Shark Bytes

Never jumped. Wasn't on long enough to jump. Yet another show that didn't last long enough, though by todays standards, it was given a much longer chance to succeed than todays shows which in some cases end up canceled after the first episode. I would like to see it on DVD even if their is only one season. Their were more episodes per season back then as compared to todays television seasons. Still hard to imagine Mr. Roper on that show. Of course that was long before Norman Fell's, Mr. Roper days.

The pilot movie for this series (with Christopher George as Dan August) was a fine murder mystery puzzler, but the resulting series just didn't have much spark. All the actors on this show were first rate in other places but here they just seemed wooden. Quinn Martin made some great series, but he didn't show much flare here despite a very viable premise and cast. A more creative producer could have made this show a winner. Burt Reynolds had also played a police lieutenant in the far superior series "Hawk". In that series, Reynolds played an American Indian who was a police detective working the night beat in New York City. Filming a police show on location in New York at night was a great idea and "Hawk" was also well written and used great New York based actors. "Hawk's" only problem was the character Reynolds played was written as too arrogant and rude (perhaps in the Ben Casey mode). Reynolds was never more appealing than as "half breed" Quint Asper on "Gunsmoke", and if he had been allowed to play John Hawk the same way, "Hawk" might have caught on. Burt Reynolds can be a fine actor with the right role but the writers failed to give him enough to work with with the characters of Dan August and John Hawk.

Of course Dan August jumped off something in every episode. Burt Reynolds had been a stuntman and was a big proponent of the work those guys do! It was a good show and I never missed it or S.W.A.T. Every time I see actors like Ned Romero or Norman Fell, I flash back to them on Dan August. Show had a good theme song, too. Wish I could find a midi of it.

The comments about Dan August always jumping and diving brought back a odd memory - I was in 3rd grade in 1970, running UP one of the "old school" metal slides at recess when I tripped and broke my front tooth. When the dentist asked me how I broke my tooth, my mother chimed in "he thinks he's Dan August..."

For Dan August fans: The pilot (oftentimes billed as "The House on Greenapple Road") was a cut above the typical show of its type, though it might be somewhat disconcerting to series fans. Christopher George played August in that one (favorite line: "I am a detective. I am going to go out and detect...") with Keenan Wynn as his partner/psuedo sidekick and a bunch of people you'd recognize as the guest stars: Janet Leigh, Eve Plumb (Jan Brady), William Windom, Melvyn Douglas, etc. Worth a look if you ever come across it...

This show was great. It never jumped. I especially got a kick out of the begining when in the opening credits Burt Reynolds comes sliding at you on his stomach with a clenched fist. Now that was cool!

Me and the bro' would jump off of swings in the yard in order of Dan August. Rather see this on TV Land 'stead of Charlie's Angels ever hour on the hour.

I agree. It never jumped. But it did have one predictable part. When I was watching it once when my parents dragged me over to another family's house, their hot teenage daughter came in and said, "Has he jumped yet?" I asked her what she meant. She said, "Oh at least once a show he jumps off something, like a car hood, a pile of boxes, or stuff and lands on a bad guy." I thought she was just trying to be cool, but lo and behold, she was right! Every episode I saw, Reynolds jumped (usually the camera was underneath and showed him midair from below). In spite of his jumping, tho, I still say the show itself never jumped. Very cool, tough-guy stuff.