T.H.E. Cat
an Episode Guide
by Alan Morton and Walter von Bosau
Last updated:
Thu, 25 Oct 2018 21:00
T.H.E. Catan Episode Guide
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| aired from: Sep 1966 to: Mar 1967 | 26 eps | NBC | 30 min | mono | ________________ |
regulars:
"Out of the night comes a man who saves lives at the risk of his own:Thus began the opening monologue for one of the mid-60's most exciting and misunderstood shows. T.H.E. CAT was the story of Thomas Hewitt Edward Cat, a man with a very checkered past who had turned his particular abilities into a lucrative career as a professional bodyguard.
Once a circus performer, an aerialist who refused the net...
Once a cat burglar, a master among jewel thieves...
And now, a professional bodyguard - primitive, savage, in love with danger - T.H.E CAT!"
Cat was available for hire to anyone whose life was being threatened. Instead of an office, he could be contacted at the Casa del Gato (House of The Cat), a smoky nightclub run by his friend Pepé, a gypsy whose life was saved by Cat in the past and who looked upon Cat as the son he never had.
T.H.E. Cat eschewed regular weapons, usually relying on his wits and acrobatic abilites to get him out of tough situations. He was a master of the tightrope and always had a collapsible grappling hook and rope set, to get him into areas others could not penetrate. When provoked, however, he did have at his disposal a throwing dagger secreted in an arm holster, as well as a pistol.
The show was set in San Francisco (although it was never identified as such), but the exotic locales and settings of the stories gave it a much more European flavor. Cat's mentor, the man who taught him his second-story skills, was European, as were many of his clients.
The show had an extremely film noir flavor, with constant dark alleys and threatening situations. It also had an amazing gallery of grotesques, not seen in any other series before or since, including:
Captain MacAllister - Cat's police liaison, who had only one hand (the result of an incident early in his career)
Moonface (episode #10) - a bald killer with thick glasses who constantly perspired
El Ganso (episode #12) - a twisted psychopath with a broken neck (which lolled when he spoke) who refused to wear shoes (due to his own mother's curse that he would die with his shoes on)
In addition to its unusual characters and situations, it was also one of the most violent TV shows of its time, with the second half of each episode essentially devoted to showing T.H.E. Cat wreaking complete mayhem on the villains. It has the unlikely distinction of being the first series of its season to be canceled.
T.H.E. CAT was created by Harry Julian Fink (who would go on to create Clint Eastwood's character in the film Dirty Harry). The producer was Boris Sagal (father of Katey Sagal of Married with Children). The memorable theme was by Lalo Schifrin, better known for the theme to MISSION: Impossible.
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Cat feels that the police protection being given to a waterfront priest is not enough to save him from racketeers who wish to kill him.
b: 16 Sep 66 pc: _________ w: Harry Julian Fink d: Boris SagalCat's former mentor, an elderly jewel thief, asks Cat for help in pulling off one last heist - of an emerald in the possession of racketeers - before he retires.
b: 23 Sep 66 pc: _________ w: James D. Buchanan and Ronald Austin d: Boris SagalCat investigates the knifing of a singer's agent.
b: 30 Sep 66 pc: _________ w: Robert Hamner d: Boris SagalA gunman with a hostage demands that Cat bring him the hostage's father, an ex-cop whom the gunman wants to kill before the mob does the job for him.
b: 7 Oct 66 pc: _________ w: Harry Julian Fink d: Maurice VaccarinoCat fears that to settle an old grudge, McAllister may go after an ex-con who just got released after serving 30 years.
b: 14 Oct 66 pc: _________ w: James D. Buchanan and Ronald Austin d: Don McDougallThe last male heir of a Gypsy family hires Cat as his bodyguard for one night while he pays the traditional last respects to his father.
b: 21 Oct 66 pc: _________ w: Herman Miller d: Harvey HartCat is hired to guard a popular matador who has been marked for death during his visit to America.
