Run, Joe, Run

I remember seeing the promos for this series and my brothers and I thought it looked kind of interesting but after a short time it just became repetitious and depressing. A stately, do-gooding dog who is falsely accused of attacking his trainer is chased from town to town, never able to just become the beloved household pet that all dogs long to be. The series was certainly original in that it was the first (and thankfully last) German Sheperd soap opera on television. Rather depressing and I am not surprised that it is not in syndication the way other Saturday morning shows from my youth are like Scooby Doo. How the writers thought that this would become a big hit with children I will never know and what a premise ???!!! In 1974 our military couldn't come up with a task force to look into how exposure to Agent Orange harmed our troops but they evidently had the time and personnel to chase this one dog all over this great land of ours. Even at age 9 I should have realized how ridiculous this idea was. By the way, I am shocked that this series is actually remembered by 4 people outside of family. This is one OBSCURE show.

Fond memories of my youth, watching a German Shepard save the day, only to have to take off moments before his trainer rolled up in his Jeep. A modern reincarnation of Lassie, Joe not only told of 'Timmy' down a well, he managed to nab the bad guys for the police and otherwise save the day.

The trainer in his Jeep stands out in my mind... all these years later, the driver drove it without a roof or doors, and he *never* used his seat belt. If anyone would be wearing a belt in the '70s, you'd think it would be a guy with no doors.

Years later, this same theme would be repeated on A-Team, Incredible Hulk, etc.

I loved Run Joe Run! It's a little hard to remember all the details but I remember always rooting for Joe's owner to catch Joe so he could clear Joe's name & be reunified again. Alas, it never happened & we never even got a closing final episode to tie up the loose ends and...no spin off or movies were ever made. Poor Joe is still running wild out there, with many villains out to get him with his only real friend searching in vain! Come Home Joe, Come Home! :)

OK, I need to write more lines before I can submit so...I think Joe was written during the sad story line days of the mid 70's. There were so many tearjerking songs written then...remember "Wild Fire" (horse), "Shannon" (dog), "Seasons in the Sun" (guy dying), "Rocky" (girl dying), "Judy Mae" (boy's dad dying after finding his new wife & son in bed!)...I know there were many more songs about dying during that time. I wonder why? Musta been all the drugs from the 60's!

Joe and his person, Corey, have returned to the States after a tour of duty in Viet Nam. Joe is a good dog, but he is perceived by authorities as a dangerous weapon. Only his buddy from the service can help him, but being on the run keeps him from connecting with his friend. On the way, his heroics bale out people. Like the Lone Ranger, Joe must move on after his rescues.

Great short lived show. I have always been a dog lover and this show captured my attention when I was a young lad. I was always rooting for Joe to keep running and outsmarting the authorities. I guess it touched the deep part of the human spirit that always roots for the underdog or falsely accused. I remember that I was so disappointed when the show stopped coming on Saturday mornings. It was a nice switch from all of the animated shows that were on. I went on to have a wonderful German Shepherd named "Keesha" that lived to be over thirteen (13) years old. The show would often bring out the human aspects of dogs and I saw these very attributes in my German Shepherd. I know that it would be easy to have duplicated a "Lassie" type plot, but they took this show and added the drama of being a fugitive and made it something more. I wish we could have another show come out like this to entertain young and old alike.