Hawkins

1973

Seasons & Episodes

  • 1
7.5| NA| en| More Info
Released: 13 March 1973 Ended
Producted By: MGM Television
Country: United States of America
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website:
Info

Hawkins is a television series which aired for one season on CBS between 1973 and 1974. The mystery, created by Robert Hamner and David Karp, starred James Stewart as rural-bred lawyer Billy Jim Hawkins, who investigated the cases he was involved in, similarly to Stewart's earlier smash hit movie Anatomy of a Murder. Despite being critically well received and winning a Golden Globe Award, the series was cancelled after one season consisting of seven 90-minute episodes. Stewart requested the cancellation since he believed that the quality of scripts and directors in television could not continuously measure up to the level to which he was accustomed with theatrical films. Seen as part of The New CBS Tuesday Night Movies, it alternated with the TV movie adaptations of Shaft. Contemporary analysts suggested that since the two shows appealed to vastly different audience bases, alternating them only served to confuse fans of both series, giving neither one the time to build up a large viewership.

Genre

Mystery

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Hawkins (1973) is currently not available on any services.

Director

Production Companies

MGM Television

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Hawkins Audience Reviews

Plantiana Yawn. Poorly Filmed Snooze Fest.
Pluskylang Great Film overall
Gutsycurene Fanciful, disturbing, and wildly original, it announces the arrival of a fresh, bold voice in American cinema.
Forumrxes Yo, there's no way for me to review this film without saying, take your *insert ethnicity + "ass" here* to see this film,like now. You have to see it in order to know what you're really messing with.
Erewhon The producers of this show originally wanted Andy Griffith, but instead made the very interesting choice of Jimmy Stewart. )We all know what Griffith did end up doing.) Stewart is one of the greatest movie stars ever; very few on his level ever ended up the star of a TV series, much less two. I'm not asking for the Stewart sitcom; I am asking for HAWKINS. The interplay between him and resolutely colorful Strother Martin was funny, the mysteries were satisfying, Stewart was just fine. Mystery series do well on DVD; Stewart movies do well on DVD. This would seem an obvious choice--but to whom do we complain? Does MGM (and probably therefor Warners) own the video rights, or does CBS?
bkoganbing Jimmy Stewart in his second try at a television series was far better at playing Billy Jim Hawkins, defense attorney than he was doing that half hour situation comedy. For reasons I don't understand he was not as successful at the same type of character as Andy Griffith later was with Matlock. He had that same folksy charm that concealed a mind as sharp as a steel trap. Juatice was inevitably done at the end of each episode.Unlike Ben Matlock, Billy Jim was from West Virginia as opposed to North Carolina. He had Strother Martin who was a cousin and served as his general factotum. But he came from a large family, almost as if one of the Real McCoys went to law school. Cousins EVERYWHERE. Of course he'd be meeting relatives every so often with a problem. Billy Jim had the largest family on record, like the Kennedys.Or maybe it was like Chill Wills who called everyone he met "cousin." Never was quite clear.Nonetheless this forerunner to Matlock should have had a longer run. My guess is Stewart didn't want to be tied down to even a monthly mystery TV series. It was our loss.
purakek Like Columbo, this series moves slowly, with Jimmy Stewart as the Matlock of the 70's. Okay, not as successful as Matlock, but the mysteries and their solutions show a progressive tread towards mature plots. The pace drags, unfortunately, and will probably be not much of an attraction in a cable revival. Nonetheless, Hawkins the lawyer is much better a detective than Matlock and the stories (each one is about 2 hours each) contain intricate mysteries well worth the watch for detective story connoisseur.