The Misadventures of Sheriff Lobo

The Misadventures of Sheriff Lobo is an American action/adventure situation comedy that ran on NBC from 1979 to 1981. For its second season the show was renamed Lobo. The program aired Tuesday nights, at 8 p.m. Eastern time. The lead character, Sheriff Elroy P. Lobo, played by Claude Akins, was a spin-off character from another television series, B. J. and the Bear.

In 2002, the series was ranked #36 on TV Guide's 50 Worst TV Shows of All Time.^[1]

Synopsis

In fictitious Orly County, Georgia, Sheriff Lobo is the lead enforcer of the law, as well as one of its leading offenders. The corrupt, but now somewhat reformed, sheriff is assisted in his schemes by Deputy Perkins (Mills Watson) whose buffoonery often upsets and exacerbates the situation. An honest but naive new deputy, Birdwell "Birdie" Hawkins (Brian Kerwin), who is unaware of Lobo's schemes has joined the force and has become one of Lobo's deputies. He often refers to Lobo as his "Hero" and compares him to Wyatt Earp, "a little rough around the edges, but a good lawman." At first this baffles Lobo to think that someone actually thinks highly of him in any way, but it begins to make Lobo feel proud and boosts his self-esteem. This always annoys and infuriates Perkins who usually sneers at Birdie and mutters, "I'm gonna have to get that boy!" Other characters in the show were Perkins' wife (and Lobo's sister) Rose Lobo Perkins (Cydney Crampton), waitress Margaret Ellen (Janet Lynn Curtis), resort owner Sarah Cumberland (Leann Hunley), bank president and Lobo's former "partner in crime" Harry Cunningham (Dennis Burkley) and district attorney Alexander Waverly (Ben Cooper).

Like many television con artists, Lobo was a small-time wheeler-dealer, always looking to make a quick buck. But when serious crime threatened Orly County and its people, Lobo would do his job capably and uphold the law. Unlike Sheriff Rosco P. Coltrane from The Dukes of Hazzard, Lobo was portrayed as an intelligent man and an able police officer.

The series premise was overhauled completely as the second season began in 1980. The governor of Georgia, visiting Orly County, reassigns Lobo and his two deputies (Perkins and Birdie) to his crime fighting task force, Special Crimes Action Team (SCAT) in Atlanta, reporting to Chief J.C. Carson (Nicolas Coster). Lobo is forced to contend with his new coworkers, Detectives Peaches (Amy Botwinick) and Brandy (Tara Buckman). The new format also included Nell Carter (billed as Nell Ruth Carter) as Sgt. Hildy Jones. In a July 1980 interview with The New York Times, NBC president Fred Silverman said research showed the show performing well in rural areas, but not as well in urban areas; Silverman had a history of preference for urban viewers over rural ones that dated all the way back to 1970 (see the rural purge for an example). For that reason, it was decided to move the show from rural Orly County to urban Atlanta. But the series was less successful with the new format, and it was cancelled after the end of its second season.

The theme song for the show's first season was sung by Frankie Laine and was written in a western ballad-type song and depicted Lobo as more of a Hero than an offender. During the second season, the theme song was a version of "Georgia on My Mind".

The pilot of The Misadventures of Sheriff Lobo aired as an episode of BJ and the Bear titled LOBO, which set the premise for the show and introduced the main cast of characters that would be involved in the show.

Cast

• Claude Akins.....Sheriff Elroy P. Lobo
• Mills Watson.....Deputy Perkins
• Brian Kerwin.....Deputy Birdwell "Birdie" Hawkins
• Cydney Crampton.....Rose Lobo Perkins
• Janet Lynn Curtis.....Margaret Ellen
• Leann Hunley.....Sarah Cumberland
• Dennis Burkley...Harry Cunningham
• Nell Carter.....Sergeant Hildy Jones
• Nicolas Coster.....Chief J.C. Carson
• Amy Botwinick.....Peaches
• Tara Buckman.....Brandy

Syndication

The series was syndicated in the early 1980s, as "The B.J./Lobo Show". For syndication, Universal offered the show in two versions, one was the original 60 minute format and the other had episodes cut to fit a half-hour time slot from their original hour versions. What differentiated the half hour episodes from the hour long ones was the inclusion of a laugh track.

External links

• The Misadventures of Sheriff Lobo at the Internet Movie Database
• The Misadventures of Sheriff Lobo at TV.com
• The Misadventures of Sheriff Lobo at epguides.com

References

1. ↑ "50 Worst Shows of All Time". TV Guide. 2002.  |access-date= requires |url= (help)