Series Description

The Barnaby Jones TV show was a 60 minute detective drama series on CBS about a retired private detective whose son was murdered. The son had been running the detective agency that dad started so Barnaby took back the reins and started looking for the murderer. After finding him and bringing him to justice, Barnaby decided to continue working as a P.I. along with help from his widowed daughter-in-law Betty Jones. A few years later, Barnaby's cousin "J.R." Jones sought Barnaby's help in finding his father's killer. Again, the perputrator is caught and J.R. joined the agency. Together, they continued to track down criminals that had been able to elude the police and who had committed horrible crimes and destroyed innocent people's lives.

Barnaby Jones Cast

Buddy Ebsen .... Barnaby Jones
Lee Meriwether ... Betty Jones
John Carter .... Lieutenant John Biddle
Mark Shera .... Jedediah Romano "J.R." Jones (1976-1980)

Barnaby Jones Trivia:

Approximately 15 years after Barnaby Jones went off the air, Lee Meriwehter and Mark Shera wanted to do a Barnaby Jones reunion movie but Buddy Ebsen wasn't interested.

After Barnaby Jones ended, there was discussion about doing a TV Movie where Buddy Ebsen would play two roles! His "Beverly Hillbillies" character, "Jed Clampett" would have been kidnapped and Barnaby Jones would have been hired to find him. It's a shame that the movie was never made! In 1993, however, there was a "Beverly Hillbillies" theatrical film where Granny was missing and Barnaby Jones (played by Buddy Ebsen) was hired to find her! A different actor played Jed Clampett in that film, however.

By the end of the sixth season, Buddy Ebsen was almost 70 years old and the grind of doing a weekly TV series was a bit too much for him. Rather than end the series, Lee Meriwether and Mark Shera's parts were expanded considerably to the point where they were sharing the onscreen time pretty much equally with Buddy Ebsen. That allowed the series to continue for another two seasons!

Barnaby Jones was the last TV show produced by "Quinn Martin Productions". They produced many hit shows in the 1960s and 70s including "12 O'Clock High", "Cannon", "The F.B.I.", "The Fugitive", "The Invaders", and "The Streets of San Francisco"!

Lee Meriwether was the 1955 "Miss America"! Many sources say that she played the role of "Catwoman" on the 1966 series, "Batman" but that's not true! She played that role in the 1966 movie, "Batman". Lee also played "Dr. Ann MacGregor" on the TV series, "The Time Tunnel". She attended school with Johnny Mathis and Bill Bixby ("The Incredible Hulk"). Lee is also a desendant of Meriwether Lewis, a 19th century explorer and Governor of the Louisiana Territory!

Lee Meriwether was nominated for Golden Globe Awards in both 1975 and 1976 for "Best TV Actress - Drama". In 1975, Angie Dickinson won the Emmy for her role on "Police Woman" and in 1976, Lee Remick won for her role in the TV miniseries titled, "Jennie: Lady Randolph Churchill". In 1977, Lee was nominated for an Emmy in the "Outstanding Continuing Performance by a Supporting Actress in a Drama Series" category. Kristy McNichol won that one for her role on, "Family". In 1979, William W. Spencer was nominated for another Emmy for "Outstanding Cinematography for a Series" but Ted Voigtlander won that one for "Little House on the Prairie".