"David Cassidy - Man Undercover," premiering tonight at 10 on NBC, has the making of a
pretty fair cop show - a slice or two above the usual police fantasies that dwell in this
overworked genre.
Cassidy has resurfaced after four years of seclusion. He plays an undercover policeman in
NBC's Thursday night series "David Cassidy - Man Undercover."
Cassidy in Series As Rookie Cop - Sept. 17, 1978
Cassidy Leaves Hiding to Go 'Undercover' - Oct. 26, 1978
Cassidy as Cop in 'Man Undercover' - Nov. 2, 1978
David Cassidy swaps his guitar for a badge - unknown date
Unknown title - unknown date
from unknown source week of Sept. 17, 1978 by unknown
David Cassidy, who starred earlier this season in a "Police Story" drama as a young
undercover officer, will portray a similar role in four one-hour drames (as yet to be
titled) to be teleast on NBC during the 1978-79 season.
Cassidy's character will be patterned after his role of a rookie cop assigned to
infiltrate a high school to smash a drug ring in "A Chance To Live," a two-hour "Police
Story" telecast May 28. It was his first television series appearance in more than three
years.
from Atlanta Journal Oct. 26, 1978 by unknown
Maybe David Cassidy is a real person after all.
I mean he says the right things and he did walk away from show business for all the
socially acceptable reasons. And maybe it really isn't his fault that they've inflicted
his new series with the worst name of the new season.
Maybe, just maybe, a program called "David Cassidy - Man Undercover" can survive. Then
again, maybe it can't. On the other hand, maybe you don't care. And that, friends, is
very understandable. Goes on to rant about the hysteria surrounding David in the
early 70's...
Cassidy recoiled when he was offered the role of undercover cop on a "Police Story"
segment. "I told them I hadn't grown, that I still didn't look like a cop." He says when
he met the man after whom his role had been modeled he stopped worrying. "He was smaller
than me."
The one-shot portrayal of officer Dan Shay turned into a series and when "W.E.B." fell on
its face at NBC a slot opened for Cassidy's show, which starts next Thursday (10 p.m.,
Channel 2).
But this doesn't tell you how the worst show title of the season came into David Cassidy's
life.
"It was to be called 'Undercover,' but we couldn't use it for legal reasons. Nor would
they let us use 'Man Undercover'. So they chose 'David Cassidy - Man Undercover'. I
didn't ask for it, it wasn't in my contract. I didn't even know about it until I saw the
show title on a memo I got."
from Los Angeles Times Nov. 2, 1978 by James Brown
This series is the clone of a two-hour episode of "Police Story" last season, in which
Cassidy was Emmy - nominated for his portrayal of baby - faced officer Dan Shay, whose
youthful looks gain him access into young criminal circles.
It was then and it is now difficult at first to buy the notion of Cassidy as a cop - when,
in fact, the onetime "Partridge Family" heartstopper still looks to be on the shady side
of 16.
But Cassidy makes you believe it. His character thinks and reacts intelligently and
believably. He doesn't have all of the convenient answers and the show's creators have
had the good sense to give him a life outside the force - a wife (Wendy Rastatter and
baby daughter - which lends a nice, necessary balance.
Tonight Officer Shay is asked to infiltrate a hill-racing car club to ferret out three
armed bandits (Brian Kerwin, Alan Vint and Brad Reardon) who steal customized hot rods
for their getaways. Shay is led to this assignment by an iron-eyed lieutenant (Joe Santos)
who has a reputation for leaving most of his suspects on the ground with a white sheet
over thier heads.
It's the standard formula: high-speed chases and spectacular crash scenes; establishment
cop vs. the new breed; the obligatory psycho with a fast trigger finger (Vint, in this
case), shootouts and harrowing escapes; and dialogue such as "Discipline...they know it
on the street...where it counts...," much of which is spoken by Simon Oakland, a fine
actor who here has the thankless role of Shay's immediate supervisor.
Yet under the brisk direction of Bernatd McEveety and the construction - if not the
originality - of Sean Blaine's script, the cliches are somehow unobtrusive.
This is still in many ways a prototypical "action" show - but the pulp is at least served
with a few shreds of thought and a great deal of professionalism.
"David Cassidy - Man Undercover" was produced by Mark Rodgers and Mel Swope. David Gerber
is the executive producer.
from unknown, date unknown by George Maksian
Now he's back in the limelight after an abscence of almost four years - not as a singer,
however, but as a cop in the new NBC series, "David Cassidy - Man Undercover," which bowed
Nov. 2 for a 13 week run (Thursday, 10 p.m.). Cassidy stars as Dan Shay, a young officer
in a special undercover unit of a large metropolitan police department.
The program originally was telecast as a two-hour "Police Story" last season and
registered so well (Cassidy was nominated for an Emmy) that it went to a series. Lately,
however, the series hasn't been doing that well in the ratings, a condition, Cassidy says,
that soon should change with a better earlier time slot.
This series isn't looking for the very young audience. And while Cassidy says it would be
nice if his old fans turn to his new series, he hopes he doesn't become "the hottest
T-shirt item."
About six months ago, Cassidy made it known that he was ready to come back to work - as
an actor. He was perhaps as startled as anyone when, among the offers, was a starring role
as an undercover cop on a segment of "Police Story."
It was his comeback role. The ratings were good, the reviews embracing. There was no
thought initially that it would lead to a sereis. NBC realized its many assets as an early
season replacement for a floundering show.
As the series star, Cassidy has a lot to do. For a while, that presented a potential
problem. He was in virtually every scene of the early-filmed episodes.
He wants his involvement trimmed a bit "for the sake of my marriage, my life and career,"
he says.
