The Outsider

The Outsider

1968
The Outsider
The Outsider

The Outsider

7.9 | en | Drama

The Outsider was the story of David Ross, a go-it-alone private investigator who's always where the action is. Darren McGavin played Ross, a man living in an off-beat, always-dangerous world. The series aired for one season on NBC and was a precursor of sorts to The Rockford Files in that it featured a loner private detective who had previously done time in prison for a crime he didn't commit and who never quite fit into a rapidly changing environment.

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Seasons & Episodes

1
EP26  Through a Stained Glass Window
Apr. 16,1969
Through a Stained Glass Window

Ross is hired to serve a subpoena on a Howard Hughes like millionaire who has never been photographed and uncovers a curious love affair along with a murder plot.

EP25  Service for One
Apr. 09,1969
Service for One

Ross is hired to tail a recently paroled convict who is supposedly the only person who knows the exact location of missing money in the amount of $250,000. But, as could be expected, he's not the only one searching for the missing loot.

EP24  Periwinkle Blue
Apr. 02,1969
Periwinkle Blue

A woman has already buried two previous husbands and her third hires Ross to make sure she's not planning on being a widow for the third time.

EP23  A Lot of Muscle
Mar. 26,1969
A Lot of Muscle

Ross is hired by a hard as nails, unbending cop who's facing an indictment on a bribery charge. Suspecting a possible frame-up, he begins checking out the cop's enemies and the man has a whole bunch.

EP22  All the Social Graces
Mar. 12,1969
All the Social Graces

A crude and rough hewn millionaire hires Ross but he's killed before our protagonist can discover why he's been hired. Ross's investigation leads to an elegant tennis club which considered the deceased too uncouth for membership.

EP21  Handle with Care
Mar. 05,1969
Handle with Care

Hired by an insurance company to investigate a series of truck hijackings, Ross poses as a drifter named Leo Martin and joins the hijacking ring.

EP20  The Flip Side
Feb. 26,1969
The Flip Side

A homely looking woman hires Ross to find her missing glamorous model twin sister. He finds her and discovers that she's mixed up in extortion and a narcotics trafficking ring.

EP19  Take the Key and Lock Him Up
Feb. 12,1969
Take the Key and Lock Him Up

Investigating a shooting in a rural town, Ross is arrested on charges of selling marijuana.

EP18  Behind God's Back
Feb. 05,1969
Behind God's Back

Ross goes to Acapulco to find a millionaire's runaway daughter. He locates her among the jet set there then tries to convince her that some of her playmates are up to no good.

EP17  A Bowl of Cherries
Jan. 29,1969
A Bowl of Cherries

When Ross offers to help out the son of an old friend he soon finds himself tangled up in a homicide.

EP16  The Old School Tie
Jan. 22,1969
The Old School Tie

Ross's old prison buddy, who once saved his life, insists that the gumshoe join him in an extortion plot and he won't take no for an answer.

EP15  The Secret of Mareno Bay
Jan. 15,1969
The Secret of Mareno Bay

Ross searches for a missing novelist in a town where most of the residents are glad that the man is gone.

EP14  The Girl from Missouri
Jan. 08,1969
The Girl from Missouri

A naive midwestern gal hires Ross to locate her missing brother. He soon learns that the sibling is involved with some very unsavory types.

EP13  There Was a Little Girl
Dec. 25,1968
There Was a Little Girl

Ross is hired when a woman shows up on a millionaire's doorstep claiming that the girl she has raised is his. It all has to do with a twelve year old kidnapping case for which a ransom was paid yet the victim never seen again.

EP12  The Land of the Fox
Dec. 18,1968
The Land of the Fox

On a case, Ross falls for a woman involved in the case and with some rough characters.

EP11  Tell It Like It Was--and You're Dead
Dec. 04,1968
Tell It Like It Was--and You're Dead

A former burlesque queen hires Ross to find out who's been making death threats against her personage.

EP10  I Can't Hear You Scream
Nov. 27,1968
I Can't Hear You Scream

Ross is running down leads to save a convict from the gas chamber but he doesn't have much time remaining.

