History Creator / QuinnMartin

Martin's biggest success came about in the following season (1965-66). FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover was approached by Creator/WarnerBros about doing a series about the Bureau as a SpiritualSuccessor to studio's 1959 film ''The FBI Story'', and Hoover agreed to it. He first approached his friend, Mervyn [=LeRoy=], about producing the series, as [=LeRoy=] directed ''FBI Story'', but [=LeRoy=] wasn't interested in doing television. Someone suggested Martin's name to Hoover, and he agreed. In the Fall of 1965, ''Series/TheFBI'' was launched, with Creator/EfremZimbalistJr as Inspector Lewis Erskine. Martin was under extreme scrutiny while making the show. He had to make sure that the actors playing agents (Zimbalist, Stephen Brooks and Philip Abbott) all looked, dressed and acted like FBI agents (meaning that the characters couldn't do things like smoke or put their feet up on desks, to name a couple of things), plus the Bureau insisted on vetting EVERY ACTOR that did the show, to make sure that there was nothing about them that would embarrass the Bureau (this led to the legendary Creator/BetteDavis being turned down for a guest role). Martin said that, if they did that, production would be pushed back considerably, so they compromised: only the main actors and main guests would have to be vetted. ''The FBI'' was a huge hit, running until 1974 and tallying 240 episodes, making it QM's most successful series.

The new regime, led by Saltzman, landed one final series under the QM banner, a spy series starring Creator/RobertConrad, entitled ''A Man Called Sloane'', which aired on NBC in 1979. Once again, they were dealing with a difficult leading man, and once again, the show failed, running for only 12 episodes. The series' pilot, which was filmed earlier in 1979, was entitled ''Death Ray 2000''. It starred Robert Logan as Sloane and aired in 1981, well after the series had been canceled. ExecutiveMeddling from Fred Silverman didn't help - this led to Ji-Tu Cumbuka's villainous character from the pilot became Sloane's partner in the series - which became an OldShame for Conrad ''and'' Martin.

Martin tried another series for NBC in 1978. He was taken with Robert Reed after seeing the actor deliver great performances on ''The Streets of San Francisco'' and ''Barnaby Jones'' and brought him in for a new series, ''Operation: Runaway'', where he would play Dr. David [=McKay=], who specialized in searching for runaway kids. He should have consulted Creator/SherwoodSchwartz before hiring Reed, as he soon discovered just how difficult the actor could be. The series barely survived to make it to another season, but major changes came with the new season, the least of which was Quinn's non-involvement, as he'd sold the company. The title of the show also changed, to ''The Runaways'', and it had a new lead actor in Alan Feinstein (who, oddly, bore some resemblance to Reed, but fortunately was much easier to deal with) as Dr. Steve Arrizio. Despite all the changes, the show tanked. (coincidentally, his former screen oldest stepdaughter Creator/MaureenMcCormick appeared on the "Throwaway Child" episode of ''The Runaways'', playing a character called not [[Series/TheBradyBunch Marcia, she's called Janet... known as Jan for short.]]

Martin tried another series for NBC in 1978. He was taken with Robert Reed after seeing the actor deliver great performances on ''The Streets of San Francisco'' and ''Barnaby Jones'' and brought him in for a new series, ''Operation: Runaway'', where he would play Dr. David [=McKay=], who specialized in searching for runaway kids. He should have consulted Creator/SherwoodSchwartz before hiring Reed, as he soon discovered just how difficult the actor could be. The series barely survived to make it to another season, but major changes came with the new season, the least of which was Quinn's non-involvement, as he'd sold the company. The title of the show also changed, to ''The Runaways'', and it had a new lead actor in Alan Feinstein (who, oddly, bore some resemblance to Reed, but fortunately was much easier to deal with) as Dr. Steve Arrizio. Despite all the changes, the show tanked. (coincidentally, his former screen oldest stepdaughter Creator/MaureenMcCormick appeared on the "Throwaway Child" episode of ''The Runaways'', playing a character called not [[Series/The BradyBunch Marcia, she's called Janet... known as Jan for short.]]

