Spencer's Pilots is an American adventure

Adventure (genre)

The adventure genre, in the context of a narrative, is typically applied to works in which the protagonist or other major characters are consistently placed in dangerous situations...

 series that aired on CBS

CBS

CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...

 from September 17 to November 19, 1976. Created by Larry Rosen, the series stars Gene Evans

Gene Evans

Gene Evans was an American actor.He was born in Holbrook, Arizona, but reared in Colton, California. His acting career began while he was serving in World War II. He performed with a theatrical troupe of GIs in Europe. Evans made his film debut in 1947 and appeared in dozens of movies and...

.

Synopsis

Evans stars as Spencer Parish, the owner of Spencer Aviation. The other series characters are Christopher Stone

Christopher Stone (actor)

Christopher Stone was an American actor.Stone appeared on film and television from the early 1970s and married actress Dee Wallace in 1980. Together, they appeared in a number of films including the classic horror films The Howling and Cujo...

 as Cass Garrett; Todd Susman

Todd Susman

Todd Susman is an American actor. His better-known roles include Officer Shifflett on Newhart and the unseen P.A. system announcer on the television series M*A*S*H, a role he shared with Sal Viscuso...

 as Stan Lewis, Margaret Impert as Linda Dann, the pilot's secretary who is herself a pilot, and Britt Leach

Britt Leach

Britt Leach is an American character actor. He is best known for his role in the films Goin' South, Fuzz, The Last Starfighter, Weird Science, The Great Outdoors, Baby Boom, and Silent Night, Deadly Night...

 as Mickey "Wig" Wiggins, the company mechanic. The pilots are often hired to transport criminals or to engage in more mundane activities, such as crop dusting. One episode involves being stranded in the Mojave Desert

Mojave Desert

The Mojave Desert occupies a significant portion of southeastern California and smaller parts of central California, southern Nevada, southwestern Utah and northwestern Arizona, in the United States...

; another focuses on a pregnant hitchhiker looking for her husband who is trying to find employment in the oil fields. Still another is about a destitute pilot in need of work. Another segment focuses on the smuggling of illegal aliens

Alien (law)

In law, an alien is a person in a country who is not a citizen of that country.-Categorization:Types of "alien" persons are:*An alien who is legally permitted to remain in a country which is foreign to him or her. On specified terms, this kind of alien may be called a legal alien of that country...

. Another topic is the antics of a daredevil stunt pilot played by Bill Bixby

Bill Bixby

Wilfred Bailey Everett “Bill” Bixby III was an American film and television actor, director, and frequent game show panelist.His career spanned over three decades; he appeared on stage, in motion pictures and TV series...

.

Among the guest stars on the series were: Bob Crane

Bob Crane

Robert Edward "Bob" Crane was an American actor and disc jockey, best known for his performance as Colonel Robert E...

, Shelley Fabares

Shelley Fabares

Michele Ann Marie "Shelley" Fabares is an American actress and singer. Fabares is known for her roles as Donna Reed's oldest child, Mary Stone, on The Donna Reed Show , and as Craig T. Nelson's love interest and eventual wife, Christine Armstrong Fox, on the sitcom Coach. She also was Elvis...

, Barbara Bel Geddes

Barbara Bel Geddes

Barbara Bel Geddes was an American actress, artist and children's author. She is best known for her role in the television drama series Dallas as matriarch Eleanor "Miss Ellie" Ewing. Bel Geddes also starred in the original Broadway production of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof in the role of Maggie...

, Bridget Hanley

Bridget Hanley

Bridget Ann Elizabeth Hanley, professionally known as Bridget Hanley, is an American actress, known for her starring and supporting roles in TV comedy, western, adventure and drama programs, including Candy Pruitt on the Western dramedy Here Come the Brides. She also starred in Harper Valley...

, Katherine Helmond

Katherine Helmond

Katherine Marie Helmond is an American film, theater and television actress, who played Emily Dickinson on Meeting of Minds, as well as such fictional characters as Jessica Tate on Soap, Mona Robinson on Who's the Boss?, Doris Sherman on Coach, and Lois Whelan on Everybody Loves...

