Griff

Griff is an American television series of the mystery and crime drama genres. It was created by Larry Cohen and was produced by Groverton Productions and Universal Television. It ran for only twelve episodes from September 29th, 1973 to January 5th, 1974 on ABC. The series starred Lorne Greene as Wade Griffin - a thirty-year veteran of the police department, who now turns his investigative techniques to the private sector. Griff also stars Ben Murphy as Mike Murdoch, Patricia Stich as Gracie Newcombe, and Vic Tayback as Captain Barney Marcus.

Notes & Trivia

 * Griff aired on Saturday evenings.


 * The central setting for the series is Los Angeles, California.


 * Despite its premature cancellation, several episodes of the series were later broadcast in syndication in 1975. The original unaired pilot, which was called "Man on the Outside", was eventually broadcast on June 25th and ran two hours. Four episodes of the show were compiled into two 2-hour television movies. "The Last Ballad" and "All the Lonely People" were broadcast as "The Case of the Baltimore Girls". "Countdown to Terror" and "Elephant in a Cage" were packaged as "Death Follows A Psycho".


 * Groverton Productions is also known for producing the TV series Lucas Tanner, which aired for a single season on NBC from September 11th, 1974 to April 9th, 1975.


 * Actor Lorne Greene had already become a well-known staple in television for his portrayal of Ben Cartwright on the western series Bonanza. Long after the world forgets about Griff, Greene will take on another iconic role, that of Commander Adama in 1978 sci-fi series Battlestar Galactica.


 * Actor Ben Murphy also hailed from a western series of his own. He had just come off playing Jed "Kid" Curry, aka Thaddeus Jones on the TV series Alias Smith and Jones. Like Lorne Greene, he too would go on to headline a 1970s sci-fi series - Gemini Man, playing the role of Sam Casey.


 * Actor Vic Tayback would eventually go on to play an iconic 1970s comedy character - Mel Sharples - the cranky, rhaspy-voiced owner of Mel's Diner on the CBS series Alice.


 * Actress Patricia Stich will eventually reunite with Griff co-star Lorne Greene when she plays Zara on the "Murder on the Rising Star" episode of Battlestar Galactica.


 * Actress Pamela Hensley made her acting debut in the series in "Isolate and Destroy", playing a character named June.