The Underground Man

The plot for this pilot film of a potential but unrealized series was confusing, overly rushed, and included the tired, done-to-death, snarling supervisor cop (in this case sheriff played by Jack Klugman) who, despite contributing virtually nothing to identify valuable clues himself, constantly complains about the techniques of "renegade" private eye (Peter Graves), while in the end grudgingly acknowledging Graves' success in identifying the real perpetrators and resolving the crimes.

Gee, thanks for nothing, Jack! Get off my back! How about a little confidence and congratulating me for once? Hopefully, Klugman's annoyingly combative role would have been excluded entirely from the series, had it materialized.

In addition, the other players in the plot seemed too cartoonish to be believable and how each scene merged way too conveniently for the "suspension of disbelief" viewers most viewers would surely have groaned about.

Peter Graves deserved much better than this following his earlier role as Mr. Phelps on the brilliant, original Mission Impossible television series.