Quinn Martin was a highly regarded American television producer with at least one television series running in prime time every year for twenty-one straight years, from 1959 to 1980. As QM Productions, Martin established a distinct format for his series—filmed as mini-movies—that was broken into four sections called “Acts." It was essentially a clever device to resume the story after commercial breaks. Each episode wrapped up the story with a short "Epilogue." They were parodies of this format, none better than the six-episode comedy, Police Squad starring Leslie Nielsen. After selling QM Productions, Martin continued developing motion pictures for Warner Bros. with a new company, QM Communications, until his death.
My highlights of his most noted television-producing career:
1958: "Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse" anthology TV series for Desilu Productions.
1959: The landmark series "The Untouchables" (1959-63) for Desilu Productions. Emmy winner. Famous theme by Nelson Riddle.
1960: Established QM Productions. Sold the company in 1978 to become an adjunct professor at the University of California's Earl Warren College, San Diego.
1961: 36 episodes of the ABC police crime drama, "The New Breed," starring Leslie Nielsen and John Beradino. Theme composed by Dominic Frontiere. 1st series under his QM Production company.
1963: "The Fugitive" drama series. The QM Productions logo became known worldwide. His use of narration was a signature element of the series.
1964: "12 O'Clock High" TV series. Ratings nose-dived after charismatic star, Robert Lansing, was unceremoniously "killed off" at the beginning of 2nd season. Replaced by Paul Burke. Lansing was understandably puzzled by the decision.
1965: "The F.B.I." was his longest-running series based around the James Stewart film, "The F.B.I. Story."
1967: "The Invaders" starring Roy Thinnes as architect, David Vincent, in his 1 year career swap to become an expert on sneaky interplanetary aliens.
1970: "Dan August" crime drama series with Burt Reynolds as a police lieutenant. Not unique enough to survive beyond 26 episodes. Innovative theme by Dave Grusin. Reynolds' film stardom made reruns popular.
1971: "Cannon" was a five-year Private Detective series about a rotund investigator who drove a Lincoln Mark IV equipped with a telephone.
1972: "The Streets of San Francisco" ran for five years and made a star of Michael Douglas.
1973-1980: "Barnaby Jones," an unlikely popular detective series about a 65-year-old investigator ran for seven years.
