Switch "Las Vegas Roundabout" #1.0 (1975)

Not as inventive as I had hoped, 1 July 2017

A reformed safe cracker is framed for a diamond heist he had nothing to do with. His lawyer suggests hiring a couple of private detective with some unique abilities - Frank MacBride (Eddie Albert), a recently retired policeman, and Pete Ryan (Robert Wagner), a reformed conman himself. The detective quickly identify the real criminal, but he's also a cop. The pair decide to run a con on their target to get him. Their hoping they can force the bad cop to commit another robbery. Will it work?

Being in something of a "show hole", I decided to give Switch a try. I vaguely remember the show from it's original airing, but can't remember much about it. The premise sounded good and I've always been a fan of both Eddie Albert and Robert Wagner. Seemed like a sure-fired winner.

Unfortunately, the pilot, Las Vegas Roundabout, wasn't as good as I had hoped. In fact, some of it was boring. The problem is that the con the guys come up with isn't very clever. It's fairly standard and predictable. At least of third of the episode is spent in Vegas. Why? Well, I suppose it sounded sexy or exotic, but it ended up being unnecessary and a waste of time. Nothing that happened in Vegas had much of a bearing on the final outcome. So, unoriginal, too long, and dull in places. Not a great way to get a series started. Don't misunderstand, it's not horrible. My 5/10 means it's an average piece of entertainment. I was just hoping more from the pilot to draw me in. Sill, I will most likely watch a couple more episodes before I throw in the towel altogether.

One bit I really enjoyed was seeing a pre-Charlie's Angels Jaclyn Smith. Always a welcome sight.

5/10