(Reviews taken from or adapted from TV Guide.)

11/21/1967 – The Outsider telefilm/pilot: Hollywood private eye David Ross is hired to find out if a young woman is embezzling company funds. He finds more trouble than evidence; he’s almost strangled by the girl’s boy friend and when she is murdered, Ross – who served six years on a murder rap – becomes the chief suspect. Written by Roy Huggins, creator of "Run For Your Life." And "The Fugitive." (2 hours)       
Collin Kenniston III            Sean Garrison
Peggy Leydon                    Shirley Knight
Marvin Bishop                    Edmond O'Brien
Mrs. Kozzek                      Ann Southern
Lt. Wagner                         Ossie Davis
Honora Dundas                  Nancy Malone
Mrs. Bishop                       Audrey Totter
Ernest Grimes                     Joseph Wiseman
Sgt. Delgado                       Mario Alcalde

Early Notices: "It appears that the private eye guy is with us in a complete reversal from the usual smooth, well-dressed Rolls Royce runabout of former seasons. This time, Darren McGavin as The Outsider, will go to the opposite end of the spectrum as a character living in a run-down apartment with a beat-up car and who’s scrounging for change. McGavin says, "My David Ross is a loser, but so is most of the world today." Our only question is: Will audiences identify?"

"A new NBC series, The Outsider, also stems from a ’67 telefilm (of the same name). It has Darren McGavin who, in his younger days, was TV’s Mike Hammer, as a Los Angeles private eye. Of present, 1-hour TV series, The Outsider seems to me to be the best-scripted. It’s non-violent, deals less with detective matters than with human relationships, and has examined, unsensationally, such subjects as charitable trusts and Red Chinese in the US. It is producer and sometimes directed by Gene Levitt. Other good directors: Alex Singer and Charles S. Dubin. Outsider’s one fault is its subcredits crawl, which is a steal from the movie Harper."

"David Ross was not a stereotypical glamorous private detective. He did not make much money, lived in a run-down Los Angeles apartment building, drove a beat-up 10-year-old car, and often got beat up himself while on cases. Ross was a loner who had never finished high school and had been orphaned as a small child. As an adult, he had served six years in prison on a trumped-up murder charge, before being pardoned. In short, Ross had found the world a very unfriendly place – he was an "outsider." Nevertheless, he turned private eye to tackle other people’s problems, and proved an extremely thorough and productive investigator."***********************************************

1)    09/18/68    "For Members Only"
Ross is hired to ferret out an exclusive cardshark who's fleecing members of an exclusive social club.  Ross infiltrates the club by posing as a gambler and prospective member.  The

 subterfuge enables Ross to check out Richard Chase and his girlfriend, Ellie.  But a chance meeting with Anne proved the stakes are higher than Ross thought.

   
Anne DuBois            Kathie Browne
Richard Chase          Warren Stevens
Karl Stanton             Frank Marth
Kenneth Conrad       G.D. Spradlin
Ellie                          Francine York
Max                         Timothy Carey
John Mason              Arthur Space
John (Waiter)            Francis DeSales
Charles Beggs            John Zaremba

    Reviews/Interviews

"The debut of NBC’s hour-long television show, The Outsider, which screened last night was marked by excellent acting throughout. Darren McGavin, the star of the show, breezed through the sixty minutes in a most convincing and delightful fashion. The story, reminiscent of the recent Friar'’ Club gambling scandal in Beverly Hills, was timely and well-paced. From where we sit, it looks as though The Outsider will be around for a while.

Mrs. Darren McGavin (Kathie Browne) said, "The first time I met Darren was in bed! I was working in the very first scene of a film called "The Outsider," which called for me to be waiting – gun in hand – in a darkened bedroom waiting for someone to enter.

"I wasn’t expecting Darren and he came in expecting someone other than myself.

"In the dark, not knowing whether I was male or female, he grabbed me, threw me on the bed, where we began to struggle and wrestle around.

