Barnaby Jones

Barnaby Jones is an American detective television series starring Buddy Ebsen as a formerly retired investigator and Lee Meriwether as his widowed daughter-in-law. They run a private detective firm in Los Angeles, California. The show was originally introduced as a midseason replacement on the CBS network and ran from 1973 to 1980. Halfway through the series' run, Mark Shera was added to the cast as a much younger cousin of Ebsen's character, who eventually joined the firm.
Barnaby Jones was produced by QM Productions. It had the second-longest QM series run, behind The F.B.I.'s nine-year run. The series followed the characteristic Quinn Martin episode format with commercial breaks dividing each episode into four "acts," concluding with an epilogue. The opening credits were narrated by Hank Simms.
Jerry Goldsmith composed the series' distinctive theme music.
The first episode of the show, "Requiem for a Son", featured a crossover with another QM program, Cannon, with William Conrad guest-starring as detective Frank Cannon. There was another crossover between the two programs in the 1975 two-part episode "The Deadly Conspiracy".

Plot

After Barnaby Jones had worked as a private eye for many years, he decided to retire and left the business to his son Hal. When Hal was murdered while working on a case, Barnaby came out of retirement to find the killer. After this case, his widowed daughter-in-law, Betty Jones, went to work for him at the detective agency. Barnaby was unusual, ordering milk in restaurants and bars, counter to the stereotypical hard-drinking detective.
In 1976, the character of Jedediah Romano "J.R." Jones, the son of Barnaby's cousin, joined the show. He had come from Chicago to try to solve the murder of his father, who was a retired police officer. After that case was closed, he stayed in Los Angeles to help Barnaby and Betty, while also attending law school. Initially a somewhat angry young man, J.R. soon became an easygoing, fun-loving character.
Besides the Joneses, the only other recurring character on the show was their police contact, Lt. John Biddle. He was introduced in the latter half of the second season and appeared in most episodes thereafter, though often only briefly.
As Ebsen aged and expressed an interest in slowing down a bit, Meriwether's and Shera's characters became more prominent, allowing Ebsen to reduce his role. During the last two seasons, episodes were divided evenly between the two actors, Meriwether and Shera each being the focus of half of the season's episodes with Ebsen's involvement limited to slightly more than episodic cameos. Ratings went up in the sixth and seventh seasons, after Shera's character was added, but they plummeted during Season 8.
The show was canceled in 1980 due to declining ratings; Ebsen had also tired of playing the role. After the series' cancellation, reruns aired in syndication.

Cast

Main cast

Buddy Ebsen as Barnaby Jones
Lee Meriwether as Betty Jones
Mark Shera as J. R. Jones
John Carter as Lt. John Biddle
Guest stars

Among the guest stars who appeared over the years were Conlan Carter and Gary Lockwood, who appeared together in the third episode of the series entitled "Sunday: Doomsday" on February 25, 1973. Other guests in the first season alone included:

In later seasons, guest stars included Wayne Maunder, formerly on CBS's Lancer western series, and Ron Hayes, who played Sheriff Oscar Hamlin in the episode "Target for a Wedding." Marshall Colt, later cast with James Arness on McClain's Law, guest-starred in two episodes in 1979. Donald May played the role of Curt Phillips in the 1978 episode "Blind Jeopardy". Character actress Lurene Tuttle played Emily Carter, Betty's aunt, in the 1980 episode "The Killin' Cousin".
Many familiar actors made guest appearances, and others who were newcomers went on to become well-known, including:

Buddy Ebsen's real-life daughter, Bonnie Ebsen, made guest appearances in six episodes, while Lee Meriwether's real-life daughter, Kyle Aletter-Oldham, made cameo appearances in two episodes. Future Trapper John, M.D. stars Pernell Roberts, Gregory Harrison, and Charles Siebert all made guest appearances on one episode. Future WKRP in Cincinnati stars Loni Anderson and Gary Sandy made guest appearances, as well.

Episodes

Reception

Home media

On February 16, 2010, CBS DVD released season one of Barnaby Jones on DVD in Region 1 for the first time. The episode "The Murdering Class" has had the word "nigger" bleeped out when one of the characters speaks, although one can still hear the "n" sound of the word; because of this audio edit, the release was not called "The Complete First Season". The episodes on the DVD include their broadcast trailers. This edit also exists on the VEI release.
As of September 2014, this release has been discontinued and is out of print.
On May 4, 2015, Visual Entertainment announced it had acquired the rights to the series in Region 1. It was subsequently announced that VEI would release Barnaby Jones—The Complete Collection on DVD on December 15, 2015. The 45-disc set features all 179 episodes of the series as well as a bonus prequel episode.

DVD name	Ep#	Release date
Season One	13	February 16, 2010
The Complete Collection	179	December 11, 2015

In other media

Film

In 1993, Ebsen reprised the role of Barnaby Jones in the film The Beverly Hillbillies, adapted from Ebsen's television series of the same name. It was Ebsen's final theatrical appearance. After that film, Meriwether and Shera expressed interest in a Barnaby Jones reunion television movie, but could not talk Ebsen into joining the project.

Reruns

From 1978 to 1983, Barnaby Jones began broadcasting in off-net syndication.
Beginning September 3, 2019, MeTV began broadcasting Barnaby Jones reruns.