Love Is All That I Ever Needed. Chapter 25. Officer Dan Shay
And he did. He let the right people know he was available again. In the fall of 1977 David started filming a two hour special episode of a popular TV series called Police Story.
It has
aired on NBC since 1973, and the main character was always a police officer working in Los
Angeles. David said the reason for taking that role was that it seemed honest and right. He
played Officer Dan Shay who was recruited to operate undercover for the narcotics unit at a
high school.
It was news when David returned to work. A lot of articles and interviews with him
were published. Special barriers were erected at the high school where the Police Story was
filmed, to keep kids from swarming over him. They weren’t necessary. David wasn’t mobbed.
The film was called ‘A Chance To Live’ and was aired on May 28, 1978. David and the Police
Story executive producer David Gerber had a further agreement to do 'an NBC World Premier
movie and possible series beyond that.’
It was a decent film. The acting was good even though it was not exactly realistic. First of all,
the actors who played students looked much older than they should. However, the critics and
audience liked David‘s performance. The film got very high ratings, and the work on a new
series, based on the Dan Shay character, started.
In September 1978 David received an Emmy nomination for his role in the category
‘Outstanding Lead Actor For A Single Appearance in a Drama or Comedy Series’.
After a few difficult years the future looked very promising.
He also signed a new recording
contract with Warner Bros-Curb and was very busy again.
In 1978 he did backup vocals on four of his friends albums. He also worked on his own, new
material with very known music producer Ken Mansfield.
At the time Mansfield’s career was
in decline and at first he wasn’t happy he had to work with a former teen idol. Many years later
Ken Mansfield wrote about David in his autobiography: ‘It took me about 10 minutes after
meeting him to realize my original opinion about him was 100% wrong. He had a super sense
of material and this wonderful voice to allow him to face any vocal challenge’. They became
friends. “He (David) had the most incredible laugh I have ever heard from any human being.
His laughter came rolling out from deep within and would make me feel good all over.’
Ken Mansfield also produced the theme song for the new series. It was written by David and
Jay Gruska.
The album they were working on wasn’t released. The new material was very enjoyable,
wonderfully sung by David, and his mature, deeper, huskier voice was truly magical. Those
songs, covers and two new versions of his own songs ‘Junked Heart Blues’ and co-wrote with
Jay Gruska ‘I Never Saw You Coming’, were released many years later, in Japan in 1991, on
the CD called 'The Best Of David Cassidy’.
He was very satisfied with the Emmy nomination. The 30th Primetime Emmy Awards were
held on September 17, 1978, broadcast live on CBS. David lost to Bernard Hughes..
He still had a TV series to make, and the filming started in September of 1978.
The idea for the show was a brilliant one: an undercover cop whose work reflects on his private
life. A double life was something David knew too well. Everybody had great hopes, but there
were only 10 episodes. Why?
It seems that David Cassidy fell again in the hands of greedy
people. They wanted to earn very easy and fast money on him. When he retired in 1974, he was sure
he would never do a TV series again, but he had changed his mind. Kay was working, and he
wanted to. It was tempting to have a career again.
David co-wrote the main title song, ‘Hard Times’ with Jay Gruska, and he thought the song was
really very good. He also thought the name of the series would be ‘Hard Times’ or ‘A Chance
To Live’. At the last minute, the head of the network told him the title would be ‘David Cassidy
- Man Undercover’.
It became the joke of the town, and some very malicious articles appeared, like this one: 'Because NBC is in such big trouble, network boss Fred Silverman has plucked Cassidy and
his Police Story role as the basis for a regular Thursday night series. The unintentionally
hilarious title - ‘David Cassidy-Man Undercover’. So at 29 Cassidy is shooting for a rebirth of
his career as a TV and record star (..) In cooperation with Warner-Curb Records, NBC is letting
the series be used as a blatant attempt to revive Cassidy’s moribund recording career.
Silverman & Co apparently believe if Cassidy’s records start selling again, it can only help the
audience appeal of the TV show."
David wrote that this job destroyed him, both emotionally and physically. That all the episodes
were horrible. The scripts were terribly written. Everything was made in a great hurry and again
he was working 16-18 hours a day again. A lot of night shooting was done hastily and
carelessly and as cheaply as possible.
David said about his character, Officer Dan Shay: ’I’m not playing him as super macho or very
physical. I’m trying to make him vulnerable. I’m not macho enough. I’m not very physical. I
don’t intend to carry an adventure show.’
He did what he could - his best. David Cassidy was an excellent, very professional actor, but
it was a very difficult experience for him. Even in one episode he had to rescue a girl from fire..
It was not his fault that his character was in nearly every scene. Dan Shay was a walking
paragon. The smartest, the fastest, the cleverest. Good and sensitive. It could have been an
outstanding series. There were great fragments when Dan’s work started to interfere with his
personal life. When Dan took on too much of a role that he pretended to be.
Despite the
shortcomings of the script, the series wasn’t much worse than any other average TV crime
show.
The first episode was aired on November 2, 1978 on Thursday at 10pm. Not the happiest hour
for former young fans, but the producers were aiming in mature viewers according to co-producer, Mark Rodgers.There was a planned 13-week run but the ratings weren’t good.
In
interviews David talked that the series would develop, and the episodes would be better.
Already in December, it was obvious the show would be canceled. Episode #8 was aired on
January 4, 1979, and the 2 last ones in July.
“David Cassidy still can’t quite believe that NBC has canceled his Man Undercover series just
a few shorts weeks after its debut.(..) Just a few days ago Cassidy had been assured the show
would be saved and switched to a new time slot where it would have a chance to build an
audience. The next thing he knew Man Undercover had been buried."
In 1987 he had another bitter pill to swallow because of Man Undercover. That year a new hit
TV series started a five season run and launched Johnny Depp's career and national
recognition as a teen idol. It was called ‘21 Jump Street’. The series focused on a squad of
youthful looking undercover police officers..
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