Route 66 (TV series)

Route 66
Created by	Herbert B. Leonard Stirling Silliphant
Starring	Martin Milner George Maharis (1960–1963) Glenn Corbett (1963–1964)
Country of origin	USA
No. of seasons	4
No. of episodes	116 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s)	Herbert B. Leonard
Running time	approx. 52 mins. (per episode)
Production company(s)	Lancer Productions Edling Productions Screen Gems
Distributor	Colex Enterprises LBS Communications Columbia Pictures Television Sony Pictures Television
Release
Original network	CBS
Original release	October 7, 1960 – March 20, 1964

Route 66 is an American television drama that premiered on CBS on October 7, 1960, and ran until March 20, 1964, for a total of 116 episodes. The series was created by Herbert B. Leonard and Stirling Silliphant, who were also responsible for the ABC drama Naked City, from which Route 66 was indirectly spun off. Both series employed a format with elements of both traditional drama and anthology drama, but the difference was where the shows were set: Naked City was set in New York City, while Route 66 had its setting change from week to week, with each episode being shot on location in the area in which it was set.

Route 66 followed two young men traversing the United States in a Chevrolet Corvette convertible, and the events and consequences surrounding their journeys. Martin Milner starred as Tod Stiles, a recent college graduate with no future prospects due to circumstances beyond his control. He was originally joined on his travels by Buz Murdock, a friend and former employee of his father (played by George Maharis), with the character leaving midway through the third season after contracting echovirus. Near the end of the third season, Tod met a recently discharged Vietnam veteran named Lincoln Case, played by Glenn Corbett, who decided to follow Tod on his travels and stayed with him until the final episode.

Route 66 was a hybrid between episodic television drama, which has continuing characters and situations, and the anthology format (e.g., The Twilight Zone), in which each week's show has a completely different cast and story. It was inspired by On the Road, written by Jack Kerouac. In this narrative format, dubbed "semi-anthology" by the trade paper Variety, the drama usually centers on the guest stars rather than the regular cast. Series creator Stirling Silliphant's concurrently running drama, Naked City (1958–1963), also followed this semianthology format. Both shows were recognized for their literate scripts and rich characterizations. The open-ended format, featuring two roaming observers/facilitators, gave Silliphant and the other writers an almost unlimited landscape for presenting a wide variety of dramatic (or comedic) story lines. Virtually any tale could be adapted to the series. The two regulars merely had to be worked in and the setting tailored to fit the location. Like Richard Kimble from The Fugitive, the wanderers moved from place to place and got caught up in the struggles of the people there. Unlike Kimble, nothing was forcing them to stay on the move except their own sense of adventure, thus making it thematically closer to Run for Your Life, Maverick, Movin' On, and Then Came Bronson.

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