Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, June 10, 1995 TAG: 9506120002
SECTION: SPECTATOR PAGE: S-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BOB THOMAS ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: LOS ANGELES LENGTH: Medium
``Into the restaurant came the Search and Rescue team of Bear Valley,'' Conrad remembers. ``They had just had a successful search, and they were going to have a few cocktails and some would have dinner, because they'd been out for a while.
``I saw this euphoria and I saw these people. I looked at my wife and I said, `I missed it.' She said `What?' and I said, `This is a television series. These people are volunteers. They're from the community.' I took a napkin and wrote: `Search and rescue - the people are volunteers, heroes.' In my mind was the beginning of a pitch, and I didn't want to forget it.''
NBC bought the pitch, resulting in a two-hour movie ``Search and Rescue,'' which aired in March 1994 to decent ratings, especially among the 18-49 age group coveted by advertisers and networks.
Conrad was given an order for seven hour-long shows, now called ``High Sierra Search and Rescue.''
Two years after the idea met napkin, Conrad's series previews Sunday (at 10 p.m. on WSLS-Channel 10), and then moves to a regular spot beginning Wednesday.
The former commander of TV's ``Black Sheep'' fighter squadron is a free-lance helicopter pilot in ``Search and Rescue,'' leading a cast that includes Dee Wallace Stone (``E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial'').
Several of the characters are based on real-life figures who risk their lives to rescue lost or injured people. Filming took place in Bear Valley, where Conrad lives with his wife, and on the mountains surrounding the town.
``We could only do seven shows because we were weathered out,'' Conrad said. ``When we finished Dec. 12, we were done. I didn't call to ask for additional episodes. It was the worst winter we had there in 148 years. We had 20 feet of snow on the ground. We had a real search and rescue when one of our vehicles went off the highway and did a triple [rollover]. We spent three months editing the shows so we would be ready to go forward in April.''
But network chess-playing shifted the ``Search and Rescue'' debut until June. Conrad, a battle-scarred veteran of the television wars, is unconcerned about the diminished number of viewers during the summer.
```Northern Exposure' went on in June,'' he cited. ``Aaron Spelling's gone on in June. We're opposite `Roseanne,' who is formidable, but she's in reruns. `Beverly Hills, 90210' doesn't do well in reruns. I think the young kids may want to gravitate to our show. We have some appealing young actors in the cast.
``I'll deliver the AARP, which I do significantly,'' said Conrad, who is 60, referring to the American Association of Retired Persons. ``I know that the advertisers don't care - if you're not 18-49 or 25-54, you don't buy things. I know that I bought a lot this year.
``One of these days we're going to get mad at those people for excluding us. We'll say, `Hey, enough! You don't want the 30 million people? Good. We'll go elsewhere.'''
Bob Conrad's career encompasses much of television history in Hollywood. He started in 1959 as Tom Lopaka in ``Hawaiian Eye,'' which was derided by critics but rode the teenybopper wave for five years. In 1965, he put a new spin on the western with ``The Wild Wild West,'' a combination of James Bond and Bruce Lee.
When ``The Wild Wild West'' folded in 1970, Conrad disappeared.
``I couldn't sort a lot of things out in my personal life, so I just left,'' he said. ``I went up to the mountains. I started just having an apartment here and working. Then I just said, `To hell with it,' and I went back to Bear Valley and opened a saloon called The Last Run.''
The mountain economy slumped, the restaurant failed, and Conrad lost his work as a reserve sheriff's deputy. Back to Hollywood.
``I had to start from scratch all over again,'' he recalled. ``I was driving a Volkswagen and living in a small apartment. I'd take any role that came along.''
His fortunes revived with ``Baa Baa Black Sheep,'' based on the exploits of the World War II Marine squadron led by Gregory ``Pappy'' Boyington. It lasted two seasons, and Conrad followed with what he considers his best role, as the French trapper Pasquinel in the James Michener miniseries, ``Centennial.''
``I didn't care that James Coburn, Robert Blake and Charles Bronson had turned the role down,'' he said. ``I told my agent: `If you don't get me that part, you die.'''
by CNB