Highway Patrol (TV series)

Highway Patrol
Also known as	Ten-4
Genre	Action/Police crime drama
Starring	Broderick Crawford
Narrated by	Art Gilmore
Theme music composer	David Rose
Country of origin	United States
Original language(s)	English
No. of seasons	4
No. of episodes	156
Production
Executive producer(s)	Frederick Ziv
Producer(s)	Vernon E. Clark Jack Herzberg Herbert L. Strock
Location(s)	California
Running time	30 minutes
Production company(s)	Ziv Television Programs
Distributor	MGM Television Peter Rodgers Organization
Release
Original network	Syndication
Picture format	Black and white
Audio format	Monaural
Original release	October 3, 1955 – September 1, 1959

Highway Patrol is a syndication action crime drama series produced from 1955 to 1959.

Highway Patrol stars Broderick Crawford as Dan Mathews, the gruff and dedicated head of a police force in an unidentified Western state. A signature shot of the series is fedora-wearing Mathews barking rapid-fire dialogue into a radio microphone as he leans against the door of his black and white patrol car. Mathews growls "21-50 to headquarters" and the invariable response is "Headquarters by" (as in, standing by).

Ziv Television Productions was founded by Frederick Ziv in 1948. 21 years later. Ziv TV was a major producer of 1950s and early 1960s first-run syndicated series, including Bat Masterson, The Cisco Kid, Science Fiction Theater, Lock-Up, Sea Hunt and Ripcord.

Highway Patrol was created by Ziv in response to California Highway Patrol (CHP) wanting to be featured in a TV series. However, because ZIV felt the show needed to have a broader police scope than the real CHP, the generic show name was adopted. In the four years of its run, Highway Patrol would feature many actors who would later become successful stars in their own right, among them Stuart Whitman, Clint Eastwood, Robert Conrad, Larry Hagman, Barbara Eden, Paul Burke and Leonard Nimoy.

Highway Patrol premiered October 3, 1955 with "Prison Break", an episode filmed April 11–13, 1955. Ziv Television Programs produced 156 episodes spanning four TV seasons, 1955–1959. Episodes are generally fast-paced—notable considering how a typical episode was filmed: two days on location and one day at the studio. The budget for an episode ranged from $20,000 to $25,000, somewhat higher when a Bell 47 helicopter was used. Producer Frederic W. Ziv said the show moved fast to match Broderick Crawford's acting pace. Ziv said Highway Patrol introduced quick cutting to television, which started a new trend.

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