"We did the scene a number of times and finally it was a take, after which the director asked, ‘Say, have you two been introduced, yet?’ So he did."

2)    09/25/68    "What Flowers Daises Are"
A routine missing persons case gets Ross embroiled in a million-dollar con game and murder.  Detective David Ross is hired to investigate the strange disappearance of an attractive model and uncovers evidence of murder.  One of the model's boy friends, Kurt Anderson, an executive with a local research foundation, is a prime suspect.  Tracing Anderson to the rural site of a research group, Ross enlists the help of Daisy, a guide for the organization.  Daisy takes Ross on a tour, which proves not only enlightening, but nearly fatal.

Curtis Anderson               Farley Granger
Daisy                               Melodie Johnson
Roger Edgeway               Steve Franken
Fred                                Allen Joseph
Benjamin Seaton              Booth Coleman
Edith                               Yvonne White
Detective                         Robert Millar
Sgt. Miller                       Clay Tanner
Insurance Man                Paul Hahn

3)    10/02/68    "Along Came A Spider"
Plain-looking Helen Brunner hires Ross to retrieve $6,000.  She foolishly lent it to a younger man who promised to marry her - and then got himself murdered.  The search involves Ross with a lonely-hearts club, a tough detective, an assortment of gangsters - and the killer.
Det. Keller                     Claude Akins
Dorothy Kingsland         Marsha Hunt
Mrs. Sanduski               Lily Shalet
Danny Moreno              Than Wyenn
Buddy Vasta                 Leonard Stone
Dr. Kingsland                Whit Bissell
Ralph                            Floyd Mutrux

4)    10/10/68    "A Wide Place in the Road"   

Ross' search for Billy Joe Corey, a car thief who jumped bail, leads to the boy's home town, where folks - including the local sheriff - don't take kindly to the investigator's presence.  Residents there still consider the boy something of a hero.

   
Sheriff Breckenridge     Peter Whitney
Frances Dustin             Louise Latham
Billy Joe Corey            Joe Don Baker
Betty Dustin                Anne Whitfield
Pearl Rapp                  Sarah Marshall    
Leo Glass                    Lou Krugman
Mrs. Buchanan            Lillian Bronson
George McBryde        Forrest Lewis
Fred Decker                Chet Stratton
George McBryde Jr.    Michael Cartel

5)    10/16/68    "Cold as Ashes"
Oriental mystery - and murder - enshroud the investigator.  Hired to deliver a dead man's ashes to San Francisco, Ross soon finds himself being tracked by killers for reasons he can't fathom.  He is stunned to learn the urn containing the ashes is priceless.

Matthew Garson           Don Knight
Won Ah-kam                Keye Luke
Lita Dowell                   Kate Woodville
Lt. Kerning                   Noah Keen
Det. Allan                     Vince Howard
Cizak                           Gerald York
Man                             Lawrence Duran

6)    10/30/68    "A Time to Run"
Hired to locate a missing witness in a murder trial, Ross does just that , but regrets it.  Working for a defense attorney, Ross tracks down a fleeing witness, Murphy, and by so doing, unwittingly the man's murder by Starns, a thug posing as a friend of Ross' client.  Ross is desperate to get his new evidence to the courtroom where the trial is underway, but first must elude two men who are out to silence him.  Wounded in the chase, Ross solicits the aid of two runaway "hippies."
Stan                              Don Stroud
Della                             Brenda Scott
Ed                                 Jack Hogan
Jerry                              Bryon Mabe
Starnes                          Ross Elliott
Frank Ebb                      Lawrence Haddon
Murphy                          James Dobson
Dr. Welles                      Tom Palmer
John Drake                     Jimmy Joyce

7)    11/06/68    "Love is Under 'L'"
Ross undertakes a job for self-made millionaire Lyman Barr.  Haired to find Barr's missing girl friend, Ross finds the young lady hiding out.  Not only does she not want to be found, Ross finds himself constantly under attack.

