Shaft (TV film series)

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Shaft
Richard Roundtree and Ed Barth in "The Killing", 1973.
Genre	Detective fiction
Based on	Shaft by Ernest Tidyman
Starring	Richard Roundtree
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
No. of seasons	1
No. of episodes	7
Production
Production company	MGM Television
Distributor	Turner Entertainment Co. Warner Bros. Television Distribution
Release
Original network	CBS
Original release	October 9, 1973 (1973-10-09) – February 19, 1974 (1974-02-19)
Chronology
Followed by	Shaft  (2000 film)

Shaft is a series of television films that aired along with Hawkins and other TV films during 1973–74 television season on The New CBS Tuesday Night Movies. Broadcast every third week, the series is a continuation of the three films beginning with Shaft (1971), and starring Richard Roundtree as private detective John Shaft and Ed Barth as Al Rossi; Barth replaces Angelo Gnazzo, who portrayed the character in Shaft's Big Score! (1972).^[1]

Because it was aired on over-the-air television, CBS felt that the narrative needed to be toned down. Now instead of opposing the police, Shaft worked with them, creating conflicts with Hawkins, another police series with a starkly different viewership. The show was cancelled after one season. Contemporary analysts suggested that since the two shows—Shaft and Hawkins—appealed to vastly different audience bases, alternating them only served to confuse fans of both series, giving neither one the time to build up a large viewership.^[2][3][4][5] A further contributor to its ratings failure was competition from other crime drama series starring African-American private investigators, NBC's Tenafly and ABC's Get Christie Love!.^[6] Richard Roundtree himself has publicly expressed his disdain for the small-screen version of Shaft.^[7][8]

Films[]

Cast and characters[]

• Richard Roundtree as Det. John Shaft:

A private detective working with the New York Police Department (NYPD). Roundtree reprises his role from the theatrical Shaft film series.

• Ed Barth as Lt. Al Rossi:

An NYPD police lieutenant working with Shaft. Barth replaces Angelo Gnazzo, who portrayed the character in Shaft's Big Score! (1972).

List indicator(s)

• This table only shows characters that have appeared in three or more films in the series.
• A dark grey cell indicates that the character was not in the film or that the character's presence in the film has yet to be announced.

References[]

External links[]

• Shaft at IMDb
• TV Party: "Shaft" on TV
• Steve Aldous Guide to Shaft TV Series 1973-4

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