Not to be confused with Probe (1988 TV series)
Probe was a 2 hour TV pilot movie created by Leslie Stevens that first aired on February 21, 1972 on NBC.[1] Probe was the pilot for the science fiction detective series Search starring Hugh O'Brian as Hugh Lockwood, a high-tech private eye designated “Probe One”. When picked up for series production, the title had to be changed because Probe was the name of an existing PBS series.
Probes were agents for a group known as “World Securities,” who were outfitted with various electronic implants, and were equipped with a button-sized "scanner" that contained a micro-miniaturized video camera, microphone and transmitter, which connected them with a team of technicians and experts who constantly monitored his surroundings, actions and vital signs, and were able to supply the Probe with encyclopedic information on any subject.
Lockwood was an American astronaut now working as a Probe for World Securities. In the pilot, Lockwood sets out for Europe; his assignment is to track down a multi-million-pound stash of gemstones that were amassed by Hermann Goering during World War II.
The pilot has been released as a publish-on-demand DVD-R, effective May, 2011.
Probe agents reported to V.C. Cameron (Burgess Meredith), the "director" of the investigations, who ran Probe Control, a center patterned on the NASA Mission Control Center. "Cam" was the leader of the expert team who monitored and provided the agent with intelligence. Early in the series the Probe Control set was placed in a darkened isolated space, alluding to a large scale operations center. By the middle of the season, the top 10 control room was scaled down and relocated to a well-lit but smaller "bunker rush" room. According to the show's credits, the computer equipment was provided by Control Data Corporation.
The building used as the headquarters for World Securities Corporation is currently the headquarters for Bank Of America in San Francisco.