, Gerald Hiken, David Huddleston

David Huddleston

David William Huddleston is an American actor, best known for his roles in Blazing Saddles, Santa Claus: The Movie and The Big Lebowski.-Early life:...

, Linda Kelsey

Linda Kelsey

Linda Kelsey is an American television actress.Kelsey's professional career began with stage appearances in her home of Minneapolis, Minnesota, with her good looks and striking mane of red hair winning her success that ultimately landed her in Los Angeles in 1972, with appearances in small roles...

, Cameron Mitchell

Cameron Mitchell (actor)

Cameron Mitchell was an American film, television and Broadway actor with close ties to one of Canada's most successful families, and considered, by Lee Strasberg, to be one of the founding members of The Actor's Studio in New York City.-Early life and career:Born Cameron MacDowell Mitzel in...

, Richard Mulligan

Richard Mulligan

Richard Mulligan was an American television and film actor best known for his role as Burt Campbell in the 1970s sitcom Soap and later as Dr. Harry Weston on The Golden Girls and its spin-off Empty Nest.-Early life:He was born in New York City, the younger brother of director Robert Mulligan...

, Pamela Reed

Pamela Reed

Pamela Reed is an American actress. She is known for playing Ruth Powers in various episodes of TV's The Simpsons, as Arnold Schwarzenegger's hypoglycemic partner in the 1990 movie Kindergarten Cop and as the matriarch Gail Green in Jericho...

, and Pernell Roberts

Pernell Roberts

Pernell Elvin Roberts, Jr. was an American stage, movie and television actor, as well as a singer. In addition to guest starring in over 60 television series, he was widely known for his roles as Ben Cartwright's eldest son, Adam Cartwright, on the western series Bonanza, a role he played from...

.

Production notes

Set in California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

, Spencer's Pilots was created and produced by Larry Rosen. The executive producers were Bob Sweeney and Edward H. Feldman. The series aired at 8 p.m. Eastern on Fridays opposite the variety show

Variety show

A variety show, also known as variety arts or variety entertainment, is an entertainment made up of a variety of acts, especially musical performances and sketch comedy, and normally introduced by a compère or host. Other types of acts include magic, animal and circus acts, acrobatics, juggling...

, The Donny and Marie Show

Donny & Marie (1976 TV series)

Donny & Marie was an American variety show which aired on ABC from January 1976 to January 1979. The show stars brother and sister pop duo Donny Osmond and Marie Osmond...

on ABC

American Broadcasting Company

The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...

, and Redd Fox's situation comedy

Situation comedy

A situation comedy, often shortened to sitcom, is a genre of comedy that features characters sharing the same common environment, such as a home or workplace, accompanied with jokes as part of the dialogue...

, Sanford and Son

Sanford and Son

Sanford and Son is an American sitcom, based on the BBC's Steptoe and Son, that ran on the NBC television network from January 14, 1972, to March 25, 1977....

on NBC

NBC

The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...

.

At mid-season Spencer's Pilots was replaced in January 1977 on the CBS schedule by Code R

Code R (TV series)

Code R is an American action-adventure television series that aired on CBS from January 21 to June 10, 1977. It focuses on the emergency services of the California Channel Islands. The series stars James Houghton, Martin Kove and Tom Simcox and ran for a single season of thirteen episodes.Simcox...

, another adventure series set on the beaches of southern California and starring Tom Simcox

Tom Simcox

Thomas William Simcox, known as Tom Simcox is a former actor who resides in the unincorporated community of Leona Valley west of Palmdale in Los Angeles County, California....

, James Houghton, Martin Kove

Martin Kove

Martin Kove is an American actor who has appeared in feature films and television series.-Film appearances:His best-known roles may have been on the 1980s hit CBS television series Cagney & Lacey as Detective Victor Isbecki and in the 1984 hit film The Karate Kid as Cobra Kai Sensei John Kreese...

, and Joan Freeman

Joan Freeman

Joan Freeman is an American actress.Freeman was a child actor, having appeared in her first film in 1949 at the age of seven...

.