Series Description

The Lucas Tanner TV show was a drama series on NBC about a sportswriter who moved to Missouri to become an English teacher and coach after his wife and son were killed in an auto accident. His unique teaching style was not appreciated by his fellow teachers but was adored by his students.

Lucas Tanner Cast

David Hartman .... Lucas Tanner
Kimberly Beck .... Terry Klitsner
Trish Soodik .... Cindy Damon
Rosemary Murphy .... Margaret Blumenthal
Alan Abelew .... Jaytee Drumm
Robbie Rist .... Glendon Farrell
John Randolph .... John Hamilton
Michael Dwight Smith .... Wally Moore

Lucas Tanner Trivia

Lucas Tanner was a baseball player before becoming a sportswriter (and, of course, before this series' storyline began).

The reason that Lucas' fellow teacher weren't crazy about him was that he treated his students like individuals and really cared about them. Many real-life teachers didn't care for this series because it made it seem as though most teachers don't care about their students feelings; like Lucas Tanner was the rare exception.

Lucas taught at "Harry S. Truman Memorial High School" in "Webster Groves, Missouri", a suburb of St. Louis.

Lucas' dog was an Irish Setter and it's name was, "Brigette".

Before Lucas Tanner, David Hartman guest starred on many other series including, "The Carol Burnett Show", "The Virginian", "Ironside", and many others. He was also in several TV movies and appeared on "The Tonight Show" six times with Johnny Carson!

Lucas Tanner was canceled after only one season due to poor ratings. Most people blamed the failure on David Hartman's poor acting ability. No matter how you felt about that, there were definitely other factors. CBS was airing the popular series, "Cannon" in Lucas Tanner's time slot on NBC. To make matters worse, ABC was airing, "The Wednesday Movie of the Week" and that movie started at 8:30 PM, thus having "hooked" much of the available audience at 9 PM when Lucas Tanner came on the air.

David Hartman probably did make the correct career move, however, when Lucas Tanner was canceled. He became the first "Anchor" on ABC's "Good Morning America" show and he kept that show in the #1 slot for many of the eleven years he was there! He won an Emmy and several journalism awards for his work as a host, writer, and producer of news programs and documentaries.

Episodes List With Original Air Dates

TV Pilot Movie

Lucas Tanner (5/8/1974)

The First And Only Season

1. A Matter of Love (9/11/1974)
2. Instant Replay (9/18/1974)
3. Thirteen Going on Twenty (10/2/1974)
4. Winners and Losers (10/9/1974)
5. A Question of Pivacy (10/16/1974)
6. Three Letter Word (10/23/1974)
7. By the Numbers (11/6/1974)
8. Echoes (11/13/1974)
9. Look the Other Way (11/20/1974)
10. Cheers (12/4/1974)
11. Merry Gentlemen (12/25/1974)
12. Bonus Baby (1/8/1975)
13. Pay The Man The Two Dollars (1/15/1975)
14. Those Who Cannot Count, Teach? (1/22/1975)
15. What's Wrong With Bobby? (1/29/1975)
16. Collision (2/5/1975)
17. Why Not A Happy Ending? (2/12/1975)
18. Shattered (2/19/1975)
19. The Noise Of A Quiet Weekend (2/26/1975)
20. Requiem For A Son (3/12/1975)
21. A Touch Of Bribery (4/2/1975)
22. One to One (4/9/1975)