Saturday Morning Cult-TV Blogging: Run Joe Run (1974): "Six Seals, Two Whales, and a Dog"

This week, I’m looking at the second of two Run Joe Run (1974-1976) episodes available on YouTube. 

To briefly recap what I wrote last week, the Saturday morning variation on The Fugitive (1963-1967) -- featuring a dog as the protagonist -- has never had a proper DVD, VHS, or streaming release. I fear such a release is unlikely, as the series is over forty years old at this point.

The episode featured this week is “Six Seals, Two Whales, and a Dog.” It is the eighth half-hour long episode of the NBC series.  In it, our runaway, hunted dog, Joe, ends up an amusement park and befriends a boy named Todd. Todd’s father works at the amusement park, training dolphins for a Sea World-type aquatic show.

Todd renames Joe “Runner,” and wants to keep him. Unfortunately, a security guard encounters Joe, and fears that the dog may be dangerous. He asks a local shelter about Joe, and learns that the dog is wanted by the authorities, with a price on his head.  

Sgt. Corey (Arch Whiting) arrives, just as Joe is performing in the dolphin show (jumping through fire hoops).  Joe flees the show, and continues on his journey, while Todd plans to get a new dog to feature in the dolphin show.

Like last week’s episode, “Homecoming,” this episode of Run Joe Run is told largely through images and music, but with very little dialogue. And, again, Joe experiences three flashbacks of his time in the military, thereby suggesting that the dog suffers from PTSD.  

In this case, we see the dog being trained to jump, and then trained to jump through a fiery window.  At one point, we see him being trained to walk across a collapsed ladder laying horizontally.

The tone is very different this week from the one we saw in “Homecoming.” This episode is more like a travelogue, as Joe moves from one amusement park attraction to the next, observing. He spends sometime watching tigers being trained, for instance, before moving on to the dolphin show.  This episode is, literally, a dog’s eye view of the world.

As far as familiar elements go, we once more have Joe on the run, befriending a child, and authorities warning a nice family about him. 

This warning facilitates the fugitive’s departure. Intriguingly, Corey and Joe lay eyes on each other in this episode, sharing the same (dolphin show) stage, before Joe runs off.

Although the tone this week is not as dark as we saw previously, the final narration of the episode again hammers home Joe’s isolation and sadness. “For a moment, Joe thought he might have found a new life…”

Man, that’s sad.  

Someone needs to give this German shepherd some love. Preferably with an official DVD release, so those of us who were kids in the 1970’s can see Joe run once again.

Saturday Morning Cult-TV Blogging: Run Joe Run (1974): "Homecoming"

I’m between Saturday morning TV series right now, and so thought I would use this opportunity to take a look at a long-forgotten (but much beloved) oddity. 

As readers of the blog know, I have written sometimes about a Saturday morning series from the mid-1970’s called Run Joe Run (1974-1976). 

There has still been no official DVD release for this series, but an episode or two has cropped up on YouTube recently, and this may be my only opportunity for a re-visit of the 43 year old series (pending that never-coming official release.)

So today, I am looking at the seventh episode of the first season of Run Joe Run, titled “Homecoming.”

To refresh everybody’s memory about Run Joe Run it is basically The Fugitive (1963-1967)…starring a German shepherd. 

The star of the series is Joe (Heinrich), a military dog who is accused of biting his master, Sgt. Corey (Arch Whiting) during training.

Rather than be executed, Joe escapes custody and flees to the countryside, helping families and friends on his journey to clear his name.

The series ran for two seasons, and aired on NBC at 7:30 am on Saturdays in 1974. Below, you can see a print ad for the series.

In “Homecoming,” Joe is still on the run.

The episode starts with Joe being harassed by a home-owner (for entering his yard). Joe then retrieves a toy for a child in an outdoor playpen, until chased away by the child’s father. This is the life of a loner, and a rejected loner, at that.

Finally, Joe ends up at a farm, where he is taken care of by a girl named Judy (Kristy McNichol). She feeds him and gives him water, but Judy’s dad, Clyde, doesn’t like dogs around his farm animals.

Soon, Joe confronts a coyote in the hen house, but Clyde misinterprets his actions and thinks he was on the attack.

The farmer leashes the whimpering Joe, but Joe soon proves his worth to the entire family when he rescues an injured Judy. For this, he earns the family’s gratitude and respect. 

After army officials tell the farmer and his family that “there’s a warrant out on the dog,” and that he’s a “time bomb,” the family sets Joe free, to continue his journey.

As the preceding summary makes plain, Run Joe Run pretty much follows The Fugitive format to the letter.

The ingenuity of the series comes in the application of that familiar, man-on-the-run format (and tropes) to a canine protagonist. 

Here, intriguingly, there are three slow-motion flashbacks to Joe’s time in the military, and the day of the event that cost him his freedom. 

Yes, these are Joe’s flashbacks I’m talking about. The series not only puts a dog in the role of “The Fugitive,” it gives him flashbacks too. Joe, as is plain, is suffering from PTSD.

The episode soundtrack, by Richard LaSalle, does much of the heavy lifting in “Homecoming,” understandably, since Joe cannot talk, or tell the audience, himself, precisely what he is feeling. 

And yet -- with the music backing it up -- the episode is actually pretty effective, and tragic. Joe is a lonely figure, rejecting by all those he encounters; by those especially, who fear him, and his breed of dog.  His existence is sad, and lonely.

It’s all very heavy for a kid’s show, airing on Saturday mornings, and yet it is a perfect fit for the 1970’s. In a powerful way, Run Joe Run encourages empathy in kids. It’s not just about taking care of a dog, but feeling his pain, as this isolated pack animal walks America alone and despised, doing good, but never being treated as if he is even capable of “good.”

There’s one more episode on YouTube, which I’ll look at here next week.

Ask JKM a Question: Run, Joe, Run (1974-1976)?

A reader, Peter, writes:

"You write frequently about Saturday morning TV series. Any chance that you will cover my favorite from childhood: Run, Joe, Run?"

Peter, thank you for the question.

I would love to cover Run, Joe, Run (1974-1976), but so far as I know, the series has never been released commercially, or on YouTube.

In other words, it is that rare piece of 1970s memorabilia that remains lost and forgotten, alas.  I would love to see the series released for streaming or on DVD, not because I think it would be great art, but because I remember watching it as a kid too, and would like to relive the memories.

For those who don't remember the series, Run, Joe, Run is the story of German shepherd, Joe, in the K-9 corp of the military. He is falsely accused of attacking his master, Sgt Will Corey (Arch Whiting) and is scheduled for execution. Joe escapes from custody, and a bounty is put on his head.

Released by D'Angelo Productions, Run, Joe, Run aired on NBC for two seasons and each half-hour episode featured Joe intersecting with the lives of people who need his help, while he tries to clear his name.

In other words, the series is The Fugitive...but with a dog.

In the second season, Whiting left the series, and Joe had a new friend, a hitchhiker named Josh (Chad States).  Over the course of the two seasons, prominent guest stars included Kristy McNichol and Robby Rist.

Like other Saturday morning shows of the same era, Run, Joe, Run often featured didactic "moral" stories for children. One such message, in "False Alarm," was basically "don't cry wolf."

It's been forty years since I've seen an episode of this series, and it sure would be a kick to revisit it.

Maybe one day?

Here's a look at the two season openers, which have been uploaded, for posterity, on YouTube.