M Squad

M Squad
Lee Marvin as Lt. Frank Ballinger, from NBC's 'M-Squad' in 1959.
Genre	Crime drama
Starring	Lee Marvin Paul Newlan
Composer(s)	Main theme by Count Basie Stanley Wilson Incidental music and arrangements by Sonny Burke Pete Carpenter Benny Carter John T. Williams Orchestra conducted by Stanley Wilson
Country of origin	United States
Original language(s)	English
No. of seasons	3
No. of episodes	117 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s)	John Larkin Richard Lewis
Producer(s)	Robert Bassler Maxwell Shane
Editor(s)	Lee Huntington John B. Moss Stanley Rabjohn
Running time	30 minutes
Production company(s)	Latimer Productions Revue Studios
Distributor	Universal Television NBCUniversal Television Distribution
Release
Original network	NBC
Original release	September 20, 1957 – June 28, 1960

M Squad is an American crime drama television series that ran from 1957 to 1960 on NBC. It was produced by Lee Marvin's Latimer Productions and Revue Studios. Its main sponsor was the Pall Mall cigarette brand; Lee Marvin, the program's star, appeared in its commercials during many episodes. Alternate sponsors were General Electric (GE), Hazel Bishop and Bulova watches.

Set in Chicago, Illinois, it starred Marvin as Detective Lieutenant Frank Ballinger, a member of "M Squad", a special unit of the Chicago Police, assisting other units in battling organized crime, corruption and violent crimes city-wide. Paul Newlan co-starred as his boss, Captain Grey. Although Marvin had been appearing in feature films since 1951, it was this series that made him a star, and he later went on to an even bigger film career afterward. Nelson Case was the announcer. The popularity of M Squad was proven in the ratings wars by the NBC network choosing a Thursday night time slot opposite Frank Sinatra's ABC variety show in the fall of 1957 and Phil Silvers' long running CBS comedy, Sgt.Bilko, in 1958. Both series were eventually cancelled.

Timeless Media Group released M Squad: The Complete Series on DVD in the Region 1 on November 11, 2008. This release has been discontinued and is out of print.