The Misadventures of Sheriff Lobo
The Misadventures of Sheriff Lobo is an American action/adventure sitcom television series that ran on NBC from September 18, 1979, to May 5, 1981. For its second season the show was renamed Lobo. The program aired Tuesday nights, at 8 p.m. Eastern time. The lead character, Sheriff Elroy P. Lobo, played by Claude Akins, was a spin-off character from B. J. and the Bear, which also aired on NBC from 1979-1981.
| The Misadventures of Sheriff Lobo | |
|---|---|
| Also known as | Lobo |
| Genre | Sitcom |
| Created by | Glen A. Larson |
| Directed by | Bruce Bilson Nicholas Colasanto Daniel Haller Dick Harwood Leslie H. Martinson Christian I. Nyby II James Sheldon |
| Starring | Claude Akins Brian Kerwin Mills Watson Ben Cooper |
| Composer(s) | Jimmie Haskell Stu Phillips John Andrew Tartaglia |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language(s) | English |
| No. of seasons | 2 |
| No. of episodes | 37 (list of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) | Glen A. Larson |
| Producer(s) | Richard M. Bluel Joe Boston Bill Dial Frank Lupo Richard Lindheim Robert F. O'Neill |
| Running time | 45–48 minutes |
| Production company(s) | Glen A. Larson Productions Universal TV |
| Distributor | NBCUniversal Television Distribution |
| Release | |
| Original network | NBC |
| Original release | September 18, 1979 – May 5, 1981 |
| Chronology | |
| Related shows | B. J. and the Bear |
Synopsis
In fictitious Orly County, Georgia, Sheriff Lobo is the lead enforcer of the law -- as well as one of its leading offenders. The corrupt (but now somewhat reformed) sheriff is assisted in his schemes by Deputy Perkins (Mills Watson) whose buffoonery often upsets and exacerbates the situation. An honest but naive new deputy, Birdwell "Birdie" Hawkins (Brian Kerwin), who is unaware of Lobo's schemes has joined the force and has become one of Lobo's deputies. He often refers to Lobo as his "Hero" and compares him to Wyatt Earp, "a little rough around the edges, but a good lawman." At first this baffles Lobo to think that someone actually thinks highly of him in any way, but it begins to make Lobo feel proud and boosts his self-esteem. This always annoys and infuriates Perkins who usually sneers at Birdie and mutters, "I'm gonna have to get that boy!" Other characters in the show were Perkins' wife (and Lobo's sister) Rose Lobo Perkins (Cydney Crampton), waitress Margaret Ellen (Janet Lynn Curtis), resort owner Sarah Cumberland (Leann Hunley), bank president and Lobo's former "partner in crime" Harry Cunningham (Dennis Burkley) and district attorney Alexander Waverly (Ben Cooper).
The show was an obvious clone of CBS' hit comedy/drama The Dukes of Hazzard, right down to the rural Georgia setting and the shiftiness of its lead character. Lobo (seemingly a cross between Hazzard County's Boss Hogg and Sheriff Rosco P. Coltrane) was a small-time wheeler-dealer, always looking to make a quick buck. But when serious crime threatened Orly County and its people, Lobo would do his job capably and uphold the law; unlike Hogg or Coltrane, Lobo was portrayed as an intelligent man and an able police officer.
The series premise was overhauled completely as the second season began in 1980. The governor of Georgia, impressed by Orly County's low crime rate (because Lobo forgot to send the data to the state capitol), reassigns Lobo and Deputies Perkins and Birdie to his crime-fighting task force, Special Crimes Action Team (SCAT) in Atlanta, reporting to Chief J.C. Carson (Nicolas Coster). Lobo is forced to contend with his new co-workers, Detectives Peaches (Amy Botwinick) and Brandy (Tara Buckman). The new format also included Nell Carter (billed as Nell Ruth Carter) as Sgt. Hildy Jones. In a July 1980 interview with The New York Times, NBC president Fred Silverman said research showed the show performing well in rural areas, but not as well in urban areas; Silverman had a history of preference for urban viewers over rural ones that dated all the way back to 1970 (see the rural purge for an example). For that reason, it was decided to move the show from rural Orly County to urban Atlanta. But the series was less successful with the new format, and it was cancelled after the end of its second season.
