The Outsider

McGavin, tired, depressed, alone and lonely drinking milk from the carton: an image seared in the mind from 1968. I did all I could to watch every episode of this high point in the skilled acting of Darren McGavin. The atmosphere, the ethos, of "The Outsider" captured its title exactly. While I am sure that no reference to Camus' "L'Etranger", so frequently translated as "The Outsider", was meant, nevertheless there were resonances of the existential anti-hero of the famous book.

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?

Roy Huggins, creator of "77 Sunset Strip, Maverick, and The Fugitive" made this series in 1968 but had no takers. It totals one pilot movie and 26 episodes. It was a very different detective show for the time. Huggins later recycled aspects of this series in creating "The Rockford Files". Matt Ross, like Jim Rockford, was a private detective who had spent time in prison. Neither used a gun when they could help it. Neither was trusted by the police. Rockford kept hid gun in a cereal box. Ross kept his gun in the refrigerator. Rockford's office was in a trailer. Ross's was in a run down building. Both men had the persona of a wistful loser. Darren McGavin, the lead was excellent in the role. Probably the difference in success for the two series was that Matt Ross was a loner with no family or close friends. Rockford's family and friends added a layer of warmth to the series.

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.

I had never seen this show when it was on the first time as I was working 2 jobs at the time. This show was on one of the cable channels over the weekend. The only reason I watched it was the fact that I like Darren McGavin. This was not the tough Darren that played Mike Hammer or Kolchak but a very toned down character with no bite. The story line was awful and right out of the private-eye tv show cookie-cutter scripts of the time. I will never bother watching another episode again.