The Mod Squad

By 1968 Daniel Boone was still a hit show but it had been on for 4 years. Around this time a show is usually about to go off the air. DB was still going strong and wouldn’t be off canceled till 1970. Of course Aaron Spelling didn’t know this so he had to come up with another show. What he came up with was a show about young undercover Cops. Not just any cops. These weren’t the typical kids raised by Ward and June Cleaver who went to the Police Academy when they grew up. These kids never went through that kind of training. They were kids of the street. Linc Hayes, played by Clarence Williams III, was the cool dude with the wild afro. He was raised in Watts and arrested during the Watts riots. Pete Cochran, played by Michael Cole, was from a wealthy family. His family kicked him out because of his rebel ways and he was arrested when he stole a car. Peggy Lipton played Julie Barnes. She was a runaway from her prostitute Mother in San Francisco and was arrested for vagrancy. Tige Andrews played Capt. Adam Greer. He made them a deal that they could avoid jail if they worked undercover to help the police. They would infiltrate the schools, gangs etc. In doing so they could find out who the adult crooks where that preyed on the kids.
While Mr. Spelling was the producer of the show the real creator was Bud Ruskin. Mr. Ruskin use to be a policeman. He wrote the pilot script from his own experiences as a young undercover narcotics officer in the 1950’s for the LA Sheriff’s Department. He wrote the script in 1960. Years later it caught the eye of Mr. Spelling and he made it into a hit TV show. Eight years from script to screen is a long time but it was worth it.
This youth task force didn’t easily work together. Because of their different cultures and backgrounds they always questioned authority and each others reasons and methods. However, with out realizing it, this kept them on their toes. They became a great task force against crime. The one thing they probably agreed upon was getting rid of the station wagon they drove around. Now can you really see the super cool Linc driving a station wagon? It was gone by the second season.
The show ran on ABC. That network would become a home for many of Aaron Spelling productions throughout the 70’s. It ran mostly on Tuesday nights from September of 1968 to August of 1972. Then in September of 1972 it ran on Thursday nights till it ended it network run in August of 1973. While I never saw it, there was a movie version of the Mod Squad a few years ago staring Omar Epps, Claire Danes and Giovanni Ribisi. The premise of the show 21 Jumpstreet was the same as the Mod Squad. However, it was closer to real life as they were real cops who still looked young enough to pass as high school students.
Here is a link to a Mod Squad fan site.