Wednesday, August 10, 2022

Wu's TV Corner #43: Toma

 


https://thegoldenhornblog.blogspot.com/2020/05/toma.html

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0726129/

1974 ABC. "50% of Normal." Tony Musante cop show. Concept became Baretta. Simon Oakland, Susan Strasberg, Philip Michael Thomas (did five.) Guest stars Steven Keats, Louise Troy, Barbara Rhoades, Richard Eastham. Toma goes undercover as a priest after a man wearing a ski mask is attacking women. Musante did not want to do a second season so this was retooled for Robert Blake as Baretta.

Steven Keats is Musante's Vietnam vet friend, Freddy, who is in trouble with the law after coming home with problems. Barbara Rhoades plays one of the women who is assaulted with powder in a bizarre scene. Susan Strasberg is Patty Toma. Wife and mother. Freddy comes to the house for dinner and steals a look at the case file while Patty is cooking. He may not be what he seems.

There are a few episodes of Toma on Youtube in parts that look like they came from USA Network showings but Wiki says the show hasn't been seen much on TV. It's pretty good. Also pretty violent and disturbing, which brought some criticism. 

Despite having contributed to the development of the popular Baretta, reruns of Toma were never syndicated to local stations, and repeats of the show on national television post-cancellation have been rare. Repeats of Toma aired in the late-1970s during ABC Late Night, and later on USA Network's Crimebusters in 1984-1985. One episode aired on TV Land in 2001.

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