The failed TV show that led to key JAWS success
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According to those in the know in Hollywood, it’s all about timing. Tom Selleck is committed to a television series so Harrison Ford becomes Indiana Jones. After Pierce Brosnan is anno0unce as James Bond NBC decides to renew “Remmington Steele,” allowing Timothy Dalton to play the role in two films. Because Frank Sinatra turned down the role, Bruce Willis became John McClain. (that’s a story for another day).
After the amazing success of “M*A*S*H”, a popular television series based on a film, the networks turned to other properties in the hopes of catching that same lightning in a bottle. ABC decided to take a shot at adapting the 1970 film Catch-22, an outrageous comedy based on Joseph Heller’s novel, directed by Mike Nichols and written by Heller and the always funny Buck Henry. The film starred Alan Arkin as Captain John Yossarian, as well as an all-star cast including Martin Balsam, Bob Newhart, Richard Benjamin, Jon Voight and Orson Welles. ABC felt that with this pedigree it should easily transfer to the small screen and run for years to come.
On May 21, 1973, ABC aired “Catch-22,” starring a young actor named Richard Dreyfuss as Yossarian. The plot consisted of Yossarian, having completed his quota of air missions, trying to get back home and encountering humorous adventures along the way. As the summer re-run season was about to begin, the network felt that if the audience response was good enough that they could commit to a series to begin airing in late 1973. Though the show has some fun moments – sadly, it’s also accompanied by an overused laugh track – when the time came to set ABC’s fall lineup, “Catch-22” was not on the list. But what if it had been?
Less then three months after “Catch-22” aired, American Graffiti was released. It put Dreyfuss and the rest of the young cast (Candy Clark, Ron Howard, Cindy Williams, Charles Martin Smith, etc) into a spotlight they had never known before. Had Dreyfuss been committed, and under contract, to do a television series, he never would have been able to make The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz.
More importantly, he never would have been able to do JAWS, especially since filming began on May 1, 1974, about the same time the series would have wrapped up filming for the season. I honestly think, because of the television commitment, Dreyfuss wouldn’t have even been considered for the role of Matt Hooper. I asked Richard once if he thought his career would be totally different had “Catch-22” caught on (excuse the pun). With no hesitation, he stated that it most certainly would have. So thank you, America, for not tuning in to “Catch-22.”
Words by Michael A Smith. Michael is co-author of Jaws 2: The Making Of The Hollywood Sequel. You can order the book by contacting Michael at OsFanMike@aol.com.
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