A Man Called Sloane

A Man Called Sloane is an American secret agent adventure television series that aired on NBC during the 1979–1980 television season. It was a Woodruff Production in association with QM Productions and became the final series produced by Quinn Martin's company to debut.[lower-alpha 1] It is also one of only three QM series not to have an announcer accompanying the opening titles,[lower-alpha 2] one of two not to display a copyright notice at the beginning but rather at the end,[lower-alpha 3] and the only one not to have a "Tonight's Episode" card or the "Act I/II/III/IV/Epilog" formatting — the episode titles still appear onscreen, but they appear as part of the episode credits rather than during the standard opening.

A Man Called Sloane
GenreDrama
Created byCliff Gould
StarringRobert Conrad
Dan O'Herlihy
Ji-Tu Cumbuka
Voices ofMichele Carey
Theme music composerPatrick Williams
Country of originUSA
Original language(s)English
No. of seasons1
No. of episodes12
Production
Executive producer(s)Philip Saltzman
Producer(s)Gerald Sanford
Running time60 min.
Production company(s)Woodruff Productions
QM Productions
Release
Original networkNBC
Picture formatColor
Audio formatMono
Original releaseSeptember 22 –
December 22, 1979

A Man Called Sloane was an amalgam of elements from numerous spy series of the previous 15 years, including The Man from U.N.C.L.E., Mission: Impossible, and Conrad's own The Wild Wild West.[lower-alpha 4] One of the more expensive series produced during the season, it failed to gain an audience and was cancelled after 12 episodes were broadcast.

Synopsis

The series starred Robert Conrad as Thomas R. Sloane III, a freelance spy who takes on occasional assignments for UNIT (not to be confused with the Doctor Who and Torchwood organization called UNIT), a secret American intelligence operation run by The Director, played by Dan O'Herlihy. Unlike nearly all the other stars of series produced by QM Productions, Conrad was billed above the title.[lower-alpha 5] The secret entrance to UNIT headquarters was through a toy store. KARTEL was the evil secret organization that was UNIT's nemesis. Aiding Sloane's missions was Torque, his deadly right-hand man played by Ji-Tu Cumbuka. Torque had a mechanical hand with interchangeable parts (drill, saw blade, etc.) that often helped during their assignments. The pair was also assisted by Effie, a computer voiced by Michele Carey.

On March 5, 1981, NBC aired a TV movie, Death Ray 2000, which was actually the original pilot for the series. The movie starred Robert Logan as Sloane and Cumbuka played Torque as a villain.[lower-alpha 6] Logan was originally supposed to play Sloane on the series, but Fred Silverman stated he did not like Logan and wanted Robert Conrad.[1]

Episode list
  1. Night of the Wizard
  2. The Seduction Squad
  3. Tuned For Destruction
  4. Masquerade of Terror
  5. Demon's Triangle
  6. The Venus Microbe
  7. Collision Course
  8. Samurai
  9. Sweethearts of Disaster
  10. Lady Bug
  11. Architect of Evil
  12. The Shangri-la Syndrome

Notes
  1. Barnaby Jones was the last remaining QM program to be cancelled, in 1980.
  2. The others were Quinn Martin's Tales of the Unexpected and Most Wanted.
  3. The other was 12 O'Clock High.
  4. Michele Carey previously had appeared as a guest star in an episode of The Wild Wild West.
  5. Robert Forster was the only other person to receive such an honor as Banyon.
  6. Footage of this version of Torque attacking Sloane was included in the opening credits of the TV series.
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References
  1. Britton, Wesley A. (2004). Spy Television. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 188.
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