   
Lyman Barr                    Simon Oakland
Connie                           Jeanne Cooper
Mindy Taylor                 Willi Koopman
Thorpe                           Brad Weston
Albert Kopke                 Robert H. Harris
Cyclist                           Ron Russell
Toshi                              Pat Morita
Clifford                           Jack Grinnage
Ernie                               Louis Guss
Girl at Bar                       Karen Martin

8)    11/13/68    "The Twenty-Thousand Dollar Carrot"
While investigating the death of a pretty girl's boy friend, Ross detects a monumental insurance fraud and goes after bigger game.  Ross returns from Mexico the break the news to his client that alleged accident victim Tod Elkins is alive and apparently staged a $200,000 insurance coup.  Seeing a chance to make some big money himself, Ross offers insurance company executive Daniel W. Border to return the culprit and the money in exchange for a percentage of the total amount.  No studio sets were used on this on-location episode.  Director Michael Ritchie also did the series pilot.
Borden                          Pat Harrington
Gloria Gronowski          Bonnie Beecher
Joanne Jackson             Sandra Smith
Warren Vail                   Conlan Carter
Fred Oliver                   Dana Elcar
Sheriff Wade                Robert Donner
Helene Elkins                Julie McCarthy
Tod Elkins                    John Ragin
John Morrison              Delton Cook
Airline Clerk                Bonnie Hughes
Floyd                           Stuart Nesbet

9)    11/20/68    "One Long-Stemmed American Beauty"
The death of one-time dancing star Leroy Rollins from an overdoes of alcohol and tranquilizers prompts a suspicious casting department to employ David Ross for an investigation.  The strange behavior of Rollin's landlady, the cold indifference of his former girl friend and attempted bribery by a producer have Ross wondering whether or not Rollins was murdered.  But by whom?  There are plenty of suspects - and all of them females.

   
Dorothy Johnson           Judy McConnell
Landlady                       Betty Field
Laura Carlvic                 Julie Adams
Leslie Jamison                Marie Windsor
Stuntman                       Richard Van Vleet

    
Florist                            Peggy Pope
Vincent Carlvic              Walter Mathews
Karate Instructor            Lloyd King
Agent                            Ben Wright

   

10)    11/27/68    "I Can't Hear You Scream"
Private Investigator David Ross involves himself in a final-hour bid to save a hoodlum from the gas chamber.  Despite the objections of a police lieutenant and a strong case against the convicted man, Ross decided to move on new evidence which hints of a frame-up.  The trail leads to a known gambler and a former associate of the condemned man.

   
Lt. Wagner                    James Edward
Eleanor Springer            Ena Hartman
Frank Murphy               Myron Healey
Solly Thayer                  Marc Cavell
Besse                            Bobo Lewis
Mona Gentry                Gwendolyn Ormes
Mary                             Jodean Russo
Eddie                            Howard Dayton
Thin Man                       James Nusser
George                          Joe Haworth
Tom Mullins                  John J. Fox
Jed Mills                       David Bond

11)    12/04/68    "Tell It Like It Was... And You're Dead"
The news that a former burlesque queen intends to "tell all" in her memoirs has a lot of highly placed people on edge.  Ross must find out which one might be nervous enough to kill her.
Winnie Blake                Marilyn Maxwell
Judy Elliott                    Whitney Blake
Rusty                            Jackie Coogan
Nick Ames                   Ted Knight
Lacey                           Read Morgan
Lt. Wagner                   James Edwards
Mrs. Forrester              Eve McVeagh
Beefy Man                    Fabian Dean
Sergeant                       Dallas Mitchell
Patrick Forrester           Ben Murphy
Carl                              Gordon Jump

