The Bold Ones The Protectors: The Complete Series

The Protectors stars Leslie Nielsen as Sam Danforth, the deputy chief of police in a volatile California city. He is a conservative law and order type who is brought in from Cleveland to try to keep the lid on, but often is at odds with the city's idealistic, liberal black DA, William Washburn played by Hari Rhodes.

The Bold Ones series were well known for being some of the best television ever produced; bringing together highly skilled craftsmen to create programs that were a cut about the rest and The Protectors was no exception.

The pilot movie, "Deadlock", was produced by William Sackheim ("The Law") and directed by Lamont Johnson ("That Certain Summer"), Emmy winner Daryl Duke ("Payday", "The Senator") directed three of the six episodes, Vilmos Zsigmond ("Close Encounters of the Third Kind") was the cinematographer, bringing a big screen look to the series, and top notch guest stars including Edmond O'Brien, Charles Aidman, James Broderick, John Rubinstein, Robert Drivas and Louise Sorel pumped up the stories with a powerful dramatic flair.

The lack of background music, the soundtrack just being the din of the city and offices where it took place, really grounded the show with a realism that was unmatched at the time.