Assignment Vienna
1972 American TV series or program
Assignment Vienna is an American drama television series aired in the United States by ABC as an element in its 1972-73 wheel series The Men. The series, created by Eric Bercovici and Jerry Ludwig, was made by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Television.
01Synopsis
Assignment Vienna told the story of Jake Webster (Robert Conrad), an American expatriate in Vienna who was the operator of Jake's Bar & Grill, an American-style establishment near the scenic heart of the city. In fact, the business was a cover for Jake's actual reason for being in Vienna. He was involved in tracking down various spies and international criminals at the behest of U.S. intelligence, which apparently held something against him which, if disclosed, would have resulted in his being deported from Austria and apparently then incarcerated in the United States. Jake's liaison with U.S. intelligence was a Major Caldwell (Charles Cioffi). Anton Diffring played Inspector Hoffman of the Vienna police.
The Men initially aired on Thursday nights but was moved at midseason to Saturday nights. It did not garner a large share of viewers in either time slot and none of the elements were renewed. The program was shot on location in Vienna.
02Pilot
The pilot film, called Assignment: Munich and aired earlier in 1972, had the same three main characters, but a different cast (Jake, Major Caldwell, and Inspector Hoffman were played by Roy Scheider, Richard Basehart, and Werner Klemperer, respectively) and was filmed on location in Munich. The location for the series was changed to prevent any disruption to filming caused by that year's Olympic Games, and Scheider chose not to return for the series in favour of a movie career.
03Score
In 2010, Film Score Monthly released Dave Grusin's series theme and three episode scores (along with John Parker's two additional scores) as part of their five-disc collection of MGM television music, TV Omnibus: Volume One (1962-1976).
04Cast
- Robert Conrad as Jake Webster
- Charles Cioffi as Maj. Caldwell
- Anton Diffring as Inspector Hoffman
05Episode list
| No. | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original release date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "The Last Target" | Paul Krasny | Eric Bercovici & Jerry Ludwig | September 28, 1972 (1972-09-28) |
| 2 | "Hot Potato" | Paul Krasny | Eric Bercovici & Jerry Ludwig | October 19, 1972 (1972-10-19) |
| 3 | "Queen's Gambit" | Paul Stanley | D.C. Fontana | November 9, 1972 (1972-11-09) |
| 4 | "Annalisa" | Paul Krasny | Eric Bercovici & Jerry Ludwig | December 7, 1972 (1972-12-07) |
| 5 | "There Was an Old Woman" | Alexander Singer | Mark Rodgers | January 13, 1973 (1973-01-13) |
| 6 | "A Deadly Shade of Green" | Alexander Singer | Eric Bercovici & Jerry Ludwig | January 27, 1973 (1973-01-27) |
| 7 | "So Long, Charley" | Paul Krasny | Gene L. Coon | February 3, 1973 (1973-02-03) |
| 8 | "Soldier of Fortune" | Bruce Kessler | Gene L. Coon | March 10, 1973 (1973-03-10) |
Sources and credits
This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Assignment Vienna”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.
Images, from Wikimedia Commons:
- Assignment Vienna 1972.JPG by ABC Television, Public domain
Fathomly is not affiliated with or endorsed by the Wikimedia Foundation. Spotted a problem? Tell us.