12)    12/18/68    "The Land of the Fox"
Ross makes with the sane-and-sun set as he tries to locate a witness to a hit-and-run killing, then finds he's falling for a girl who holds the key to the case.  Susan Oliver portrays Diane, one of the "beautiful people," populating California beaches, who finds herself involved in a hush-up, but her evidence proves worthless when thugs move in.
Diane Clay                    Susan Oliver
Tom Campbell              Ben Hammer
George Lund                Russell Thorson
Peter McKee               Philip Chapin
Bill Elison                     Kent McCord
Boy Surfer                   Charles Brewer
Ben Adams                  Roy Roberts
Bartender                     Al Checco

13) 12/25/68    "There Was A Little Girl"
Twelve years ago, industrialist George Harrington paid a $250,000 ransom for his kidnapped daughter, who was never seen again.  Now, Sadie Burch claims the girl she raised as her own is the millionaire's missing daughter.

   
Sadie Burch                Joan Blondell
Margaret Harrington    Dorothy Green
George Harrington       Simon Scott
Lt. Kering                    Noan Keen
Marcie                        Mary Jo Kennedy

   
Brad Elston                 George Neise
Larry Rogers               Paul Lambert
Mary Potter                Jean Carson

   
Charley                       Ralph Manza
Policeman                    Dave Diamond
Neighbor                    Harry Harvey, Sr.

14)    01/08/69    "The Girl From Missouri"
Mary Smith, plain-spoken and naive, enlists Ross' help to track down her missing brother.  The detective soon learns that Smith is involved with some very unsavory types, who don't take kindly to people asking questions.
Mary Smith                 Mariette Hartley
Matt Smith                  Rick Jason
Ginny                          Paye P. Morgan
Coppolino                   Phillip Pine
Rudy Jacobs               Mickey Manners
Police Sgt.                  Robert Millar
LArry                         Frank Schuller
Bo Peep                     Stanley Adams
Bartender                   Lennie Bremen
Jackie                         Will J. White
Policeman                   Victor Bozeman

15)    01/15/69    "The Secret of Mareno Bay"
Ross hits a wall of resentment and hostility as he searches for Marion Bay's least-loved citizen.  Novelist John Bedford disappeared shortly after returning to the area, and the residents are unanimous in whishing him dead.
Virginia Kirk               Pippa Scott
Colonel Grey              Walter Brooke
Claire                         Grace Lee Whitney
Mrs. Perry                  Estelle Winwood
Floyd Hendricks         Lawrence Linville
Sheriff Damon            Henry Beckman
Richard                      Charles Lampkin

16)    01/22/69    "The Old School Tie"
David Ross is in prison on The Outsider, and it's as realistic a prison show as you'll see in a long time.  Actually, this is a series of flashbacks showing him when he was in prison and how his life was saved during a savage fight, by another convict, played by Aldo Ray.  When his prison-buddy is released, he contacts Ross, to tell him of a big, money-making plot he has devised, which is actually extortion.  Ross declines, but his buddy insists.
Eddie Wolfe                Aldo Ray
Gloria Johnson            Gail Kobe
Vern Fletcher              George Murdock
Vincent                       Anthony Russell
Max Davenport           Len Lesser
Mrs. Vaughn               Elvia Allman
John Arnold                James McEachin

17)    01/29/69    "A Bowl of Cherries"
David Ross offers to help the son of an old friend, only to become enmeshed in a homicide.  When Ross learns that young Joe Andrade has been beaten up and is out to get the man responsible, he intervenes.  The embittered Andrad's target, however, is found murdered.
Jason Cambor              John Marley
Joe Andrade                 Scott Marlowe
Arnie Cambor               Tom Skerritt
Pete                              Alan Oppenheimer
Kerry Palmer                Lynne Marta
Mrs. Andrade               Penny Santon
Police Lt.                      Warren Kemmerling
Joe Brock                     Phillip Kenneally
Sergeant                        Frank Farmer
Swamper                       Michael Masters
Man                               Robert Karnes

