Stingray (NBC TV series)

Infobox Television
show_name = Stingray


caption =
format = drama / crime
camera =
picture_format =
runtime = 1 hour (with commercials)
creator = Stephen J. Cannell
developer =
executive_producer = Stephen J. Cannell & Lawrence Hertzog
starring = Nick Mancuso
narrated =
opentheme =
endtheme =
country = United States
network = NBC
first_aired = 14 July 1985
last_aired = 8 May 1987
num_episodes = 24
website = http://www.cannell.com/vtv.php?id=31&rnd=863775&k=c8c1dba7960f5a350107621bbe13938f
imdb_id = 0090528
tv_com_id = 381

Stingray is an NBC television series produced by Stephen J. Cannell that ran from 1985 to 1987. It starred Nick Mancuso, who played the mysterious character known only as Ray, whose trademark was a black 1965 Corvette Sting Ray.

Plot

Ray, who lives in Southern California, devotes his time to helping those who are in trouble, much like New York City’s Robert McCall in CBS’s contemporary but longer-running and more popular series "The Equalizer". Ray’s background is even more shadowy than McCall’s. All that is known about him is that, like McCall, he advertises surreptitiously in newspapers, ostensibly offering a “’65 black Stingray for Barter Only” and including a telephone number (555-7687); those wishing to enlist his services, presumably having learned the ad’s real meaning by word of mouth, can call him for help. It is not clear if "Ray' is even his real name, or if simply a nickname he has taken on based on the car he drives: the aforementioned black '65 Stingray.

Ray does not charge money for his help; instead, he extracts a promise from his client in advance that the client will repay Ray in the future by performing a favor, perhaps easy, perhaps difficult, upon Ray’s request. As the series begins, Ray has apparently extracted this promise from many previous clients; this allows him to call in a variety of favors during the series to help his current clients. In one episode, for instance, when he poses as a doctor and is called upon, as part of his cover, to perform surgery, he calls in a favor from a former client who is a physician; the former client secretly takes Ray’s place in the operating room and performs the surgery. This formula was later used in the even shorter lived "Vengeance Unlimited" and "Los Simuladores".

Ray is a skilled driver and accomplished martial artist, and is excellent at covering his tracks and hiding his real identity. On several occasions, clients and government authorities believe that they have discovered who he really is, but in the end they find that they are mistaken. Often it seems that Ray either is or was affiliated with a secret government agency, perhaps the CIA, but this is never conclusively proven. In "Abnormal Psych" an unnamed opponent with ties to the U.S. intelligence community claims to have "created" Ray, and in "Anytime, Anywhere" it's clear he served in Vietnam in some capacity. When the license plate for his Stingray is run through a computer it lists many different addresses and owners. Two of the most notable were “1600 Pennsylvania Ave., Washington, DC”, the address of the White House, and the motor pool for the Governor of California.

Ray's other talents include a photographic memory, speed-reading, the ability to slow down his heart to barely perceptible levels, and a knack for adopting personas including an arrogant surgeon, a tent-revival preacher, a crippled Vietnam vet, and a grieving husband. He is a skilled computer hacker, capable of accessing and altering data systems and coordinating information retrieval.

Music (by veteran TV composers Mike Post and Pete Carpenter) played a large part in the series. In addition to frequent quick-cutting of visuals in time with the incidental music, the show also inserted music video style interludes, complete with purpose-built “pop songs” sung by (usually) semi-obscure pop and rock vocalists (for example, David Pack singing “Signs of Human Error” in the episode “Playback”).

Uniquely, the end credits featured still photos of the production crew working on the episode.

Notable guest stars included Rachel Ticotin, Ray Wise, Mark-Paul Gosselaar, Patricia Wettig, Tom Atkins (actor), Kurtwood Smith, Robert Vaughn, Stuart Pankin, Steven Williams, Marcia Strassman, Eugene Roche, Gregg Henry, Lori Petty, Samantha Eggar, Jeff Altman, Shannon Tweed, Dennis Christopher, Doug Savant, Jeff Conaway, Joseph Ruskin, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, John Amos, and Clyde Kusatsu.

Awards

The series (Betty Green, graphic design) won the "Primetime Emmy Award" in 1986 in category “Outstanding Graphic and Title Design” and was nominated in 1987 in the category “Outstanding Sound Editing for a Series” for the episode “Gemini”.

Episode list

DVD release

On April 1, 2008, Visual Entertainment released the complete series of "Stingray" on DVD in Canada. [cite web |url=http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/shows/Stingray/5592 |title=TV Shows on DVD: "Stingray"]

References

External links

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* [http://www.nick-mancuso.com Nick Mancuso Website]