b: 28 Oct 66 pc: _________ w: John O'Dea and Arthur Rowe d: John RichWhen a kangaroo court sentences Pepe to death, Cat challenges its gypsy leader to a bizarre duel in an attempt to save his friend's life.
b: 4 Nov 66 pc: _________ w: George F. Slavin & Stanley Adams d: Alan Crosland Jr. NOTE: This episode was featured in a two-page TV Guide article on Robert Loggia and the athletics involved in making the show.Cat inadvertently walks into danger when he joins four people being held by an assassin who is waiting for his employer to arrive and name the victim.
b: 18 Nov 66 pc: _________ w: Robert E. Thompson d: Boris SagalCat agrees to protect an artist whose testimony could put away a top underworld figure.
b: 25 Nov 66 pc: _________ w: Bernard C. Schoenfeld d: Sutton RoleyAn elderly actress who fears for her life summons T.H.E. Cat to her dressing room.
b: 2 Dec 66 pc: _________ w: Bernard C. Schoenfeld d: Herschel DaughertyA girl with a sob story gives Cat an envelope filled with money so he will protect a youngster who is being pursued by assassins.
b: 9 Dec 66 pc: _________ w: Herman Miller d: Boris SagalCat protects a famed mathematician from a crazed prince who hopes to use the man's genius to regain past glories.
b: 16 Dec 66 pc: _________ w: Robert Hamner d: Don McDougallA deported underworld leader risks imprisonment by returning stateside to kill the owner of a junk shop.
b: 23 Dec 66 pc: _________ w: Shimon Wincelberg d: Joseph PevneyCat has four suspects in the murder of an art dealer he had been hired to protect.
b: 30 Dec 66 pc: _________ w: Herman Miller d: Jacques TourneurCat sets out to recover a priceless necklace an old friend gave to a blackmailing former lover, before her husband discovers that it is missing.
b: 6 Jan 67 pc: _________ w: Jack Turley d: Boris SagalCat becomes the mouse in a game of cat and mouse when a racketeer chases Cat and the two people he is protecting across the hostile desert.
b: 13 Jan 67 pc: _________ w: Jack Turley d: Paul BaxleyCat tries to convince a girl who intends on cracking a visiting monarch's safe to get out of the business.
b: 20 Jan 67 pc: _________ w: Jack Turley d: Boris SagalCat seeks revenge against the assassin who killed the woman he loved.
b: 27 Jan 67 pc: _________ w: Harry Julian Fink d: Maurice VaccarinoA woman who has killed once threatens to do so again unless Cat recovers a set of counterfeit printing plates and brings them to her.
b: 3 Feb 67 pc: _________ w: Jack Turley d: Alan Crosland Jr.When his mystic informs him that T.H.E. Cat is out to kill him, a hoodlum decides to kill Cat first.
b: 10 Feb 67 pc: _________ w: James D. Buchanan & Ronald Austin d: Boris SagalA superstitious old woman who believes that her ownership of a flawless ruby has marked her for death hires Cat.
b: 17 Feb 67 pc: _________ w: Bernard C. Schoenfeld d: Bert FreedCat gets between the mob and a popular comedian when they threaten him with bodily harm if he fails to renew his contract.
b: 24 Feb 67 pc: _________ w: Robert Hamner d: Harry HarrisCat is reluctant to help the police recapture an escaped convict who once saved Cat's life.
b: 10 Mar 67 pc: _________ w: Robert Hamner d: Paul BaxleyCat must prevent anyone from collecting a $200,000 bounty offered by a crimelord for killing a former secretary who can testify against him.
b: 24 Mar 67 pc: _________ w: Preston Wood d: Paul StanleyA con woman involves Cat in a scheme to relieve an arms smuggler of millions in foreign currency.
b: 31 Mar 67 pc: _________ w: James D. Buchanan & Ronald Austin d: Jud Taylor| Back to TOP of Page |
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