Petrocelli

This article is about the television series. For people with the surname, see Petrocelli (surname).

Petrocelli is an American legal drama that ran for two seasons on NBC from September 11, 1974 to March 31, 1976.^[1]

Petrocelli
Barry Newman as Tony Petrocelli
Created by	Harold Buchman Sidney J. Furie
Developed by	E. Jack Neuman
Directed by	Irving J. Moore
Starring	Barry Newman Susan Howard Albert Salmi David Huddleston
Composers	Lalo Schifrin (pilot, 2.2)
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
No. of seasons	2
No. of episodes	45 (4 unaired) (and one pilot movie) (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producers	Edward K. Milkis Thomas L. Miller
Producer	Leonard Katzman
Camera setup	Single-camera
Running time	48 minutes
Production companies	Miller-Milkis Productions Paramount Network Television
Original release
Network	NBC
Release	September 11, 1974 (1974-09-11) – March 3, 1976 (1976-03-03)

Plot

Tony Petrocelli is an Italian-American, Harvard-educated lawyer, who grew up in South Boston and gave up the big money and frenetic pace of major-metropolitan life to practice in a sleepy city in Arizona named San Remo (filmed in Tucson, Arizona). His wife Maggie and he live in a house trailer in the country while waiting for their new home to be built (it never was completed over the course of the series). Tony drives an old pickup truck, always a little too fast. Petrocelli hired Pete Ritter, a local cowboy and ex-cop, as his investigator.

Format

Petrocelli works as a defense lawyer, and each episode follows a similar format, with the clients apparently certain to be convicted of a crime of which they were innocent until a late-emerging piece of evidence allows the protagonist to suggest to the jury an alternative possibility. These alternatives never were established as absolute fact, and the trial of the persons onto whom Petrocelli turned the accusation never occurred, but the doubt raised was sufficient to secure the release of his clients.

A technique used in the TV series was showing the actual crime in flashbacks from the perspective of various people involved. The flashbacks differed depending on whose recollections were being shown. To maximize the drama, the prosecution's version was always the first flashback shown (i.e. what supposedly happened), then the client's version was presented (what the client remembered happening), then, finally, after finishing his investigation, Petrocelli presented his version (generally meant to be what, in fact, occurred). This final flashback always contained elements of the prosecution's and his client's versions, but with his newfound evidence; it showed both the client's innocence and an explanation as to how and why the prosecution and client's versions differed. In other words, neither side was meant to be corrupt or lying, rather, without Petrocelli's information, both previous versions appeared to be accurate from their respective points of view.

Adaptation

Newman created the role of Petrocelli in the 1970 movie The Lawyer, loosely based on the Sam Sheppard murder case. Petrocelli was produced by Leonard Katzman.

Cast

Actor	Role
Barry Newman	Anthony J. Petrocelli
Susan Howard	Maggie Petrocelli
Albert Salmi	Pete Ritter
David Huddleston	Lt. John Ponce

Episodes

Pilot (1974)

A 90-minute TV movie aired as a pilot on March 16, 1974.^[2][3]

Title	Directed by	Written by	Original air date
"Night Games"	Don Taylor	E. Jack Neuman	March 16, 1974 (March 16, 1974)

Season 1 (1974–75)

No. overall	No. in season	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original air date
1	1	"The Golden Cage"	Joseph Pevney	Story by : Eric Bercovici Teleplay by : Dan Ullman	September 11, 1974 (1974-09-11)
2	2	"Music to Die By"	Paul Stanley	Oliver Crawford	September 18, 1974 (1974-09-18)
3	3	"By Reason of Madness"	James Sheldon	William Kelley	September 25, 1974 (1974-09-25)
4	4	"Edge of Evil"	Irving J. Moore	Story by : Mel Goldberg Teleplay by : Dan Ullman	October 2, 1974 (1974-10-02)
5	5	"A Life for a Life"	Allen Reisner	William D. Gordon & James Doherty	October 9, 1974 (1974-10-09)
6	6	"Death in High Places"	Richard Donner	Leo Pipkin	October 23, 1974 (1974-10-23)
7	7	"The Double Negative"	Herb Wallerstein	Robert C. Dennis	October 30, 1974 (1974-10-30)
8	8	"Mirror, Mirror on the Wall..."	Irving J. Moore	Leonard Katzman	November 6, 1974 (1974-11-06)
9	9	"An Act of Love"	Paul Stanley	Leonard Katzman	November 13, 1974 (1974-11-13)
10	10	"A Very Lonely Lady"	Vincent McEveety	Robert Stull	November 27, 1974 (1974-11-27)
11	11	"Counterploy"	James Sheldon	Edward J. Lakso	December 4, 1974 (1974-12-04)
12	12	"A Covenant with Evil"	James Sheldon	Story by : Bob Green & Bill Harley Teleplay by : Bob Green & Bill Harley & William Kelley	December 18, 1974 (1974-12-18)
13	13	"The Sleep of Reason"	Irving J. Moore	William Kelley	January 15, 1975 (1975-01-15)
14	14	"A Fallen Idol"	Herb Wallerstein	Leonard Katzman	January 22, 1975 (1975-01-22)
15	15	"Once Upon a Victim"	Herschel Daugherty	Story by : Stanley Roberts Teleplay by : Leonard Katzman & Stanley Roberts	January 29, 1975 (1975-01-29)
16	16	"The Kidnapping"	Gunnar Hellstrom	Robert C. Dennis	February 5, 1975 (1975-02-05)
17	17	"A Lonely Victim"	Irving J. Moore	Leonard Katzman	February 19, 1975 (1975-02-19)
18	18	"The Outsiders"	Irving J. Moore	Leonard Katzman & Thomas L. Miller	February 26, 1975 (1975-02-26)
19	19	"Vengeance in White"	Leonard Katzman	Robert Stull	March 5, 1975 (1975-03-05)
20	20	"Four the Hard Way"	Joseph Pevney	William Kelley	March 13, 1975 (1975-03-13)
21	21	"Death in Small Doses"	Don Taylor	Al Reynolds & John Dawson	March 27, 1975 (1975-03-27)
22	22	"A Night of Terror"	Bernard McEveety	William Kelley	April 2, 1975 (1975-04-02)

