Product Code Database
Barnaby Jones is an American detective television series starring Buddy Ebsen as a formerly retired investigator and Lee Meriwether as his widowed daughter-in-law. They run a private detective firm in Los Angeles, California. The show was originally introduced as a midseason replacement on the CBS network and ran from 1973 to 1980. Halfway through the series' run, Mark Shera was added to the cast as a much younger cousin of Ebsen's character, who eventually joined the firm.
Barnaby Jones was produced by Quinn Martin (with Philip Saltzman in the final two seasons). It had the second-longest QM series run (seven and a half seasons), behind The F.B.I.
The first episode of the show, "Requiem for a Son", featured a crossover with another QM program, Cannon, with William Conrad guest-starring as detective Frank Cannon. There was another crossover between the two programs in the 1975 two-part episode "The Deadly Conspiracy".
In 1976, the character of Jedediah Romano "J.R." Jones (Mark Shera), the son of Barnaby's cousin, joined the show. He had come from Chicago to try to solve the murder of his father, who was a retired police officer. After that case was closed, he stayed in Los Angeles to help Barnaby and Betty, while also attending law school. Initially a somewhat angry young man, J.R. soon became an easygoing, fun-loving character.
Besides the Joneses, the only other recurring character on the show was their police contact, Lt. John Biddle (John Carter). He was introduced in the latter half of the second season and appeared in most episodes thereafter, though often only briefly.
As Ebsen aged and expressed an interest in slowing down a bit, Meriwether's and Shera's characters became more prominent, allowing Ebsen to reduce his role. During the last two seasons, episodes were divided evenly between the two actors, Meriwether and Shera each being the focus of half of the season's episodes with Ebsen's involvement limited to slightly more than episodic cameos. Ratings went up in the sixth and seventh seasons, after Shera's character was added, but they plummeted during Season 8.
The show was canceled in 1980 due to declining ratings; Ebsen had also tired of playing the role. After the series' cancellation, aired in syndication.
In later seasons, guest stars included Wayne Maunder, formerly on CBS's Lancer western series, and Ron Hayes, who played Sheriff Oscar Hamlin in the episode "Target for a Wedding." Marshall Colt, later cast with James Arness on McClain's Law, guest-starred in two episodes in 1979. Donald May played the role of Curt Phillips in the 1978 episode "Blind Jeopardy". Character actress Lurene Tuttle played Emily Carter, Betty's aunt, in the 1980 episode "The Killin' Cousin".
Many familiar actors made guest appearances, and others who were newcomers went on to become well-known, including:
Buddy Ebsen's real-life daughter, Bonnie Ebsen, made guest appearances in six episodes, while Lee Meriwether's real-life daughter, Kyle Aletter-Oldham, made in two episodes. Future Trapper John, M.D. stars Pernell Roberts, Gregory Harrison, and Charles Siebert all made guest appearances on one episode. Future WKRP in Cincinnati stars Loni Anderson and Gary Sandy made guest appearances, as well.
| 19.9 (Tied with The Little People and The ABC Wednesday Movie of the Week) | |
| 21.4 (Tied with Good Times) | |
| 19.6 | |
| 18.5 | |
| 20.6 | |
| 20.5 | |
| Not in the Top 30 | |
As of September 2014, this release has been discontinued and is out of print.
On May 4, 2015, Visual Entertainment announced it had acquired the rights to the series in Region 1. It was subsequently announced that VEI would release Barnaby Jones—The Complete Collection on DVD on December 15, 2015. The 45-disc set features all 179 episodes (sourced from both network and syndication analog videotape masters for Seasons 2-8 made in the 1970’s and early-1980’s; Season 1 is the 2010 digital remaster with the bleeped out word) of the series as well as a bonus prequel episode.
| Season One | 13 | February 16, 2010 |
| The Complete Collection | 179 | December 11, 2015 |
|
|
