Bronk (1975–1976) User Reviews

Jack Palance strikes out again

[actionsub · 8/10 · 29 April 2021]

Contra rcj5365's review, this was Palance's SECOND weekly TV series. His first was another one-season wonder, "The Greatest Show on Earth" (1963-64). In that one, Palance was the manager of a traveling circus.

The role of "Bronk" seems to be a much better fit for Palance, allowing him to appear both sensitive and badass simultaneously. Alex Bronkov is a pipe-smoking cop who is called into action by the mayor of Ocean City to clean up the town of corrupt officials, scumbuckets, and the type of people Palance played for most of his career.

An interesting connection here is that Carroll O'Connor, in the middle of his run as Archie Bunker on "All in the Family", found the time and energy to be the creator and showrunner for this particular series. He definitely put a quality touch on what might otherwise be a paint-by-numbers police procedural.

Somehow, though, the combination of O'Connor's behind-the-camera touch and Palance's tremendous acting skills wasn't quite enough to keep this quality show going. While the viewing public gave it high marks, CBS decided to yank it after one season.

Unusual 70s cop show

[sirjasonwright · 8/10 · 6 May 2020]

A great show. Shame there was only 1 season as you always get your money's worth with Jack Palance. This series is available on Warner Archives. The sound isn't great on the first 3 episodes but the rest are fine.

The Great Jack Palance In A Brilliant Short-Lived Cop Show From The Mid-1970's

[rcj5365 · 23 April 2007]

This was actor Jack Palance's only shot of doing a weekly television series. And the only weekly TV series he ever did.

Tough guy Jack Palance by the way,who frequently played heavies and mostly villains in movies,made the switch from being the baddie into a tough as nails comtemplative cop for this single-season series called "Bronk",which was first shown as a made for television movie for CBS in January of 1975 which starred Jack Palance and was directed by Richard Donner. On the strength and success of that two-hour movie pilot the series "Bronk" premiered on CBS-TV on September 21,1975 and ended its run on July 18,1976 producing 23 episodes-all in color and was produced for MGM Television. Tough as nails pipe smoking Lt. Alex Bronkov(who by the way was Polish-American)had been enlisted by his old friend Pete Santori(Joesph Mascolo),who was the mayor of Ocean City,in Southern California to help clean up the corruption-ridden town. Bronk worked on special assigments from the Mayor,with the assistance of fellow officer Sgt. John Webber(Tony King) in going after the low-lifes and the scums that have plagued the town. This was indeed one very interesting show too,with Jack Palance himself doing some of his own stunts on the show and not bad for a short-lived cop show that went beyond some of the tough competition of other detective shows of the 1970's.

Also featured in the cast were retired policeman Harry Mark(Henry Beckman),who was a close friend of Bronk's who was now in the auto-junkyard business,and Bronk's cripped daughter Ellen(Dina Ousley),who had been confined to a wheelchair by an accident that had crippled her and killed Bronk's wife(which happened to Bronk's wife was in the pilot episode of the series). Interesting point about this show by the way if you like to know.....Actor Carroll O'Connor who was at the time this show premiered and was known to audiences as the feisty Archie Bunker on the successful comedy series "All In The Family",was behind the production of this series as well serving as the creator(who was in charge of production),executive producer and not to even mention writing and directing several episodes of "Bronk",which lasted one season. The show was so successful that the network decided the renew "Bronk" for the 1976-1977 season,but despite the ratings it received,CBS pulled the plug after 23 episodes. But repeated episodes of this series did appear for CBS Late Night for the 1976-1977 season.

Typical series from the seventies, but with a surprising final episode.

[searchanddestroy-1 · 21 December 2015]

This show existed among dozens of other crime series as we could find during this era. Dozens. Palance always gives strong performances and the stories are all action packed. The evil characters are well chosen and the audience never gets bored. In summary, the entertainment that you can expect if you are a TV series buff. You don't find such episodes, such topics, in today TV shows. But it will never emerge from the quantity of series you may have watched forty years ago. It was never aired in France, and I am surprised as far as there was many many American series of this kind in my country. Series not better than this one. I guess it would have been a hit in France if it was shown. The only interesting thing about this show is the last episode, where the lead character is not Palance but Vic Morrow, a private eye hired by a woman to stop a dangerous serial killer played by Cameron Mitchell. Palance appears just at the beginning, just after arresting Morrow for chasing on his playground, and letting him go hunting the evil guy Mitchell... We only see Palance during the first fifteen minutes of the FINAL episode. THAT'ALL. I find this very offbeat, unusual, curious for a TV show, don't you?