Beats On T.V. - Buz Murdock - Route 66

Apparently Aaron Spelling, inspired by Kerouac's tales of hitchhiking around the

country in On The Road, approached him about making a TV series based on those

exploits. Jack flat out refused, so the story goes, and Hollywood being Hollywood...They

made it anyway and they even hired George Maharis as Buz Murdock. You couldn't

find an actor that looks more like Kerouac if you tried so their intentions seem pretty

obvious. To call Buz a beatnik is a bit of a misnomer but he is definitely hip, hipper than

his buddy Tod played by Martin Milner of Adam 12 fame. Tod doesn't really live up to the

image of Dean Moriarty. Still, it's just based on the ideas presented in On The Road.

Buz and Tod travel around the country, doing odd jobs for food and gas money. Helping

people out of jams in the process. I've only seen three episodes and one of them took

place in New York City, so their travels weren't strictly located along route 66 itself. I think

I read about them having adventures in other countries as well. Maybe Mexico or Canada.

I'm gonna look for the DVDs, it's a pretty good show with a lot of guest appearances. Always

fun to see guys like Martin Sheen and Ed Asner in early roles. And a spiffy little theme

song by Nelson Riddle as well.

Buz Murdock

Tod & Buz