#SteveRandall End of walkthrough.

Do I recommend?

No.
Melvyn Douglas was movie star who would later win 2 Oscars and this is his only lead TV role. I think he's too good for this yet he's bored by it and not working the TV medium. Randall is not a memorable character and this show is too tame.

#SteveRandall So of the 14 eps made I found 5 and a bit. I suspect the rest of the imcomplete ep survives and two more eps are locked away in private archives.

Another item is this interview by Melvyn Douglas's son about being his son. Fascinating...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=YxIe...

#SteveRandall TV ep #1.14 "The Witness" (26-Sep-52).
Set before #1.13 which is the series finale so heck knows if it was shown out of order or IMDB is guessing. A pristine print survives and this ep is pretty good. I do appreciate the main arc more now in hindsight.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=EmqR...

#SteveRandall TV 1.13 cont'd.
So it's basically a clip show of TV ep #1.01 which is truncated to fit inside the resulting court case. So the cast of ep 1.01 return.
The resolution is very silly as the extra woman is nobody she's just there to make Eve turn. So dumb.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjGt...

#SteveRandall TV ep #1.13 "The Trial" (11-Sep-52).
OK this is very interesting. This is the final episodes made but it resolves the main arc which for 1952 TV I was not expecting. Randall gets his licence back! THE END!
Even more so this is a sequel to TV ep #1.01 "The Inheritance" (12-Jun-52)

#SteveRandall TV 1.12 cont'd.
I can feel my love affair with 1940s/50s TV dying out somewhat as I've run out of a lot of the live TV and bar #Dragnet I'm not getting my fix from pre-filmed US TV. Simply because live TV is electric to experience but pre-recorded TV feels like lazily made cinema.

#SteveRandall TV ep #1.12 "Find my Murderer" (04-Sep-52).
I'm getting more of Randall's character in that he is a disbarred lawyer now making ends meet as private dick till he gets reinstated. I'm unsure where they can go with that?

Ok ep with the one clue seeded.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=i09k...

#SteveRandall TV 1.11 cont'd.
In exactly the same way that the first 2 seasons of the TV version of #RichardDiamond didn't work as it was pre-filmed in LA but set in NY, so this is pre-filmed in NY but set in LA.
I'll persevere as there are still a few other surviving eps and the prints look decent.

#SteveRandall TV 1.11 cont'd.
The ep is quite a good Hollywood story in that it's about insurance in the film industry and how the industry works.

But at it's made in NY not Hollywood it feels like it's a half remembered version of Hollywood that's not worthwhile.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=fkMo...

#SteveRandall TV 1.11 cont'd.
I'm not getting anything from Melvyn Douglas as Steve Randall in the sense that he doesn't have the persona of #MartinKane, the brilliance of Mike Barnett or the foppish quality of David Chase. I like his thought patterns and this inner monologue in scenes at least.

#SteveRandall TV ep #1.11 "The Unlucky Three" (28-Aug-52).
I just realised this is pre-filmed in New York but set in Hollywood which is an upsidedown way to make TV. #ManAgainstCrime was set and made in NY which gives it so many advantages for location work as this show can't do any location work.

#SteveRandall TV 1.02 cont'd.
The direction in the bit of the ep that I found has a strong intro to the character in how we see his flat and how cramped his life is. I'm not sure if that down at heel feel translates into the character or show as yet but at least I now see what they are going for.

#SteveRandall TV ep #1.02 "The Perfect Alibi" (19-Jun-52).
I can only find the first 5 minutes. Annoyingly it stars Cara Williams who I once termed on Twitter as "my imaginary 1950 girlfriend" but she's not in the first 5 minutes.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=cjQs...

#SteveRandall TV 1.01
Now seen Olive Deering in:

#TalesOfTomorrow #1.11 "Search for the Flying Saucer" (09-Nov-51)
#Suspense #4.18 "The Spider" (15-Jan-52) & #4.29 "Black Panther" (08-Apr-52)
#OneStepBeyond #1.16 "The Burning Girl" (05-May-59)
#TheOuterLimits #1.14 "The Zanti Misfits" (30-Dec-63)

#SteveRandall TV 1.01 cont'd.
There's only 5-6 of the 13 eps that publicly exist. It's hard to get a handle on Steve Randall. At least David Chase in #FrontPageDetective is a up himself and has wandering hands with the ladies. I've no idea from this ep what they are going for with the lead dick.

#SteveRandall TV 1.01 cont'd.
This reminds me of the formulaic #FrontPageDetective another pre-filmed in LA TV series that underwhelmed. Such TV shows just can't compete with live from New York TV drama like #MartinKane, #ThePlainclothesman and #RockyKing no matter how shiny they are.

#SteveRandall TV 1.01 cont'd.
These are pre-filmed and this ep looks pristine. But I've said it before I'll doubtless say it again TV dramas pre-filmed in LA which weren't live are ten a penny and never good. I'm only interested in live TV drama of this era.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=XZt-...

#SteveRandall TV ep #1.01 "The Inheritance" (12-Jun-52_
The dates are from the first summer run on CBS TV nationally but eps were shown on some local stations prior (dates unknown). In any case all that survives of these is the syndicated cut where the show is re-titled "Hollywood Off-Beat".