1976 saw further unsold pilots (''Law of the Land'', a crime drama-Western hybrid starring Jim Davis and Creator/DonJohnson) and two more unsuccessful series. ''Bert D'Angelo: Superstar'' was spun off from ''The Streets of San Francisco'' and starred Creator/PaulSorvino as a New York cop who gets transferred to San Francisco. It lasted for 13 episodes, and most people who worked on the series refuse to talk about it, only to mention how much they hated the high-maintenance Sorvino. It's notable that when the series was offered to British television Creator/{{ITV}} acquired many QM series (including ''The Streets of San Francisco'') passed on it (Creator/TheBBC made it one of the only QM series imported first-run by them, along with ''Series/{{Cannon}}'' and ''Most Wanted'').

Martin tried another series for NBC in 1978. He was taken with Robert Reed after seeing the actor deliver great performances on ''The Streets of San Francisco'' and ''Barnaby Jones'' and brought him in for a new series, ''Operation: Runaway'', where he would play Dr. David [=McKay=], who specialized in searching for runaway kids. He should have consulted Creator/SherwoodSchwartz before hiring Reed, as he soon discovered just how difficult the actor could be. The series barely survived to make it to another season, but major changes came with the new season, the least of which was Quinn's non-involvement, as he'd sold the company. The title of the show also changed, to ''The Runaways'', and it had a new lead actor in Alan Feinstein (who, oddly, bore some resemblance to Reed, but fortunately was much easier to deal with) as Dr. Steve Arrizio. Despite all the changes, the show tanked. (coincidentally, his former screen oldest stepdaughter Creator/MaureenMcCormick appeared on the "Throwaway Child" episode of ''The Runaways'', playing a character called not [[Serirs/The BradyBunch Marcia, she's called Janet... known as Jan for short.]]

Martin tried another series for NBC in 1978. He was taken with Robert Reed after seeing the actor deliver great performances on ''The Streets of San Francisco'' and ''Barnaby Jones'' and brought him in for a new series, ''Operation: Runaway'', where he would play Dr. David [=McKay=], who specialized in searching for runaway kids. He should have consulted Creator/SherwoodSchwartz before hiring Reed, as he soon discovered just how difficult the actor could be. The series barely survived to make it to another season, but major changes came with the new season, the least of which was Quinn's non-involvement, as he'd sold the company. The title of the show also changed, to ''The Runaways'', and it had a new lead actor in Alan Feinstein (who, oddly, bore some resemblance to Reed, but fortunately was much easier to deal with) as Dr. Steve Arrizio. Despite all the changes, the show tanked.

Martin managed to sell two TV series in 1972. Returning to his relationship with Warner Bros. Television, Martin sold a pilot about two homicide detectives in UsefulNotes/SanFrancisco, one a hardened veteran detective, the other a young and handsome idealist. ''Series/TheStreetsOfSanFrancisco'' was filmed on location in the Bay City and was an instant hit, thanks in no small part to the chemistry between the two leads, Karl Malden (as Lt. Mike Stone) and Creator/MichaelDouglas (as Inspector Steve Keller). The series lasted for five seasons (four with Douglas, the last with Richard Hatch) and 120 episodes.

With the exception of ''Twelve O[='=]Clock High'' (owned by Disney through [[Creator/TwentiethCenturyStudios 20th Television]]), ''Banyon'', and ''The F.B.I.'' (the latter two owned by Creator/WarnerBros), the rights to the QM Productions library are now owned by Creator/{{CBS}} Studios, with most such series being held through [[Creator/AaronSpelling Spelling Television]], which acquired most of Taft's programming assets in 1989, and became a unit of Creator/{{Paramount}} Television, the predecessor company to CBS Studios, in 1999. ''Cannon'' is instead held through CBS Broadcasting, Inc., the legal copyright holder to shows from CBS Productions (the original production arm of CBS), which co-produced ''Cannon'' with QM. As such, Cannon was for many years distributed by Viacom (now Creator/ParamountGlobal), which produced William Conrad's later series ''Series/JakeAndTheFatman''. Paramount Global, however, does ''not'' own the remake rights to ''The Fugitive'', which Keith Barish took with him upon leaving Taft Broadcasting, and are now owned by WB, which has produced [[Film/TheFugitive a feature film]], [[Film/USMarshals a spin-off of said film]], and two TV series in 2000 and [[Series/TheFugitive2020 2020]].

QM Productions continued as a generic production company for new owners, Taft Broadcasting, producing a series of inane comedy pilots (''Help Wanted: Male'', ''Landon, Landon and Landon'' and ''Quick and Quiet'') and also a handful of TV-movies (''The Aliens Are Coming!'', yet another attempt to reboot ''The Invaders''; ''[[ReunionShow The Return of Frank Cannon]]''; a lame teen comedy entitled ''Senior Trip''; and the final production from the company, a Western entitled ''September Gun'', which aired in late 1983).

