FRIDAY HALL OF FAMERS - CLINTON JUDD

We just inducted Jessica Jones into the TVXOHOF on Wednesday, and here we are with the first of July’s Friday Hall of Famers.  So if I’m giving the month of July over to law enforcement – at least for this year – we’re going to kick off the weekly inductions with a defense lawyer in a series which ended fifty years ago this coming September.

From Wikipedia:
‘Judd, for the Defense’ was an American legal drama originally broadcast on the ABC network on Friday nights from September 8, 1967, to September 19, 1969.  
The show stars Carl Betz, who in his new role, plays 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.  

Throughout the course of the two-year run of the show, there were never enough viewers, 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 evasion, 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 titled "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".

‘Felony Squad’
“The Law & Order Blues”

From the IMDb:
Sam and Jim arrive at an unusual crime scene-- an African national named Marcel Nburu has a fund-raising expert, Charlie Bannerman, hanging upside down from a tree. They initially arrest Nburu on an attempted murder charge, for.which noted defense attorney Clinton Judd arrives to defend him. Sam's position with regards to Nburu changes to one of sympathy after they investigate Bannerman and discover him to be a con artist who fleeced Nburu out of money entrusted to him by his country. Sam finds himself changing his position once again when they go to arrest Bannerman, but find him dead and Nburu standing over the body. A scuffle ensues where Sam causes Nburu to fall down a flight of stairs and become seriously injured (The episode concluded later that evening on ‘Judd for the Defense’). 
This was the final show of the series and part 1 of a two-part crossover episode. The conclusion aired on ‘Judd for the Defense’: “The Law and Order Blues: Part 2” (1969).  

‘Judd, For The Defense’
“The Law & Order Blues, Part 2”

From the IMDb:
This was part 2 of a two-part crossover episode. Part one aired on ‘The Felony Squad’: “The Law and Order Blues” (1969), which also served as that program's final episode.

For his third entry to qualify for membership, we’re declaring Clinton Judd to be a multi-dimensional. 

‘Pat Paulsen’s Half A Comedy Hour’
Episode 1.10

In this series from Skitandia, Betz played an unnamed prosecutor in a sketch.  I’m making the claim that in the sketch comedy dimension, Clinton Judd wasn’t a defense lawyer, but an unhinged district attorney.

Yeah, we play it fast and loose a bit with the Friday Hall of Famers.

Welcome to the Hall, Mr. Judd.

BCnU!