The theme song for the show's first season was sung by Frankie Laine and was written in a western ballad style that depicted Lobo as more of a hero than an offender. During the second season, the theme song was a version of "Georgia on My Mind".
The pilot of The Misadventures of Sheriff Lobo aired as an episode of BJ and the Bear titled "Lobo", which set the premise for the show and introduced the main cast of characters that would be involved in the show.
Cast
- Claude Akins as Sheriff Elroy P. Lobo
- Mills Watson as Deputy Perkins
- Brian Kerwin as Deputy Birdwell "Birdie" Hawkins
- Cydney Crampton as Rose Lobo Perkins
- Janet Lynn Curtis as Margaret Ellen
- Leann Hunley as Sarah Cumberland
- Dennis Burkley as Harry Cunningham
- Nell Carter as Sergeant Hildy Jones
- Nicolas Coster as Chief J.C. Carson
- Amy Botwinick as Peaches
- Tara Buckman as Brandy
Episodes
Season 1 (1979–80)
| No. overall | No. in season | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original air date | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | "The Day That Shark Ate Lobo" | Dick Harwood | S : Chris Bunch, Allan Cole & Glen A. Larson; T : Glen A. Larson | September 18, 1979 | |
| 2 | 2 | "Dean Martin and the Moonshiners" | James Sheldon | S : Thomas E. Szollosi & Richard Christian; S/T : Glen A. Larson & Frank Lupo | September 25, 1979 | |
| 3 | 3 | "The Panhandle Pussycats Come to Orly" "The Big Game" | Charles R. Rondeau | Harvey Bullock | October 9, 1979 | |
| 4 | 4 | "Disco Fever Comes to Orly" | Daniel Haller | Richard H. Landau | October 16, 1979 | |
| 5 | 5 | "The Mob Comes to Orly" | Mel Ferber | S : Chris Lucky; T : Glen A. Larson & Michael Sloan | October 23, 1979 | |
| 6 7 | 6 7 | "Run for the Money: Part 2" | Bruce Bilson | S : Glen A. Larson & John Peyser; T : Michael Sloan; S/T : Sidney Ellis, Frank Lupo & Robert L. McCullough | November 6, 1979 | |
| Crossover story with B. J. and the Bear. | ||||||
| 8 | 8 | "Buttercup, Birdie and Buried Bucks" | Daniel Haller | Robert K. Baublitz | November 27, 1979 | |
| 9 | 9 | "The Senator Votes Absentee" | William P. D'Angelo | Robert Wolterstorff & Paul M. Belous | December 4, 1979 | |
| 10 | 10 | "The Boom Boom Lady" | Daniel Haller | Stephen Miller | December 11, 1979 | |
| 11 | 11 | "First to Finish, Last to Show" | Leslie H. Martinson | Robert Wolterstorff & Paul M. Belous | January 8, 1980 | |
| 12 | 12 | "Hail! Hail! the Gang's All Here" | James Sheldon | Stephen Miller | January 15, 1980 | |
| 13 | 13 | "The Luck of the Irish" | Leslie H. Martinson | S : Thomas Joachim & Eugene Fournier; S/T : Richard Bluel & Pat Fielder | January 22, 1980 | |
| 14 | 14 | "Double Take, Double Take" | Daniel Haller | Paul M. Belous & Robert Wolterstorff | January 29, 1980 | |
| 15 | 15 | "Police Escort" | James Sheldon | S : Michael Russnow; S/T : Robert E. Feinberg & Howard Liebling | February 5, 1980 | |
| 16 | 16 | "Who's the Sexiest Girl in the World?" | Daniel Haller | Glen A. Larson | February 19, 1980 | |
