All Rise...

For the record: Judge P.S. Colbert does not recall, Senator.

The Charge

"No matter what anyone says, I'm not going to take it as fact that we have to live in a world like this, and there's nothing we can do to change it."

The Case

Young and idealistic, with a fire in his belly, Hayes Stowe (Hal Holbrook, The Fog) has just been elected to his first term as the junior Senator for a central American state, and he's determined to make good on his promise to "keep the lines of communication open," thus assuring that even those without wealth and power have a representative voice in the U.S. government.

The Senator was one of three rotating elements on the NBC series The Bold Ones, which followed Bonanza on Sunday nights during the 1970-71 season.

Here's the complete dossier:

• "A Clear And Present Danger"—"It's all around you: waste. Oil and garbage on the water, smoke going up into the sky. We're using the sky as a sewer." This made-for-TV movie served as official pilot for the series. Ironically though, Hayes Stowe worked for the Attorney General's office; his father (E.G. Marshall, 12 Angry Men) was actually the Senator.

• "To Taste Death But Once"—Senator Hayes Stowe receives a death threat on the eve of delivering a speech entitled "The Practical Uses of Dissent in the 1970s." Was it a crank call or a credible threat?

• "The Day The Lion Died"-Senator Stowe's growing concerns over the deteriorating mental state of a powerful committee chairman (Will Geer, Black Like Me) clash with the chairman's wife's (Ann Doran, Meet John Doe) desire to maintain her position on "the hill."

• "Power Play"—Backroom politics come to the fore: Will Senator Stowe back a candidate he doesn't believe in if it means getting a key education bill through the system?

• "A Continual Roar Of Musketry, Parts 1 and 2"—"This is not Kent State, and it's not Jackson State, and it's not Orangeburg. This is a different case in a different part of the country, with its own circumstances." Unfortunately, the circumstances are eerily similar: student protestors are shot dead by law enforcement officials on a college campus. Senator Stowe is chosen to head the state-appointed commission of inquiry.

• "Some Day They'll Elect A President"—"They" being organized crime. An anatomy of the relationship between the mob and elected officials. This provocative, insightful and well-paced episode marked the directorial debut of John Badham (Saturday Night Fever, WarGames).

• "George Washington Told A Lie"—The Native Americans of the Badger River Nation Tribe claim to have been swindled by the U.S. Government's "deal" to buy their land, and Senator Stowe believes they have a point.

• "A Single Blow Of A Sword"—A zealous governmental agencies auditor (Logan Ramsey, The Beast Within) claims to have uncovered gross misappropriation of funds from the head of a poverty-assistance program, but Senator Stowe suspects that the self-appointed fiscal "watchdog" is actually conducting a racist witch hunt.

Our political system has become so competitive, divisive, and money-polluted of late that I wonder how many Americans would mistake The Senator for being a show about extraterrestrials. Hayes Stowe, while never identifying with any party by name, certainly tilts towards a progressive agenda (i.e., ecology, racial equality, eliminating poverty), but today's audiences might be very surprised to see a state representative actually working hard on behalf of somebody other than himself and/or a wealthy benefactor.

Of course, this is television, and if Senator Stowe does tend to come off as a tad too good to be true at times, one certainly can't fault Holbrook, who brings an amazing degree of consideration and humanity to his character, winning a well-deserved Emmy—one of five the series earned during its single season—for his effort. Michael Tolan (All That Jazz), playing Jordan Boyle, the senator's chief of staff, is just as good.

In fact, the dedication to quality seems to have been legion, spreading to writers, directors, and guest stars alike, including: Burgess Meredith (Search), Holly Near (Cult of the Damned), Randolph Mantooth (Emergency!), John Randolph (Seconds), Esther Rolle (Good Times), Lincoln Kirkpatrick (The Omega Man) and beautiful, blonde Sharon Acker (Point Blank), saddled with the thankless role of a Senator's wife.

If only quality control had been such a priority to the curators of Universal Television products back in the day, The Bold Ones: The Senator: The Complete Series, as issued by the Timeless Media Group wouldn't look so…well, let's put it this way: Spaghetti sauce shouldn't ever be brown!

The full-frame transfers feature a wide array of discoloration, scratches, dirt and debris, which on the bright side, makes the Dolby Digital 2.0 mono sound sparkle by comparison, and it's a good thing, too-there are no subtitles available.

The set does come with some interesting bonus features: A lengthy, informative and entertaining new interview with Holbrook; A Dick Cavett Show clip from 1971 that finds Cavett and Holbrook bemoaning the series' premature cancellation; and finally, an interesting anti-drug PSA featuring Holbrook that used to run regularly during commercial breaks during the "me" decade. On balance, the high bar raised by the series content, in addition to these worthwhile extras trump the lousy picture, but just…here's hoping that any future installments of The Bold Ones fare better.

Just imagine: An elected representative that spent his time in office working to champion worthy causes. No wonder the poor devil never saw a second term!

The Verdict

Not Guilty.

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