Season 2 (1975–76)

No. overall	No. in season	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original air date
23	1	"Death Ride"	Irving J. Moore	Leonard Katzman	September 10, 1975 (1975-09-10)
24	2	"The Mark of Cain"	Leonard Katzman	Leonard Katzman	September 17, 1975 (1975-09-17)
25	3	"Five Yards of Trouble"	Joseph Pevney	William Keys	September 24, 1975 (1975-09-24)
26	4	"Shadow of Fear"	Irving J. Moore	Leonard Katzman	October 1, 1975 (1975-10-01)
27	5	"Chain of Command"	Herb Wallerstein	Katharyn & Michael Michaelian	October 8, 1975 (1975-10-08)
28	6	"To See No Evil"	Irving J. Moore	Leonard Katzman & Thomas L. Miller	October 29, 1975 (1975-10-29)
29	7	"Terror on Wheels"	Herb Wallerstein	Story by : Peter Lefcourt Teleplay by : Peter Lefcourt & Leonard Katzman	November 5, 1975 (1975-11-05)
30	8	"The Gamblers"	Herb Wallerstein	John Hudock	November 12, 1975 (1975-11-12)
31	9	"Shadow of Doubt"	Irving J. Moore	Story by : Deena Silver-Kramer Teleplay by : Jeff Myrow	November 19, 1975 (1975-11-19)
32	10	"Terror by Book"	Irving J. Moore	Thomas L. Miller	December 10, 1975 (1975-12-10)
33	11	"Face of Evil"	Herb Wallerstein	Fred Freiberger	December 17, 1975 (1975-12-17)
34	12	"Too Many Alibis"	Irving J. Moore	Leonard Katzman	December 24, 1975 (1975-12-24)
35	13	"A Deadly Vow"	Russ Mayberry	Leonard Katzman	December 31, 1975 (1975-12-31)
36	14	"Jubilee Jones"	Art Fisher	Leonard Katzman	January 14, 1976 (1976-01-14)
37	15	"The Falling Star"	Robert Scheerer	Leonard Katzman	January 21, 1976 (1976-01-21)
38	16	"Survival"	Irving J. Moore	Story by : Norman Lessing Teleplay by : Leonard Katzman	January 28, 1976 (1976-01-28)
39	17	"The Night Visitor"	Leonard Katzman	Jeff Myrow & Leonard Katzman	February 4, 1976 (1976-02-04)
40	18	"Blood Money"	Don Weis	John Hudock	February 11, 1976 (1976-02-11)
41	19	"Any Number Can Die"	Paul Lynch	Kathy Donnell & Madeline DiMaggio	February 18, 1976 (1976-02-18)
42	20	"Six Strings of Guilt"	Joseph Pevney	Mann Rubin	February 25, 1976 (1976-02-25)^[failed verification]
43	21	"Deadly Journey"	Jerry London	Sean Forestal	March 3, 1976 (1976-03-03)^[failed verification]
44	22	"The Pay Off"	Victor French	John Hudock	April 4, 1976 (1976-04-04)^[failed verification]

Guest stars

• Anne Archer
• Ned Beatty
• Lucille Benson
• Lynn Borden
• Nancy Criss
• Kim Darby
• Susan Dey
• Harrison Ford
• Ron Foster
• Alan Fudge
• Lynda Day George
• Louis Gossett Jr.
• Harold Gould
• Mark Hamill
• Robert Hooks
• Julie Kavner
• Sally Kirkland
• Kay Lenz
• Strother Martin
• Debbie McGee
• Gerald McRaney
• Belinda Montgomery
• Lee Montgomery
• James Naughton
• Annette O'Toole
• Della Reese
• Peter Mark Richman
• Robbie Rist
• John Ritter
• Marion Ross
• John Saxon
• Simon Scott
• William Shatner
• Loretta Swit
• Joan Van Ark
• Mitch Vogel
• Cindy Williams
• Noble Willingham
• William Windom

Home media

Visual Entertainment released the complete series on DVD in Region 1 on December 16, 2016.^[4]

Books about the series

• Petrocelli: San Remo Justice: An Episode Guide and Much More by Sandra Grabman, published 2018 by BearManor Media. ISBN 978-1-62933-205-5

References

1. "Petrocelli". The New York Times.
2. Night Games at IMDb  
3. Petrocelli at epguides.com
4. . tvshowsondvd.com. Archived from the original on 2016-12-20.

External links

• Petrocelli at IMDb  
• Petrocelli at epguides.com