18)    02/05/69    "Behind God's Back"
In Acapulco, Mexico, Ross mixes in with the jet set as he tries to convince a millionaire's runaway daughter that her new-found playmates are up to no good.  Ross finally locates the girl in the company of a self-styled archaeologist Fred Rhodes.  When Ross begins to check Rhodes out, he's arrested by Mexican police as the suspect in a jewelry theft.
Tracy Stratton                Anna Capri
Miguel                            Thomas Gomez
Jean Daniels Ortega        Virginia Mayo
Fred Rhodes                  Ben Cooper
Desk Clerk                    Paul Micate
Harry Stratton                Stacy Harris
Mike                              Larry Chance
Eddie                             Victor Rogers
Juanita Martinez              Stella Garcia
Dr. Rigley                       Richard Jury

19)    02/12/69    "Take the Key and Lock Him Up"
While investigating the shooting of a convict in a backwater town, Ross is arrested on the charge of selling marijuana.
Briggs                            Roger Perry
Elkins                            Bert Freed
Sheriff Watson               Donald Barry
Harve                            Quinn Redeker
Laura                             Sharron Farnon
Miron                            Joseph Mell
Padre                            Don Hanmer
Roberts                         Kurt Grayson
Reeves                          Paul Newlan
Ella                               Anne Bellamy
Barrows                        Rene Roker

20)    02/26/69    "The Flip Side"
Newcomer Carrie Snodgrass plays a difficult double role.  The psychological drama involves Ross with a plain sister who hires him to find her missing sister, a glamorous model involved in an underworld ring dealing in narcotics, and gets involved in an extortion racket.
Janet/Diane                  Carrie Snodgrass
Dr. Sam Gaynor           Michael Strong
Telephone Operator     Alice Backes
Randall                         Fred Williamson
Pablo Renoir                Judd Laurence
Billboard Man              Al Dunlap
Croupier                       Joseph LaCavan

21)    03/05/69    "Handle With Care"
Posing as a drifter with the alias Leo Martin, Ross joins a gang of hijacking truckers, whose operation is hurting an insurance company.
Julius Ainsworth           Paul Stewart
Josie                            Joan Huntington
Smiley                         Berkeley Harris
Hollis                           Herbert Voland
Faber                          Victor Tayback
Phil Campos               Edmund Hashim
Frank Guerra              Pepe Callahan
Sparkey                      Bruce Glover
Colleen                      Judy Brown
Montana                    John Wheeler
Marty                        Michael Masters
Truck Driver              Duke Cigrang
Dispatcher                  Anthony Redondo

22)    03/12/69    "All the Social Graces"
Good support is offered to Darren McGavin on The Outsider by the acting talents of Lloyd Bochner and Geraldine Brooks.  McGavin is hired by a diamond-in-the-rough millionaire who is slain before the detective has any idea why he was hired.  His investigation leads him to an elegant tennis club, which considered the millionaire too "low crust" for membership.  (Tennis scenes were filmed at the Encino Racquet Club.)
Emily Kester             Geraldine Brooks
George Jenkins         Lloyd Bochner
Masters                   Warren Kemmerling
Stambler                  Regis Cordic
Joe Kester                Ken Tobey
Giles                         Michael Evans
Diane Fuller              Helen Baron
Mary Jenkins            Ellen Clark
Carlin                       Charles Shull
Millie                        Lorraine Davies
Tod                          Gene Tyburn
Tom                         Del Russell

   
(from the episode "One Long-Stemmed American Beauty")

23)    03/26/69    "A Lot of Muscle"
Ross takes up the cudgels for a tough, unbending cop who's facing indictment on a bribery charge.  Probing a possible frame, Ross begins to sort out the man's many enemies - ranging from a bartender to a high city official.
Michael Cameron      James Gregory
Patricia Cameron      Susan O'Connell
Ted Baxter               Greg Mullavey
Richard Twining        Kenneth O'Brien
Thatcher                    Frank Maxwell
James Reardon          Lawrence Hauben
Matthews                 Len Wayland
Eddie Clark              Joseph Perry
Landlady                  Patricia Walker
Houseboy                 Lloyd Kino
Librarian                   Vivian Rhodes

