Classic Television - Prime Time

Bearcats!

Original channel

CBS

Original run

September 16, 1971 – December 30, 1971

Starring

Rod Taylor

Dennis Cole

Bearcats! is an American television series broadcast on the CBS television network during the Fall 1971 television season. It starred Rod Taylor and Dennis Cole as troubleshooters in the period before America entered World War I.

Bearcats! was produced by Filmways Inc. (which previously produced many series including The Addams Family, Mister Ed, The Beverly Hillbillies, Green Acres, and Petticoat Junction). It was co-produced by Rodlor, Rod Taylor's production firm.

Set in 1914, somewhat later historically than a traditional Western, the stories center around the heroes' use of a 1914 Stutz Bearcat automobile. Although autos were common in America in 1914, a $2,000 sports car would have been very rare in the more remote areas of the American west. How the heroes paid for this expensive ride was rather unusual, as well. They undertook work which could be considered "private security" for a prosperous clientele, and rather than charging a traditional fee, they extracted from the client a blank check, with the amount charged to be determined by just how difficult or dangerous the job proved to be once it was completed. "If you can put a price on it, you don't need them badly enough." Typical adventures included learning who was setting fire to oil wells, unraveling a plot where German Army soldiers dressed as American troops raided Mexican border towns hoping to force Mexico into a war with the U.S., and stopping mercenaries from sabotaging medical supplies being sent overseas to the Allies in World War I.

Its time period also allowed the use of props not usually seen in typical westerns, including airplanes, a W.W.I tank, machine guns, and a number of period automobiles.