MovieChat Forums > Burke's Law (1963) Discussion > The reason for the switch

The reason for the switch

posted 14 years ago by schappe1
3 replies | jump to latest

The IMBD has elected to call his page "Amos Burke: Secret Agent" noting that it's original title was "Burke's Law". True fans know the title was "Burke's Law" and that "Amos Burke: Secret Agent" was an abomination it was turned into in it's third season. Many feel the show might have gone on for years, like "Murder She Wrote", "Columbo", "Diagnosis: Murder", Matlock", etc, all shows that people who worked on Burke's Law later were involved with. With a normal run, it might never have left syndication.

There's some discussion on this forum as to why the switch was made but nobody seems to know other than the fact that there was a "spy craze" at the time.

On U-Tube, one poster, calling himself "fromthesidelines", has this to say, (his post might be archived at some point so I am quoting it rather than linking it):

"These are the closing credits from the very first episode of the "revised" series (which producer Aaron Spelling insisted wouldn't work, but ABC wanted a "spy show", and they and Four Star insisted Spelling "convert" Amos Burke into a government agent)"

I don't know if the poster really has any inside information but it's the first time I've read any specifics on the subject so i thought I'd share it with everybody. Apparently we can blame the network and the production company, not Spelling and certainly not Gene Barry, (one poster here said he wanted more screen time and wanted them to get rid of his co-stars).

[–] tbrittreid 14 years ago

The title screw-up has been fixed, and I'm surprised at how quickly it was done since the main title on a page is a big thing to change.

Judging from the credits here, it looks like Aaron Spelling's name isn't on the final season, so maybe he quit rather than work on it. His company produced the mid-90s revival, which ignored the spy format, consistent with that. BTW, despite what schappe_1 says in his User Review, Dick Van Dyke's Diagnosis: Murder was on the air ahead of the Burke's Law revival (or does he just mean that they were scheduled back to back?).

As for your final statement, Four Star and ABC could have both been trying to make the star of a rare hit for each happy (Dick Powell's company was dying without him, and ABC was a perennial third place finisher behind CBS & NBC until the 70s), so Barry is not exonerated by their culpability, but Gene's doing the revival seems to work against his.

Does anybody know if the first episode of the third season depicted the transition, or was Burke just suddenly working for American intelligence without explanation? Was his wealth retained?

The GREEN HORNET Strikes Again!

[–] schappe1 14 years ago

...consisted of a shot of the Rolls Royce parked next to "The Man's" plane. Then we go right to scene where The Man is recruitng Burke to become a secret agent.

In another post I quote form a statement by Barry that he was tired of doing weekly series after Bat Masterson and Burke's Law. His weekly shows after this were the "wheel" show The Name of the Game and thre syndicated "The Adventurer". It makes no sense that he wanted to get rid of his co-stars so he could have more screen time if he felt overworked as it was.

[–] tbrittreid 14 years ago

The Rolls Royce! Still wealthy, then. Thanks. And thanks for the other info, too. If he was "tired" of the weekly grind, the last thing he'd want is to dispose of a sizable supporting cast who would deserve their own scenes, leaving himself to pick up the slack.

The GREEN HORNET Strikes Again!