Slattery's People

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Slattery's People" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (April 2016) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

Slattery's People
Crenna with guest star Ed Wynn, 1964.
Genre	Drama
Created by	James E. Moser
Starring	Richard Crenna Ed Asner Tol Avery
Theme music composer	Nathan Scott
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
No. of seasons	2
No. of episodes	36
Production
Executive producer	James E. Moser
Producer	Matthew Rapf
Production companies	Bing Crosby Productions, in association with Pendick Enterprises and the CBS Television Network (filmed at the studios of Desilu)
Original release
Network	CBS
Release	September 21, 1964 (1964-09-21) – November 26, 1965 (1965-11-26)
Infobox instructions (only shown in preview)

Slattery's People is a 1964–65 American television series about local politics starring Richard Crenna as title character James Slattery, a state legislator, co-starring Ed Asner and Tol Avery, and featuring Carroll O'Connor and Warren Oates in a couple of episodes each. James E. Moser was executive producer. The program, telecast on CBS, was nominated for a Golden Globe Award.

Slattery's People is mainly notable for having been one of the few American television series spotlighting the travails of local politicians, a topic that other programs of the period mainly avoided. Episodes opened with the following admonition: "Democracy is a very bad form of government. But I ask you never to forget: All the others are so much worse."^[1]

Many television critics highly praised the series. Many politicians also approved of the program. U.S. Representative James C. Corman said in a Congressional Record statement on September 30, 1964, “I am pleased that they have taken the high road to show a legislator’s life, and have not pandered to sensationalism or unreality to stimulate an audience following.” This series was a major career change for Crenna. Following more than a decade as a lead actor in two popular network comedies, Our Miss Brooks and The Real McCoys, his role as Jim Slattery opened doors for later guest appearances in several dramatic programs and feature films.

Moser's script for the pilot ("Question: What is truth?") was printed as an appendix in Teleplay; an introduction to television writing by Coles Trapnell.

Television composer Nathan Scott wrote the theme music for Slattery's People.^[2]