24)    04/02/69    "Periwinkle Blue"
Ross is alternately beguiled and bedeviled by April Endby, a winsome widow who has buried two husbands. Ross can't help wondering, did she do them in?  Her current husband wonders the same thing and hires Ross to investigate.  Director Richard Benedict appears as a photographer.
April Endby                Lois Nettleton
Arthur Endby              Douglas Dick
Lt. Kanter                   Bill Quinn
Aunt Myrtle                 Ellen Corby
Wainwright                  Pat Harrington
Model                         Shelby Livingston

25)    04/09/69    "Through A Stained Glass Window"
Ross is hired to tail a paroled convict, who supposedly is the only person who knows the hiding place of a stolen fortune of $250,000.  Kooks and heavies crowd Ross as he searches a crumbling section of Los Angeles.  Jayne Meadows makes a cameo as Lil.
L. J. Fox                    Walter Burke
Bob                           Arch Johnson
Chauncy James          Mickey Shaughnessy
Alice Donner              Ruth McDevitt
Nancy Davis               Marilyn Lovell
Frank Stobles             Harry Swoger
Eddie Johnson            Eldon Quick
Billie                           Carol Booth
Police Lt.                    Bill Quinn
Mike                           E. J. Andre
Engineer                      Charles Seel

26)    04/16/69    "Service For One"
Ross is hired to serve a subpoena on a well-guarded millionaire who has never been photographed.  As he dogs his quarry, Ross uncovers a curious love affair - and a murder plot.  William Windom will soon be starring in his own series, My World And Welcome To It.  He guest-stars here as a wealthy businessman whose expansions are threatening other businesses.  When one of the latter gets a court order against him, Ross is hired to serve the papers, which proves to be a touchy task, since the man lives like a recluse.
Amy Godwin               Kathie Browne
Bernard Christie           William Windom
Stan Potolski                John Douchette
Decker                         Henry Jones
Edward Potolski           Shelly Novak
Kel                               Johnny Silver
Businessman                  John Archer
Sally                              Sandy Balsan
Chef                              Jack Spratt  

**********************   

Interview from "Scarlet Street," 1994 by Richard Valley

SS:  "In (The Night Stalker, Kolchak didn't seem to have any social life.
Darren McGavin:  There's a very interesting rule about television's running characters.  I did a series called The Outsider.  They said, "We wanna give you a place to live."  And I said, "Why, He has an office; I don't think he needs anything else.  He doesn't live where he lives; he lives in the office."  But they had a set, already built, so I thought, "Well, what'll we do with the damned thing?"  We were trying to figure out the opening, the under-the-title sequence, and I finally said, "Listen, put him a Murphy bed.  He awakens to a phone ringing, and he doesn't know where the damned phone is, so he follows the telephone cord and finds it in the refrigerator.  He opens the refrigerator and remembers that it's breakfast, so he picks up a bottle of milk, and it's sour."  And they said, "Gee, that's terrific!  Okay, we'll shoot that."  So we shot it and I got into a coat and we went out the door - and we never went back to the apartment again!"
SS:  That's great!
DM:  That's the way we did it with The Outsider, which was a wonderful shot.  Unfortunately, it occurred during all the assassinations.  NBC was just scared to death.  Every script they said, "No, you can't! Do you have to see the gun?"

SS:  There's a lot of talk now about trimming violence from TV.
DM:  I think they should!  I really do!  I'm going through a script now, that we're preparing for a Movie of the Week.  We're trimming all the violence, not because of protests, but because it's gratuitous.  You don't have to see the actual insertion of a knife into somebody's ribs, or stomach!  That's silly!  It really is, and it's not needful."

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The following series of photographs were taken as "stock," representative pictures for distribution to magazines and newspapers.  Numerous locations, action settings and poses were shot, usually in a single day.