Network: CTV Television Network
Broadcast Run: 1977 to 1978
Broadcast Medium: Television
A promising co-production with NBC that faltered and died when NBC pulled out after thirteen episodes, this half-hour adventure series was also known as Search and Rescue – The Alpha Team. The Team consisted of a man and his two teenage sons, who trained animals, including a hawk and a bear, to perform rescues. Some of those rescued included a motorcyclist trapped in a ravine and a hiker sinking in quicksand: in another episode the animals helped apprehend an unprincipled poacher.
The series was based on a ranch set in the Canadian wilderness – although in reality shot at the Kleinberg Studios north of Toronto – and the cast included Michael J. Reynolds, Donnan Cavin and Michael Kane.
Search and Rescue arrived in the CTV schedule in September 1977, at 7:30pm on Tuesdays. But when fans of the series looked for it in the network’s 1978-79 schedule, they searched in vain. Economics and NBC’s defection had made the series unrescuable.
Written by Pip Wedge – December, 2002