The Blue Knight - DVD Plans Being Looked At for the 1973 Miniseries AND the 1975 TV Show The '73 minseries starring William Holden and the '75 show starring George Kennedy are both based on the 1972 novel by Joseph Wambaugh
Posted by David Lambert	5/05/2017
Joseph Wambaugh was the son of a police officer, and - following a stint in the U.S. Marine Corp and then getting his college degree, he became a cop himself in the Los Angeles Police Dept., a career which lasted 14 years. 11 years in, Wambaugh famously wrote a book titled The New Centurions, which was a big hit. A year later, in 1972, he followed it up with his second novel, The Blue Knight. In late 1973 a 4-part TV miniseries based on that second novel was aired on NBC. It starred William Holden (Oscar-winner for Stalag 17) as lead character "Bumper Morgan," and Holden won an Emmy Award for that role. Co-stars included Lee Remick (Days of Wine and Roses, The Omen), Sam Elliott (Tombstone, The Big Lebowski), Anne Archer (Patriot Games, Fatal Attraction), Joe Santos (Blue Thunder, The Last Boy Scout), Eileen Brennan (Private Benjamin, The Sting), and Vic Tayback (Alice, The Shaggy D.A.). Then, in 1975, the story became a weekly TV series, starring George Kennedy (the Airport films; the Naked Gun films) as "Bumper Morgan." The program had a pilot telefilm in May '75, then in December '75 began weekly broadcasts that lasted 23 additional episodes over the course of two (short) seasons. It was produced by Lorimar, and aired on the CBS network until fall 1976. Wambaugh himself had a cameo role, and other guest stars included Glynn Turman, Howard Hesseman, Vic Tayback, Edward James Olmos, Jason Bernard, Richard X. Slattery, Elisha Cook Jr., Robert Hays, Gerald McRaney, P.J. Soles, Guy Stockwell, James Hong, Norman Fell, and many more. Are either of these coming to DVD any time soon? A couple of weeks ago, a fan named Jim Rutkowski asked on Facebook to the Warner Archive Collection about The Blue Knight. The answer from the studio, a few days later, sounded extremely positive! Yes, they DO have plans for both of these. Here's what they said: "Hello Warner Archive! Any chance that the tv series The Blue Knight with George Kennedy is owned by WB? If so, how about a DVD release!" "Yes, it's ours. We've been planning to release the William Holden mini-series first, then the Kennedy series (and pilot telefilm). Likely won't happen this year, but perhaps soon thereafter. Thanks." So, look for the 1973 miniseries to come out first, hopefully in early 2018, then later on the complete series of the 1975 TV show starring George Kennedy. Awesome plans! Of course, plans can often get delayed, or scrapped altogether, so don't count on this as "for certain." But it's nice to have the heads-up that the studio is seriously looking at both of these. Our thanks to reader Jackson Burnett for finding the info about the Facebook conversation (he spotted folks talking about it at the Home Theater Forum; cheers to our friends over there!) and relaying it to us. Stay tuned, of course, and we'll post news about each of these items once the Warner Archive finalizes their plans for their manufacture on demand DVD releases of them!