# The Mod Squad (1968)

> Three young undercover operatives, a former offender, a runaway and a rebel, take cases for a police captain while blending into the late sixties counterculture.

Canonical page: https://ember.film/tv/3806

## Facts

- Seasons: 5
- Episodes: 124
- Episode runtime: 60 min
- Status: Ended
- Genres: crime, drama
- Created by: Buddy Ruskin
- Network: ABC
- Cast: Peggy Lipton, Clarence Williams III, Tige Andrews, Michael Cole, Booker Bradshaw, Val Avery, Woody Allen, Richard Dreyfuss
- TMDB rating: 6.9/10
- IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0062589/

## Ember's analysis

- Pacing: brisk
- Intensity: mild
- Complexity: simple
- Violence: mild
- Tone: earnest, breezy, tense, nostalgic, idealistic

## Synopsis

The Mod Squad (1968-1973) is an American network crime drama created by Buddy Ruskin for ABC and produced by Thomas/Spelling Productions. Michael Cole stars as Pete Cochren, Peggy Lipton as Julie Barnes, and Clarence Williams III as Linc Hayes, three young people recruited by Captain Adam Greer (Tige Andrews) to work undercover for the Los Angeles police. Their engine is simple and vivid: each case sends the trio into the counterculture scenes of late sixties and early seventies America, where they must earn the trust of drifters, activists and small-time criminals while staying one step ahead of the people they are investigating. Across five seasons and 124 hour-long episodes, the series works as a case-of-the-week procedural, with each episode built around a new undercover assignment and a new set of street characters. The show is set in 1960s and early 1970s Los Angeles, and its look and music carry the era's generational restlessness. Its tone mixes earnest social concern, breezy hippie style and tense undercover moments, and viewers who enjoy Starsky & Hutch, The Rockford Files and Dragnet will find a familiar pleasure in its partnership-driven crime stories.

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- [Police Story (1973)](https://ember.film/tv/9147)
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- [Graceland (2013)](https://ember.film/tv/42742)
- [77 Sunset Strip (1958)](https://ember.film/tv/872)
- [The Blue Knight (1973)](https://ember.film/tv/1105139)
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- [Wiseguy (1987)](https://ember.film/tv/6114)
- [Hill Street Blues (1981)](https://ember.film/tv/3642)
- [Charlie's Angels (1976)](https://ember.film/tv/3217)
- [Baretta (1975)](https://ember.film/tv/3058)

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