Arrest and Trial
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Arrest and Trial was a 90-minute crime drama that aired one season on ABC.
The show was set in Los Angeles and aired Sundays from 8:30-10 p.m. Eastern during the 1963-64 season.
Each week's program was actually two 45-minute segments. The first segment followed Sgt. Nick Anderson (Ben Gazzara) of the LAPD as he tracked down and apprehended a criminal. The person Anderson arrested was defended in the second half of the show by an attorney, John Egan (Chuck Connors).
Gazzara agreed to play the role of Anderson only after extracting a promise from the producer that scripts would avoid stereotypical depictions of police officers.
In a 1963 TV Guide interview, Gazzara described his portrayal of Anderson: "I'm supposed to be a thinking man's cop. I'm a serious student of human behavior, more concerned with what creates the criminal than how to punish him. In other words, I'm not the kind of cop who asks, 'Where were you the night of April 13th?' It's my job to show that there is room for passion and intellectualism and personal display even within a policeman."
Arrest and Trial debuted on September 15, 1963. Its last telecast was on September 6, 1964.
Arrest and Trial was also the title of a syndicated nonfiction television program shown in the U.S. in the early 2000s which was produced by Dick Wolf, producer of the long-running Law & Order series which showed excerpts from actual criminal trials.
References
- Brooks, Tim & Marsh, Earle. (1979). The Complete Directory to Primetime Network TV Shows. New York: Ballantine Books, p. 36.
- Durslag, Melvin. (1963, October 12-18). The Egghead Flatfoot. TV Guide, pp. 8-11.
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