Tuesday, October 4, 2011

Nick Mancuso in Stingray (1985)

Not to be confused with the 60's Thunder Birds spinoff, this 80's detective series was a hybrid of Knight Rider and McGiver. Mancuso plays Ray, a mysterious man who makes it his business to help people by any means necessary. For his help, he accepts no payment, just a promise to return the favor when called upon. This gives him a pool of people upon whom to call when something that must be done - like surgery - is out of his realm of expertise. He dispenses this help, going from town to town, advertising surreptitiously in local news papers, never sharing information about himself, always remaining a shadowy figure with no roots and no attachments. It's sort of what one might have experienced if you never saw what Sam went through behind the scenes between stops in Quantum Leap - without the different time settings, of course.

This series was never as popular or as well known as Knight Rider or McGiver. It did run for two seasons, however, and has been released on DVD. Above are the opening credits, uploaded to YouTube by w0406400.

Obscurity factor: 6 (remembered by some, on DVD, not high in the public consciousness)

1 comment:

  1. Actually the Gerry & Sylvia Anderson Stingray premiered in 1964 and Thunderbirds in 1965 so it wasn't really a spinoff.

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