Judd, for the Defense

Judd, for the Defense
Carl Betz as Judd with guest star Katharine Houghton, 1968.
Genre	Legal drama
Starring	Carl Betz Stephen Young
Composer(s)	Alexander Courage
Country of origin	United States
Original language(s)	English
No. of seasons	2
No. of episodes	50
Production
Executive producer(s)	Paul Monash
Running time	45–48 minutes
Production company(s)	20th Century Fox Television
Distributor	20th Century Fox Television Fox Television Studios (current)
Release
Original network	ABC
Original release	September 8, 1967 (1967-09-08) – September 19, 1969 (1969-09-19)
External links
[{{#property:P856}} Website]

Judd, for the Defense is an American legal drama originally broadcast on the ABC network on Friday nights from September 8, 1967, to September 19, 1969.

Synopsis

The show stars Carl Betz, who had previously spent eight years in the role of Dr. Alex Stone, husband of Donna Reed in ABC's The Donna Reed Show. In his new role, reportedly based on high-profile lawyers such as F. Lee Bailey and Percy Foreman, Betz played Clinton Judd, a flamboyant attorney based in Houston, who often took on controversial cases across the country. Playing his top assistant, Ben Caldwell, was Stephen Young.

Even before the show premiered, Foreman threatened a lawsuit by saying that the program was "appropriating for commercial purposes my career as a lawyer." Throughout the course of the two-year run of the show, there were never enough viewers to establish Foreman's claim, although critics gave it positive reviews. Undoubtedly the skittishness of viewers was a result of the program's dealing with then-taboo (though contemporary) subjects such as homosexuality, blacklisting, and draft dodgers, with open-ended conclusions in many episodes.

The show's producer, Harold Gast, sought to break new ground with the program, using a number of new writers for scripts that veered away from previous television conventions. In addition, one personal experience involving credit card problems caused by computers became the basis for an episode entitled, "Epitaph on a Computer Card." In 1968, Gast and writer Leon Tokatyan won an Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America for the episode "Tempest in a Texas Town".

In an attempt to boost the low ratings of the hour-long program, the episode which aired on January 31, 1969, combined the Judd cast with that of another ABC series, Felony Squad, starring Dennis Cole. The idea did not salvage either program, as both were soon cancelled.

Betz's portrayal of a lawyer was enough to provide him paid opportunities to speak before groups of attorneys, and also helped him win both Golden Globe and Emmy Awards after the show's final season. Additionally, screenwriter Robert Lewin won a Writer's Guild award for the episode, "To Kill a Madman."

Other actors appearing on episodes of the show included Ed Asner, Karen Black, Scott Brady, Len Birman, Russ Conway, Richard Dreyfuss, Robert Duvall, Lee Grant, Rodolfo Hoyos, Jr., Ron Howard, Wright King, Ida Lupino, Jessica Tandy, Lurene Tuttle, and William Windom.

Episode guide

Season 1 (1967–1968)

Ep.	№	Title	Airdate
1	1	Tempest in a Texas Town	September 8, 1967
2	2	The Deep End	September 15, 1967
3	3	The Other Face of the Law	September 22, 1967
4	4	A Civil Case of Murder	September 29, 1967
5	5	Shadow of a Killer	October 6, 1967
6	6	Conspiracy	October 13, 1967
7	7	Confessional	October 20, 1967
8	8	Death from a Flower Girl	November 3, 1967
9	9	Citizen Ritter	November 10, 1967
10	10	The Money Farm	November 17, 1967
11	11	To Kill a Madman	November 24, 1967
12	12	Commitment	December 1, 1967
13	13	To Love and Stand Mute	December 8, 1967
14	14	The Living Victim	December 15, 1967
15	15	Firebrand	December 22, 1967
16	16	Everybody Loved Harlan Except His Wife	December 29, 1967
17	17	Fall of a Skylark: Part 1 - The Trial	January 5, 1968
18	18	Fall of a Skylark: Part 2 - The Appeal	January 12, 1968
19	19	No Law Against Murder	January 19, 1968
20	20	The Grand Old Man	January 26, 1968
21	21	What You Can Do with Money	February 2, 1968
22	22	Kingdom of the Blind	February 9, 1968
23	23	The Devil's Surrogate	February 23, 1968
24	24	Square House	March 1, 1968
25	25	The Worst of Both Worlds	March 15, 1968
26	26	You Remember Joe Maddox	March 22, 1968

Season 2 (1968-1969)

Ep.	№	Title	Airdate
1	27	In a Puff of Smoke	September 27, 1968
2	28	Transplant	October 4, 1968
3	29	The Ends of Justice	October 11, 1968
4	30	The Name of This Game Is Acquittal	October 18, 1968
5	31	The Sound of the Plastic Axe	October 25, 1968
6	32	The Death Farm	November 1, 1968
7	33	Weep the Hunter Home	November 8, 1968
8	34	The Gates of Cerberus	November 15, 1968
9	35	My Client, the Fool	November 22, 1968
10	36	Punishment, Cruel and Unusual	December 6, 1968
11	37	Thou Shalt Not Suffer a Witch to Live	December 13, 1968
12	38	A Swim with Sharks	December 20, 1968
13	39	The Crystal Maze	January 3, 1969
14	40	Borderline Girl	January 10, 1969
15	41	Epitaph on a Computer Card	January 17, 1969
16	42	The Poisoned Tree	January 24, 1969
17	43	The Law and Order Blues	January 31, 1969
18	44	Between the Dark and the Daylight	February 7, 1969
19	45	The Holy Ground: Part 1 - The Killing	February 14, 1969
20	46	The Holy Ground: Part 2 - The Killers	February 21, 1969
21	47	An Elephant in a Cigar Box	February 28, 1969
22	48	The View from the Ivory Tower	March 7, 1969
23	49	Runaway	March 14, 1969
24	50	Visitation	March 21, 1969

External links

• Judd, for the Defense at IMDb
• Judd, for the Defense at TV.com