Audio Vault: Bearcats! Opening Theme

Despite only running for 13 episodes, this unique Western series can quite properly be classified as a popular obscurity. Rod Taylor and Dennis Cole starred in the hour-long CBS series as a pair of problem solvers who traveled from job to job in their Stutz Bearcat. A made-for-TV movie broadcast in April 1971 served as a pilot for the series, which premiered in September 1971. Broadcast opposite The Flip Wilson Show on NBC and Alias Smith and Jones on ABC, Bearcats! was off the air by the end of December.

The theme song to Bearcats! isn’t particularly hard to find, nor are the opening credits. This particular version, though, was recorded off the air in 1971 using a reel-to-reel recorder, then transferred to cassette tape and final digitized. So while the quality isn’t perfect it’s vintage.

Bring back any memories? Does anyone have the 1/25th scale model kit of the Stutz Bearcat released in 1971?


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4 Replies to “Audio Vault: Bearcats! Opening Theme”

  1. I can’t find the rating for the BEARCATS! backdoor pilot (did it air under another title perhaps?), but the 13-episode ‘Bearcats!’ series averaged 13.2HH in its fall run, coming in third behind NBC’s ‘The Flip Wilson Show’ with a 28.2HH (ranked #2 behind ‘All in the Family’ that year) and ‘Alias Smith & Jones’ on ABC with a 16.1HH season-long average.

    Today, ‘Bearcats!’ would probably get a three-season run as a strong M12-34 demo hit on FOX, but back then CBS wasn’t pleased enough with the key male demos versus the production nut so they replaced it with the better-performing comedies ‘Me and the Chimp’ (13.3HH) at 8:00 pm followed by ‘My Three Sons’ (17.2HH) at 8:30 pm.

    1. Mid-season changes resulting from the cancellation of BEARCATS! and the forced end of FUNNY FACE (for treatment of star Sandy Duncan’s brain tumor). The new CHIMP and the relocated from Monday SONS taking over here–its Monday partner ARNIE returned to Saturday, taking MARY TYLER MOORE’s slot, while she was moved into FACE’s post ALL IN THE FAMILY scheduling. SONNY & CHER took over the now open Monday hour, returning from their successful summer trial.

  2. Yes, I found the MPC 1971 kit from the TV series “Bearcats!” Stutz Bearcat kit in a local hobby shop in Chicago. Unassembled and mint in the box for $20.00.

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