Coronet Blue is the surprise DVD release of 2017, 50 years after its CBS summer airing. A real cult oddity, its reputation is greater than the reality. All 13 episodes are on 4 discs. (Two were never aired.) The picture and sound quality is good considering the age of the show but not excellent.This is a bare bones package which is a disappointment. No subtitles, no commentary, no liner notes by any TV historians. Frank Converse is notably absent. Creator Larry Cohen is in a bonus clip talking about the show and offers his take on why the show didn't survive the tough business of network TV broadcasting. He also mentions hiring Converse years later for a production and said that Converse didn't want to discuss Coronet Blue.I saw some episodes a few years ago and bought the DVD. I love the theme song sung by Lenny Welch. At heart this is another "wandering man" anthology series that often inserts the lead into the stories of other people, along the lines of The Fugitive, The Invaders, Branded, Then Came Bronson, Route 66, Run For Your Life and The Immortal but comes close to surrealism in its quirky, improbable stories and improbable people. Michael Alden is not nearly as sympathetic and likable as Richard Kimble and Paul Bryan and the series doesn't come close to the writing of those shows. Converse is good in the role and has leading man looks but his character is thuggish, cold and dislikable. In the first episode, he tries to steal cash out of a woman's purse and punches out a guy. This first entry also has one of the worst, clichéd endings that could be hacked out. This series could also boast the most inept professional assassins ever. They would either miss him or only wound him, injuring or killing other people. These guys needed vision exams.Cohen had little to do with the show during production and said that his amnesia/spy concept eroded over time. In any event it was never resolved although Cohen explains in a book The Radical Allegories of an Independent Filmmaker who Alden really was. Do I recommend the DVD? Yes.

I just finished watching the 13 episode run (11 broadcast episodes and two work-prints). Coronet Blue had, with the exception of a couple of episodes, very good writing with great dialog -- so much so that you have to pay attention not to miss something said. The show also had wonderful guest stars -- Dick Clark, Susan Hampshire, Alan Alda, John Voight, David Carradine, Candace Bergen, Richard Kiley (the last four in one episode!) and others. Also the semi-regulars, Joe Silver as Max and Brian Bedford as Anthony, are very good, and have great acting chemistry with star Frank Converse, who puts in a moving performance. The series plays with how memory and reality don't always match, and also with the larger questions of identity and what does makes us who we are? There are word plays such as the club Max owns is called "The Searching I" -- which is exactly what Alden is doing -- searching for his Identity -- it also taken from "the Hungry I" - a legendary 1960s club in San Francisco. By the way, the New York locations are fun, 5th Avenue, Central Park, Hofstra University, and others. I believe I saw a handful of episodes in 1967 as a ten year old, the same summer that The Prisoner -- another series about identity -- came out.It is interesting to watch Coronet Blue and then see Unknown White Male (2003), a documentary about a man in New York who completely lost his memory/identity and found himself on a subway.Some people write Coronet Blue off because we never discover who Michael Alden (Converse) really is. After watching the series, I can say that it really doesn't matter that we don't find out. The stories are about Michael Alden finding himself through the journey, not the destination. In the 13th and final episode Alden says that he learned that he finds who he really is within himself, not through information from other people. Although the series didn't know it was ending, this last episode ends with Michael Alden sounding more at peace with himself than he ever had been. In that sense, it seems to me that it ended in a complete way. Bravo Mr. Converse & cast!

It was a shame the show wasn't picked up, because it would have gone on for years and been a classic. Sure it was one of many shows inspired by "The Fugitive" back in the 1960s, but there were so many original touches, it didn't matter. I guessed "Michael" was an agent, but I never would have guessed he was a Russian. If they made it today, he'd probably turn out to be a CIA agent being hounded by his own agency because he was going to expose some nefarious right-wing plot.It was also a shame that Frank Converse was denied the role that would have made him a major TV and perhaps film star. "NYPD" didn't last long and he never found the right role to give him the recognition and stardom he deserved.

This was, to me, my first exposure to the possibility of "good television." This show was SOOOO special because it was a 30-year precursor of the ALIAS/LOST/PRISON BREAK intricate continuing series.In today's entertainment marketing environment, this show would have been through the roof in ratings and been short-listed right into production. Back then, I think the network was stunned by the audience reaction. By the time they realized what it hit it had on its hands, it was too late to do anything about it. What a shame.Bravo!! Artie