Barnaby Jones
The Challenge
TV Flash files “The Challenge” as hour 40 of 178 in the TV Flash guide — Barnaby Jones (1973–1980) on CBS, season 3, episode 3, aired 1974-09-24, 60 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S03E03: listed hour 40 of 178 in the Barnaby Jones guide, hour 3 of 24 in season 3. It aired 1974-09-24 (60 min). The listed hour before it is “Dead Man's Run” (S03E02). Next is “Conspiracy of Terror” (S03E04).
Catalog log
Broadcast listing — not a TV Flash recap.
Barnaby is hired to investigate the alleged suicide of a very wealthy woman's husband. What he discovers is another investigator who supplements his income with blackmail, and will murder anyone who gets in his way.
Viewer FAQ
Where does The Challenge sit in the Barnaby Jones guide?
S03E03 is listed hour 40 of 178 — hour 3 of 24 in season 3, season 3 episode 3.
When did Barnaby Jones S03E03 air?
The Challenge aired 1974-09-24 and is listed at 60 minutes.
Do I need The Beverly Hillbillies first?
No. Ebsen's Clampett fame is the career footnote. This is a Quinn Martin PI hour with a home lab, not a rural-comedy reunion.
In the series
Why this series still plays
Buddy Ebsen clocks out of Jed Clampett overalls and into a PI trench with a home lab. An older lead in a youth-drunk decade, solving murders with patience instead of karate. Second-act star power: gray hair owning a Quinn Martin hour without pretending to be thirty.
Requiem for a Son names the origin as grief: a retired private investigator returns to the game after his son's murder, and Buddy Ebsen clocks out of Jed Clampett overalls into a Quinn Martin trench with a home lab. CBS's Barnaby Jones (1973–1980), from Edward Hume, ran eight seasons, 178 episodes of steady crime. Lee Meriwether's Betty Jones, Mark Shera's J.R., and John Carter's Lt. Biddle filled the office. Ebsen was in his sixties as a leading man — rare in a youth-obsessed decade — and often crossed over with…
Filed against
- Buddy Ebsen as Barnaby Jones
Buddy Ebsen’s Jed Clampett struck oil and moved The Beverly Hillbillies into a ratings weapon — 1960s catalog rube-versus-elites, then Barnaby Jones clocking out of overalls into a PI trench with a home lab. TV Flash files him as the…
- Lee Meriwether as Betty Jones
Lee Meriwether's Betty Jones kept Barnaby Jones in the lab and the living room — Buddy Ebsen clocking out of overalls into a PI trench, an older lead in a youth-drunk decade, murders solved with patience instead of karate. TV Flash files…
- Mark Shera as J.R. Jones
Mark Shera’s J.R. Jones partnered Buddy Ebsen’s second-act PI trench on Barnaby Jones — home lab, patience instead of karate — then hit S.W.A.T.’s helmet-and-van gloss. An older-lead Quinn Martin hour; disco-era tactical acronym…
- John Carter as Lt. John Biddle
John Carter’s Lt. John Biddle backed Barnaby Jones as Quinn Martin hour muscle — Buddy Ebsen clocking out of Jed Clampett overalls into a PI trench with a home lab. An older lead in a youth-drunk decade, murders solved with patience…