| Sea Hunt | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Genre | Action Adventure |
| Created by | Ivan Tors James Buxbaum |
| Developed by | Ivan Tors |
| Starring | Lloyd Bridges |
| Narrated by | Lloyd Bridges |
| Theme music composer | David Rose (as "Ray Llewellyn") |
| Opening theme | "The Sea Hunt Theme" |
| Ending theme | "The Sea Hunt Theme" |
| Composer | David Rose |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language | English |
| No. of seasons | 4 |
| No. of episodes | 155 |
| Production | |
| Executive producers | Frederick Ziv Maurice Ziv |
| Producers | Herbert L. Strock Ivan Tors |
| Cinematography | Monroe P. Askins Edward Cronjager Robert Hoffman |
| Editors | James Buxbaum Charles Craft Harold V. McKenzie Thomas Scott |
| Camera setup | Single-camera |
| Running time | 30 minutes |
| Production company | Ziv Television Programs |
| Original release | |
| Network | Syndication |
| Release | January 4, 1958 (1958-01-04) – September 23, 1961 (1961-09-23) |
Sea Hunt is an American action adventure television series that aired in syndication from 1958 to 1961 and was popular for decades afterwards. The series originally aired for four seasons, with 155 episodes produced. It starsLloyd Bridges as formerNavy diver Mike Nelson, and was produced byIvan Tors.
Series executive producer Ivan Tors conceived the idea forSea Hunt while working on the 1958 filmUnderwater Warrior.[1] He tried in vain to sell the series to all three major networks, but each network passed on it because they felt that a series set underwater could not be sustained.[2] Tors then decided to sell it into the first-run syndication market. He teamed up withZiv Television Programs and was able to sell it to more than 100 syndicated markets before it debuted in January 1958.[1]
Lloyd Bridges was cast as lead character Mike Nelson.Sea Hunt was intended as a comeback vehicle for Bridges due to his brief black-listing from acting. He was restricted from mainstream Hollywood roles after admitting to theHouse Un-American Activities Committee that he had been a member of theActors' Laboratory Theatre, a group that was tied to theCommunist Party.[3][4]
Bridges served in theUnited States Coast Guard during the second World War and afterwards joined the Coast Guard reserve, so was already familiar with oceangoing ships. He took a crash course inscuba diving byZale Parry and Courtney Brown, and Brown served as his underwater stunt double. Bridges was also educated in the art[clarification needed] of scuba equipment by Brad Pinkernell on the beach inSouthern California from 1956 to 1957 after a chance meeting when Pinkernell was coming out of the ocean while wearing scuba gear.[citation needed] Over the course of the show's run, Bridges got more involved in the underwater stunt work, graduating from close-ups in the earliest episodes to doing all but the most dangerous stunts by the end of the series' run.
Mike Nelson (Lloyd Bridges) is a free-lance scuba diver, a former Navyfrogman, who left the service about four years before the series begins, and member of theUnited States Coast Guard Auxiliary. He is a well-known expert on diving who is often called on for difficult or dangerous projects. He travels on his boat theArgonaut and outmaneuvers villains, salvages everything from a bicycle to a nuclear missile, rescues children trapped in a flooded cave, and other such adventures. In the pilot episode, he rescues a Navy pilot from his sunkenjet. No dialogue was possible during the underwater sequences, so Bridges provided voice-over narration for all the installments. Nelson also educated non-diving characters in various aspects of diving and the underwater world.
The series made frequent references toMarineland of the Pacific, which provided facilities, resources, and technical advice to the production company. At the end of each episode, Bridges appeared as himself to deliver a brief comment. These comments sometimes included a plea to viewers to understand and protect the marine environment, along with gems of wisdom from Bridges' own experiences. A number of notable actors appeared on the series early in their career, includingLeonard Nimoy,Bruce Dern,Robert Conrad,Ross Martin,Robert Clarke,Larry Hagman,Larry Pennell,Ken Curtis,William Boyett,Jack Nicholson, and Bridges' own sonsBeau andJeff.[5]
Underwater sequences were often created duringpost-production from individual scenes shot at many different locations, including studio tanks and various underwater sites inCalifornia,Florida, andthe Bahamas. Much stock footage was shot and later mixed with episode-specific character footage. Filming locations included:
On-land location shots were filmed throughout Los Angeles, central Florida, Nassau, and on a sound stage. Famous divers such as Zale Parry andAlbert Tillman were involved in production of the show, as was Jon Lindbergh, son of aviatorCharles Lindbergh. Parry was joined in 1960 by 18 year-oldWende Wagner as a female underwater stunt double. Pioneering underwater cinematographerLamar Boren shot nearly all of the underwater footage for the series.John Lamb shot the underwater sequences for both the movie and TV versions ofIrwin Allen'sVoyage to the Bottom of the Sea, and also filmed some episodes ofSea Hunt. Stunt diverRicou Browning is credited with coordination of the underwater action sequences during the second season.