EP9  One Long Stemmed American Beauty
Nov. 20,1968
One Long Stemmed American Beauty

Ross begins to wonder if the suicide of a renowned stage and dancing legend was murder.

EP8  The Twenty-Thousand Dollar Carrot
Nov. 13,1968
The Twenty-Thousand Dollar Carrot

Ross must try to return a man who supposedly died from his hiding place in Mexico back to the United States along with the insurance money he got after faking his death.

EP7  Love Is Under "L"
Nov. 06,1968
Love Is Under

A millionaire hires Ross to find his missing galpal. Ross finds her and soon discovers that she is in hiding for good reason.

EP6  A Time to Run
Oct. 30,1968
A Time to Run

A defense attorney hires Ross to find a missing witness in a murder case. Ross finds him but then things go from bad to worse.

EP5  Cold as Ashes
Oct. 16,1968
Cold as Ashes

Ross is hired to carry the ashes of a recently deceased man from Los Angeles to San Francisco but soon discovers that others are following him with mayhem in their hearts. He then tries to figure out why.

EP4  A Wide Place in the Road
Oct. 09,1968
A Wide Place in the Road

Ross travels to a small town in search of a car thief and bail jumper who was once an athletic hero in the town.

EP3  Along Came a Spider
Oct. 02,1968
Along Came a Spider

Ross is hired by a woman who lent her fiancee $6,000. Then the poor fellow got himself killed and now his erstwhile intended wants her money back.

EP2  What Flowers Daisies Are
Sep. 25,1968
What Flowers Daisies Are

Ross is hired to find a missing model. At first the case seems routine but then he stumbles into a million dollar con game and murder.

EP1  For Members Only
Sep. 18,1968
For Members Only

Ross is hired to go undercover in an exclusive club to ferret out a cardsharp who has been fleecing some of its members.

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7.9 | en | Drama | More Info
Released: 1968-09-18 | Released Producted By: Universal Television , Universal/Public Arts Production Country: United States of America Budget: 0 Revenue: 0 Official Website:
Synopsis

The Outsider was the story of David Ross, a go-it-alone private investigator who's always where the action is. Darren McGavin played Ross, a man living in an off-beat, always-dangerous world. The series aired for one season on NBC and was a precursor of sorts to The Rockford Files in that it featured a loner private detective who had previously done time in prison for a crime he didn't commit and who never quite fit into a rapidly changing environment.

