Sam Benedict

Over the past forty years (!) I have wondered, albeit not a lot, whether I was the only one to watch SAM BENEDICT on any regular basis. As the first commentator in this space, it would appear so.

Maybe it was the San Francisco locale, but probably more the doings of a big shot lawyer which kept my interest. I assure the reader that in 1963 I had no intention as a teen-ager of following the law . . . THAT folly had to wait twenty more years.

O'Brien was probably not the best pick for the lead, although BENEDICT was based loosely on some grandee west coast attorney, but I cannot remember who, and no doubt the stories were mostly fiction. Perhaps O'Brien enjoyed a likeness, hence his getting the role. His waistcoat was always a different colour from his suit, probably the model's trade-mark. In any case, I believe it to be O'Brien's only crack at a series as a regular, and will run him here to check my accuracy.

I recall the stories as interesting, at least to an intellectually curious boy but indifferent student who just wanted to indentify with a wheeler-dealer. The law seemed grand enough. Out of deep thoughts on this failed series, sorry, but since I stand alone it may be an indicium of the essential unworth of SAM BENEDICT.