With one success under his belt, it was inevitable that others would follow. Creator/TwentiethCenturyFox enlisted Martin to develop a series based on the classic 1949 film ''12 O'Clock High'', about Air Force bomber pilots based in England during UsefulNotes/WorldWarII. Martin and Fox teamed up for the series, and Robert Lansing was cast in the lead role as Brigadier General Frank Savage. The series was a hit, but behind the scenes turmoil derailed it. Martin, who was never very comfortable around actors, grew to despise Lansing, and asked William Self, the head of 20th Century-Fox Television, if he could replace Lansing. Self told him he could, but Fox would have to approve the replacement. Martin mentioned Paul Burke, and Self gave the green light. Savage was killed off in the final episode of the first season, and Burke took over as the new lead character, Major Joe Gallagher. Additionally, for the second season, ABC moved the series to an earlier time slot on another day. The series never recovered from both moves and lasted for the whole second season and an half season in 1966-67 before being canceled.

->''"The Quinn Martin page! A Wiki/TVTropes Production! Starring Quinn Martin! Also starring The Editors... The Contributors... with guest stars The Readers! Tonight's episode: 'Biography of a TV Producer'!"''

With the exception of ''Twelve O[='=]Clock High'' (owned by Disney through [[Creator/TwentiethCenturyStudios 20th Television]]), ''Banyon'', and ''The F.B.I.'' (the latter two owned by Creator/WarnerBros), the rights to the QM Productions library is now owned by Creator/{{CBS}} Studios, with most such series being held through [[Creator/AaronSpelling Spelling Television]], which acquired most of Taft's programming assets in 1989, and became a unit of Creator/{{Paramount}} Television, the predecessor company to CBS Studios, in 1999. ''Cannon'' is instead held through CBS Broadcasting, Inc., the legal copyright holder to shows from CBS Productions (the original production arm of CBS), which co-produced ''Cannon'' with QM. As such, Cannon was for many years distributed by Viacom (now Creator/ParamountGlobal), which produced William Conrad's later series ''Series/JakeAndTheFatman''. Paramount Global, however, does ''not'' own the remake rights to ''The Fugitive'', which Keith Barish took with him upon leaving Taft Broadcasting, and are now owned by WB, which has produced [[Film/TheFugitive a feature film]], [[Film/USMarshals a spin-off of said film]], and two TV series in 2000 and [[Series/TheFugitive2020 2020]].

With the exception of ''Twelve O[='=]Clock High'' (owned by Disney through [[Creator/TwentiethCenturyStudios 20th Television]]), ''Banyon'', and ''The F.B.I.'' (the latter two owned by Creator/WarnerBros), the rights to the QM Productions library is now owned by Creator/{{CBS}} Studios, with most such series being held through [[Creator/AaronSpelling Spelling Television]], which acquired most of Taft's programming assets in 1989, and became a unit of Creator/{{Paramount}} Television, the predecessor company to CBS Studios, in 1999. ''Cannon'' is instead held through CBS Broadcasting, Inc., the legal copyright holder to shows from CBS Productions (the original production arm of CBS), which co-produced ''Cannon'' with QM. As such, Cannon was for many years distributed by Viacom (now Creator/ParamountGlobal), which produced William Conrad's later series ''Series/JakeAndTheFatman''.

With the exception of ''Twelve O[='=]Clock High'' (owned by Disney through [[Creator/TwentiethCenturyStudios 20th Television]]), ''Banyon'', and ''The F.B.I.'' (the latter two owned by Creator/WarnerBros), the rights to the QM Productions library is now owned by Creator/{{CBS}} Studios, with most such series being held through Spelling Television, which acquired most of Taft's programming assets in 1989, and became a unit of Creator/{{Paramount}} Television, the predecessor company to CBS Studios, in 1999. ''Cannon'' is instead held through CBS Broadcasting, Inc., the legal copyright holder to shows from CBS Productions (the original production arm of CBS), which co-produced ''Cannon'' with QM. As such, Cannon was for many years distributed by Viacom (now Creator/ParamountGlobal), which produced William Conrad's later series ''Series/JakeAndTheFatman''.