Lucas Tanner

Lucas Tanner
David Hartman as Lucas Tanner with a gifted student, Scott Glaser (Alfred Lutter III), in the episode "Thirteen Going on Twenty."
GenreSchool drama
Created byJerry McNeely
Starring
ComposerDavid Shire
Country of originUnited States
Original languageEnglish
No. of seasons1
No. of episodes22 (list of episodes)
Preview warning: Page using Template:Infobox television with "list_episodes" parameter using self-link. See Infobox instructions and MOS:INFOBOXPURPOSE.
Production
Executive producerDavid Victor
Producers
  • Jay Benson
  • Jerry McNeely
CinematographyHarry L. Wolf
Editors
  • Tony Martinelli
  • Robert Watts
  • John J. Dumas
  • Edward Haire
  • Richard Bracken
Running time60 min
Production companies
Original release
NetworkNBC
ReleaseSeptember 11, 1974 (1974-09-11) –
April 9, 1975 (1975-04-09)
Infobox instructions (only shown in preview)

Lucas Tanner is an American drama series aired on NBC during the 1974–75 season. The title character, played by David Hartman, is a former baseball player and sportswriter who becomes an English teacher at the fictional Harry S Truman Memorial High School in Webster Groves, Missouri, a suburb of St. Louis. He changed professions following the death of his wife and child.[1] Episodes often deal with the resistance of traditional teachers to Tanner's unorthodox teaching style.

Regular co-stars included Rosemary Murphy, Kimberly Beck, John Randolph, and ten-year-old Robbie Rist. Unusually, the show was actually filmed in Webster Groves, rather than on a Hollywood backlot. That gave it a somewhat unusual "look" for a prime-time TV series.

A 90-minute pilot film of the series aired on NBC the week of May 4, 1974; the pilot also starred Kathleen Quinlan and Joe Garagiola.[2]

This series was Hartman's last work as an actor. In November 1975, he began as co-host of ABC's Good Morning America. To date, he has not returned to acting.