The boat used in the series was named theArgonaut after the mythological Greek heroes who sailed withJason on the quest of theGolden Fleece. Several cabin cruisers were utilized in filming, and one notable model was theTrojan Express, custom built byTrojan Yachts in 1960 with mahogany planking and teak decks and trim, measuring 33 feet long and 12 feet wide.[12][13] Diving equipment was supplied byVoit[14][15] and a Navy depth gauge supplied by Sportsways, Inc.[16] Wetsuits were made by the small Los Angeles shopDive N' Surf, which was the genesis forBody Glove.[17]
David Rose is credited with music, although a number of theSea Hunt stock cues are heard inBuchanan Rides Alone, a 1958 Columbia western film that used stock music from composers includingMischa Bakaleinikoff,George Duning,Heinz Roemheld, andPaul Sawtell.[18]
Sea Hunt proved to be popular with viewers and was a hit throughout its four-season run. It became one of the best remembered and most watched syndicated series in the United States.[2][19] During the first nine months of its debut, it was number one in the ratings. The show attracted half of the viewing audience in 50 major cities and averaged 59 percent of audiences inNew York City. Producer Ivan Tors later estimated that 40 million people viewed the series weekly.[20]
According toNew York Times writer Richard Severo, "Late-night comedians, especiallyJohnny Carson, used to tell jokes derived from the frequency with which Mr. Bridges, always fit and trim and looking forever like a slightly aging quarterback, was seen daring the fates underwater or emerging from the sea unscathed despite sharks, shipwrecks and assorted malefactors". Severo noted thatTV Guide once described the show as "an epic so watery that Lloyd Bridges's colleagues tell him they have to drain their TV sets after watching his show".[21]
Sport Diver Magazine wrote thatSea Hunt has had a "lasting impact" on the hobby of scuba diving, and cited a yearly event held in Florida called "Sea Hunt Forever" where divers don vintage gear and re-enact scenes from the TV series.[22]
Despite its solid ratings,Sea Hunt was canceled in 1961 due to the dwindling first-run syndication market.[23][24] The series ran for a total of 155 episodes.[25]
Sea Hunt went into reruns in 1961,[26] and has aired on various channels since. The series currently airs on weekdays onThis TV andLight TV, two classic television and movie networks carried ondigital subchannels of local stations around the US.
A revival series starringRon Ely andKimber Sissons appeared in syndication in 1987. Ely had starred in a companion undersea adventure series calledThe Aquanauts during the run of the original series. For budgetary reasons, land scenes from this second series were filmed in Canada (specificallyVictoria, British Columbia), despite the stories being set in Florida. Underwater scenes were filmed in tropical locations.[27]
The updated version ofSea Hunt was canceled after only one season.[28]
| No. | Title | Original release date | Prod. code |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "Toxic Waste" | September 26, 1987 (1987-9-26) | 8203 |
| 2 | "Murder at 60 Ft." "Rehearsal for Murder" | October 3, 1987 (1987-10-3) | 55590 |
| 3 | "Underwater Park" | October 10, 1987 (1987-10-10) | 8206 |
| 4 | "Underwater Quake" | October 17, 1987 (1987-10-17) | 8213 |
| 5 | "The Meeting" | October 24, 1987 (1987-10-24) | 8216 |
| 6 | "Pearl Beds" | October 31, 1987 (1987-10-31) | 8208 |
| 7 | "The Big Blowup" | November 7, 1987 (1987-11-7) | 8218 |
| 8 | "Treasure Hunt" | November 14, 1987 (1987-11-14) | 8225 |
| 9 | "Torch Men" | November 21, 1987 (1987-11-21) | 8212 |
| 10 | "Danger--Mines Ahead!" | November 28, 1987 (1987-11-28) | 8224 |
| 11 | "Jennifer's Rescue" | December 5, 1987 (1987-12-5) | 8207 |
| 12 | "Girl in the Trunk" | December 12, 1987 (1987-12-12) | 8202 |
| 13 | "The Stunt" | December 19, 1987 (1987-12-19) | 8215 |
| 14 | "Wet Diamonds" | January 2, 1988 (1988-1-2) | 8211 |
| 15 | "Amigo" | January 9, 1988 (1988-1-9) | 60534 |
| 16 | "Scavenger" | January 16, 1988 (1988-1-16) | 8217 |
| 17 | "The Siren" | January 30, 1988 (1988-1-30) | 8201 |
| 18 | "Ultrasonic Tag" | February 6, 1988 (1988-2-6) | 8221 |
| 19 | "Witness" | February 13, 1988 (1988-2-13) | 8220 |
| 20 | "Sea Hunt's Been Stolen" | February 20, 1988 (1988-2-20) | 8222 |
| 22 | "The Phantom Strikes" | March 5, 1988 (1988-3-5) | 8223 |
Note: The episode numbering was derived from the Epguides page for this series.[29] | |||
| 23 | "The Persuaders" | March 12, 1988 (1988-3-12) | 55088 |
Due to the show's popularity,Dell Comics released a series ofSea Hunt comic books.[30] Series star Lloyd Bridges also endorsed swim equipment byVoit.[31]
TGG Direct released all 4 seasons on DVD in Region 1 on January 29, 2013.[32][33][34][35]
The Underwater Videographer Podcast presented aSea Hunt 50th Anniversarypodcast in December 2007. Appearing on the podcast were author Eric Hanauer, who interviewed Lloyd Bridges shortly before he died, actressSusan Silo, who guest starred in the "Cougar" episode, andJeff Bridges, who shared memories of his father andSea Hunt.
Voit Regulators skyrocketed to fame in 1958 by being the regulator used weekly by Mike Nelson in Sea Hunt and in 1965 by James Bond, Emilio Largo and the other agents of SPECTRE in the classic 007 film Thunderball
The unusual Sportsways Navy depth gauge with revolving numbers was used by "Mike Nelson" in the TV series "Sea Hunt" in the early 1960s
...Bob Meistrell's statement that the suit "fit like a glove" morphed into the name that would be known among wetsuit buyers for decades afterward: The Body Glove, later shortened to "Body Glove."…The shop created all the wetsuits used by Lloyd Bridges in the popular television show "Sea Hunt."