lighthearted spirit, putting to use Hudson's gift for light comedy (also seen in his sex comedies with Doris Day in the previous decade). Saint James, Schuck and Walker all left the series; the final season (with a name change to McMillan) followed McMillan's life as a widower (Sally and their son having died in a plane crash), but the series was cancelled before a full complement of episodes was made.

Tropes used in McMillan and Wife include:
  • McLeaned: Susan Saint James's character was killed off in a plane crash when she left the series.
  • Name and Name
  • Pocket Protector: Enright is once saved by a very thick hero sandwich, wrapped in aluminum foil, that he had stuck in his jacket pocket.
  • Running Gag: McMillan is constantly being greeted by pretty young women calling out "Hi Mac!" whom he claims he doesn't remember, whenever he's out in public with his wife Sally.
  • Spot the Impostor: There's a double of Mac who appeared in two episodes. Enright is able to distinguish the two by the use of the phrase "peach cobbler" (his favorite dessert), although for some reason this keeps working even after the double has heard it.
  • Suicide, Not Murder: The plot of one episode, where the "victim" is trying to frame Enright.
  • What Happened to the Mouse?: The final episode of the first season featured a very pregnant Susan St. James as Sally McMillan. The next season opens with no pregnancy, and no mention of any baby.
  • Wheel Program: One of the anchors for The NBC Mystery Movie.

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