About this season
The Outsider was the story of David Ross, a go-it-alone private investigator who's always where the action is. Darren McGavin played Ross, a man living in an off-beat, always-dangerous world. The series aired for one season on NBC and was a precursor of sorts to The Rockford Files in that it featured a loner private detective who had previously done time in prison for a crime he didn't commit and who never quite fit into a rapidly changing environment.
Episodes (26)
1. For Members Only
Aired 18 September 1968 • 60 min
Ross is hired to go undercover in an exclusive club to ferret out a cardsharp who has been fleecing some of its members.
2. What Flowers Daisies Are
7.0Aired 25 September 1968 • 60 min
Ross is hired to find a missing model. At first the case seems routine but then he stumbles into a million dollar con game and murder.
3. Along Came a Spider
7.0Aired 2 October 1968 • 60 min
Ross is hired by a woman who lent her fiancee $6,000. Then the poor fellow got himself killed and now his erstwhile intended wants her money back.
4. A Wide Place in the Road
Aired 9 October 1968 • 60 min
Ross travels to a small town in search of a car thief and bail jumper who was once an athletic hero in the town.
5. Cold as Ashes
6.0Aired 16 October 1968 • 60 min
Ross is hired to carry the ashes of a recently deceased man from Los Angeles to San Francisco but soon discovers that others are following him with mayhem in their hearts. He then tries to figure out why.
6. A Time to Run
Aired 30 October 1968 • 60 min
A defense attorney hires Ross to find a missing witness in a murder case. Ross finds him but then things go from bad to worse.
7. Love Is Under "L"
7.0Aired 6 November 1968 • 60 min
A millionaire hires Ross to find his missing galpal. Ross finds her and soon discovers that she is in hiding for good reason.
8. The Twenty-Thousand Dollar Carrot
7.0Aired 13 November 1968 • 60 min
Ross must try to return a man who supposedly died from his hiding place in Mexico back to the United States along with the insurance money he got after faking his death.
9. One Long Stemmed American Beauty
8.0Aired 20 November 1968 • 60 min
Ross begins to wonder if the suicide of a renowned stage and dancing legend was murder.
10. I Can't Hear You Scream
8.0Aired 27 November 1968 • 60 min
Ross is running down leads to save a convict from the gas chamber but he doesn't have much time remaining.
11. Tell It Like It Was--and You're Dead
Aired 4 December 1968 • 60 min
A former burlesque queen hires Ross to find out who's been making death threats against her personage.
12. The Land of the Fox
Aired 18 December 1968 • 60 min
On a case, Ross falls for a woman involved in the case and with some rough characters.
13. There Was a Little Girl
Aired 25 December 1968 • 60 min
Ross is hired when a woman shows up on a millionaire's doorstep claiming that the girl she has raised is his. It all has to do with a twelve year old kidnapping case for which a ransom was paid yet the victim never seen again.
14. The Girl from Missouri
Aired 8 January 1969 • 60 min
A naive midwestern gal hires Ross to locate her missing brother. He soon learns that the sibling is involved with some very unsavory types.
15. The Secret of Mareno Bay
Aired 15 January 1969 • 60 min
Ross searches for a missing novelist in a town where most of the residents are glad that the man is gone.
16. The Old School Tie
Aired 22 January 1969 • 60 min
Ross's old prison buddy, who once saved his life, insists that the gumshoe join him in an extortion plot and he won't take no for an answer.
17. A Bowl of Cherries
Aired 29 January 1969 • 60 min
When Ross offers to help out the son of an old friend he soon finds himself tangled up in a homicide.
18. Behind God's Back
Aired 5 February 1969 • 60 min
Ross goes to Acapulco to find a millionaire's runaway daughter. He locates her among the jet set there then tries to convince her that some of her playmates are up to no good.
19. Take the Key and Lock Him Up
Aired 12 February 1969 • 60 min
Investigating a shooting in a rural town, Ross is arrested on charges of selling marijuana.
20. The Flip Side
Aired 26 February 1969 • 60 min
A homely looking woman hires Ross to find her missing glamorous model twin sister. He finds her and discovers that she's mixed up in extortion and a narcotics trafficking ring.
21. Handle with Care
Aired 5 March 1969 • 60 min
Hired by an insurance company to investigate a series of truck hijackings, Ross poses as a drifter named Leo Martin and joins the hijacking ring.
22. All the Social Graces
Aired 12 March 1969 • 60 min
A crude and rough hewn millionaire hires Ross but he's killed before our protagonist can discover why he's been hired. Ross's investigation leads to an elegant tennis club which considered the deceased too uncouth for membership.
23. A Lot of Muscle
Aired 26 March 1969 • 60 min
Ross is hired by a hard as nails, unbending cop who's facing an indictment on a bribery charge. Suspecting a possible frame-up, he begins checking out the cop's enemies and the man has a whole bunch.
24. Periwinkle Blue
Aired 2 April 1969 • 60 min
A woman has already buried two previous husbands and her third hires Ross to make sure she's not planning on being a widow for the third time.
25. Service for One
Aired 9 April 1969 • 60 min
Ross is hired to tail a recently paroled convict who is supposedly the only person who knows the exact location of missing money in the amount of $250,000. But, as could be expected, he's not the only one searching for the missing loot.
26. Through a Stained Glass Window
Aired 16 April 1969 • 60 min
Ross is hired to serve a subpoena on a Howard Hughes like millionaire who has never been photographed and uncovers a curious love affair along with a murder plot.