| 17 | 17 | "The Martians Are Coming, the Martians Are Coming" | James Sheldon | S : Tom Chehak; S/T : Stephen Miller | February 26, 1980 | |
| 18 | 18 | "The Treasure of Nature Beach" | Daniel Haller | Mark Jones | March 5, 1980 | |
| 19 | 19 | "Perkins Bombs Out" | Jack Arnold | S : David Chase, Bruce Shelly & David Ketchum; T : Mark Fink & Stephen Miller | March 10, 1980 | |
| 20 | 20 | "Birdie's Hot Wheels" | James Sheldon | Mark Fink | March 11, 1980 | |
| 21 | 21 | "The Haunting of Orly Manor" | Daniel Haller | S : G.J. Young; T : Mark Jones, Robert E. Feinberg & Howard Liebling | March 18, 1980 | |
| 22 | 22 | "Mystery on the Orly Express" | Christian I. Nyby II | Lloyd Turner | March 25, 1980 | |
| 23 | 23 | "Orly's Hot Skates" | Jack Arnold | S : Richard Lindheim; T : Robert E. Feinberg & Howard Liebling | May 6, 1980 | |
Season 2 (1980–81)
| No. overall | No. in season | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original air date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 24 | 1 | "The Dirtiest Girls in Town" | Corey Allen | Glen A. Larson | December 30, 1980 |
| 25 | 2 | "The Girls with the Stolen Bodies" | Dick Harwood | S : Frank Lupo & Mark Jones; T : Mark Jones | January 6, 1981 |
| 26 | 3 | "The Fastest Women Around" | Nicholas Colasanto | S : Sy Salkowitz; T : Bill Dial | January 20, 1981 |
| 27 | 4 | "Macho Man" | Gene Levitt | Mark Jones & Glen A. Larson | January 27, 1981 |
| 28 | 5 | "Airsick: 1981" | Bruce Kessler | Frank Lupo | February 3, 1981 |
| 29 | 6 | "Coeds with Sticky Fingers" | Dick Harwood | Jeff Wilhelm | February 10, 1981 |
| 30 | 7 | "Sex and the Single Cop" | Sidney Hayers | Mark Jones | February 17, 1981 |
| 31 | 8 | "Another Day, Another Bomb" | Dick Harwood | Teleplay by: Mark Jones Story by: Mark Jones & Glen A. Larson | February 24, 1981 |
| 32 | 9 | "The French Follies Caper" | Nicholas Colasanto | Teleplay by: Bill Dial Story by: Glen A. Larson & Lou Shaw | March 3, 1981 |
| 33 | 10 | "Bang Bang, You're Dead" | Sidney Hayers | Jeffrey Scott | March 24, 1981 |
| 34 | 11 | "The Cowboy Connection" | Harvey S. Laidman | Cliff Ruby & Elana Lesser | March 31, 1981 |
| 35 | 12 | "What're Girls Like You Doing in a Bank Like This?" | Dick Harwood | Teleplay by: Mark Jones Story by: Chris Bunch, Alan Cole & Mark Jones | April 7, 1981 |
| 36 | 13 | "Lobo and the Pirates" | Christian I. Nyby II | Lou Shaw | April 21, 1981 |
| 37 | 14 | "The Roller Disco Karate Kaper" | Sidney Hayers | Frank Lupo & Mark Jones | April 28, 1981 |
| 38 | 15 | "Keep on Buckin'" | Daniel Haller | S : Warren Douglas, David Harmon, Frank Lupo, Lou Shaw & Mark Jones T : Jeffrey Scott, Frank Lupo, Lou Shaw & Mark Jones | May 5, 1981 |
Syndication
The series was syndicated in the early 1980s, as "The B.J./Lobo Show". For syndication, Universal offered the show in two versions, one was the original 60 minute format and the other had episodes cut to fit a half-hour time slot from their original hour versions. What differentiated the half hour episodes from the hour long ones was the inclusion of a laugh track.