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Defenders on CBS

1961, TV Show

Defenders: TV Guide News

This drama about a father-son legal team was one of the most acclaimed series of the '60s (it won its best-program Emmy category three of its four seasons). The series tackled such controversial issues as abortion, euthanasia and the blacklist, and throughout its run there was a seriousness of purpose. As series creator and executive story editor Reginald Rose (who wrote some of its most notable episodes), put it: `The law is the subject of our programs. Not crime, not mystery.'

TV History Lessons on Mad Men | Matt Roush | 8/11/2008
Advertisers do not like controversy. Advertisers have thin skin. Just a few of the valuable observations to be taken from Sunday’s rich episode of Mad Men, written by Matthew Weiner and Rick Cleveland, which provided a fascinating window into how the TV and ad business worked circa 1962 (and in some ways it hasn’t changed that much since then).One major subplot, with surprising personal and professional repercussions, hinged on a controversial episode of CBS’s groundbreaking legal drama The Defenders, with a shockingly blunt abortion storyline that was causing sponsors to flee. Schlubby Harry Crane, disgruntled after inadvertently learning how much less he was being paid than colleague Ken Cosgrove ($200 a week to Ken’s $300), brought the episode to his bosses’ attention at Sterling Cooper—prompting a screening for lipstick client Belle Jolie, the idea being that women would likely seek this episode out, despite the controversy. (Peggy was on hand to he... read more

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Defenders: TV Listings

Cast & Details

Premiered: September 16, 1961, on CBS

Rating: None

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Premise: This drama about a father-son legal team was one of the most acclaimed series of the '60s (it won its best-program Emmy category three of its four seasons). The series tackled such controversial issues as abortion, euthanasia and the blacklist, and throughout its run there was a seriousness of purpose. As series creator and executive story editor Reginald Rose (who wrote some of its most notable episodes), put it: `The law is the subject of our programs. Not crime, not mystery.'

Defenders Cast