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Cast

Darren McGavin

Director

Paul Freeman

Producted By

Universal Television , Universal/Public Arts Production

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Reviews

tony-woodward I haven't seen this show since it first appeared, but it still stands out in my memory of the 1960s so it must have been good.There's one scene I remember vividly and it encapsulates the "loser" aura of McGavin's character in the show. He is looking out of the window of a tall office tower and sees someone in the parking lot far below backing into his car. He watches helplessly as the driver gets out, writes a note and slips it under his windshield wiper. Later, when he gets back to his car he reads the note. I can't remember the exact words after 40 years but it says something like "Sorry I dented your car. There are people watching and they think I'm leaving my name, address and insurance company. But I'm not!" I still grin at the memory of that scene, and it sums up the character's life. You have to feel for him and when he manages to solve a case you have to rejoice for him. Our natural support for the underdog is one of the main reasons for watching this series.I can understand why I love this show, because the Rockford Files is another of my favourites and they are similar except that Jim Rockford has family and friends (some of them false). But David Ross doesn't seem to have anyone. To that extent The Outsider is what the title announces it to be, and to that extent it's a bit bleak. But it has some wonderful moments - at least in my memory. Faced with the rubbish that is on TV today I am dying to see it again.Darren McGavin is always able to inject cynical humour into a part. Like Vincent Price you can always detect that he as a real person is relishing his role. This is why he is one of my favourite actors of the period. I think he was sadly underused, and when I caught up with him later he always seemed to be playing superior villains in roles which restricted him. As an aside I may be the only person alive who never saw him in The Night Stalker.
masonj-1 When I was a child and watched this show, I looked forward to those words every week. The show would start with a cliffhanger followed by "My name is David Ross and I'll bet you're wondering how I got into a mess like this!"When became aware of the genre this show grew out of, I came to believe that it (the show) was an homage to Raymond Chandler. I can think of very few others that captured the spirit of those detective novels so well. Of course this is looking back in memory and it has been many years. I would love to see how this series stand the test of time. If this were available I would buy it in a minute. Does anyone know if it is available or if it soon might be?
jim_altman Roy Huggins, Darren McGavin, and "The Summer of Love" combined to give us a classic, though short-lived, everyman hero of truth, justice, and the American way. David Ross didn't get the girl or the reward or fame or wealth. He got beat up regularly and his clunker Plymouth usually received another undeserved dent, but he had ethics and he knew sh** from shinola. When he was reincarnated a few years later as Jim Rockford, the endings got happier (and more contrived) but for David Ross the calvary didn't come over the rise in the nick of time and the villain didn't always get his just desserts. That's the way real life is. I'm only sorry that the world didn't have David Ross to kick around for a few more seasons.
Cheyenne-Bodie Producer Roy Huggins, who created both "77 Sunset Strip" and "The Fugitive", sort of mixes the two concepts here.In "The Outsider" Huggins imagines what would have happened if Richard Kimble had gone to prison for a long period and then been pardoned.I think Huggins was looking for an actor similar to David Janssen to play ex-con private eye David Ross. Jack Lord, who was in the David Janssen mold, was first offered the role. He would have been perfect casting, but Lord astutely chose "Hawaii 5-0" instead. (When Huggins remade "The Outsider" as "The Rockford Files", he cast James Garner, who was also reminiscent of David Janssen.) Janssen and Huggins had worked together three times, the first time being way back in 1957 on "Conflict". Huggins had written a superb and original character in David Ross, but casting the role was critical. I would have considered Robert Lansing, Pernell Roberts (without toupee), George Maharis, Stuart Whitman, John Saxon, Bradford Dillman or Rip Torn. Or maybe Huggins could even have got David Janssen with a sweet enough offer.Darren McGavin was one of the greatest television actors of his generation, but he wasn't in peak form here. He had already brilliantly played private detective Mike Hammer, so he wasn't the freshest casting. McGavin was forced to wear a toupee as Ross, and the toupee made him less interesting looking. McGavin didn't project the great soulfulness and weariness that David Janssen might have and that could have been appropriate for a man who spent a long period in jail and was a lifetime outsider.Huggins wasn't able to find a way to properly exploit the ex-con aspect of his hero. Maybe Ross should have been trying to find the person who committed the crime he went to jail for."The Outsider" made too much use of tired old Universal sets and there was little location shooting. Also Pete Ruggolo's music was way too reminiscent of Huggins' "Run For Your Life". The sets and the music were really disappointing. The cinematography didn't give a distinctive noir look to the show. There should have been more night for night shooting. And Huggins didn't seem to spend as much on each episode as Leonard Freedman did on "Hawaii 5-0" and Quinn Martin did on his shows. "The Outsider" seemed to be done on the cheap.But Huggins' basic conception for this show was near brilliant. Huggins tried to turn all the TV private eye conventions on their head (conventions "77 Sunset Strip" helped introduce). David Ross didn't live in a magnificent apartment with a view of the city, he didn't have a leggy secretary, he didn't drive a sports car, he wasn't highly educated (actually he wasn't even a high school graduate), he didn't have a close pal on the force (the police treated him like scum), he didn't have handsome partners who were like brothers, he wasn't a great humanist who took cases for free, he wasn't rich (actually he was poor), he didn't refuse divorce cases on principle....Even with a less than perfect execution, "The Outsider" is one of television's finest examples of the private eye genre.The hit private eye movie "Harper" (1966), where Paul Newman played a version of Ross Macdonald's Lew Archer, also appears to have been a strong influence on "The Outsider". I think Huggins got the name of his hero David Ross by combining the first names of David Janssen and Ross Macdonald.