There are some TV shows that have had such an effect on those who watched them that they inspired their viewers to get into the type of job the show depicts. Sea Hunt is one of these shows. Airing in the late 50s, the program was arguably the first show on television that was set in an underwater environment, at least partially. The show follows Mike Nelson (Lloyd Bridges), an ex-Navy diver who is called upon to undertake various undersea tasks, ranging from rescuing a jet test pilot stuck in his sunken aircraft, to settling disputes between fishermen as to why one of them gets all the fish and the others don't. The show is surprisingly heavy on crime related storylines, and many of the episodes feature characters wanting to kill Mike. The way they were able to weave these crime stories into the plots feels like it wasn't shoehorned in, but I wasn't really expecting noir related stories from a show centered around diving. Originally designed as a way of letting Bridges prove himself in the realm of television after getting blacklisted by HUAC for suspected socialist ties, Sea Hunt is not just an interesting show because of the wide variety of missions Nelson must complete. Lloyd himself was briefly trained in actual scuba diving to make the show more authentic, but would save the more dangerous underwater stunts for his double until the series was almost finished. The show used an assortment of locations for filming, including Florida, Southern California, and the Bahamas. Lloyd Bridges, already in some noir films I've seen already, wasn't the only well known actor involved with the show. Leonard Nimoy shows up in one installment, and Jon Lindbergh (son of famous pilot Charles Lindbergh) helped in production. Aside from the tension that arises while watching Nelson go about his hydrodynamic business, one of my favorite aspects about this show is just observing how everything is underwater. While I'm pretty sure I have thalassophobia because of how even huge creatures like sharks won't appear until they're 5 feet in front of you, I can't help but marvel at seeing all the eels, manta rays and other creatures swim whenever Nelson enters his work environment. We're also told valuable, potentially lifesaving tips on underwater exploration, such as how swimming back to the surface too fast after being exposed to high amounts of pressure under the sea can rupture your lungs and kill you. The ship Nelson travels on has what's known as a decompression chamber specifically to counteract this. Although it was received well and got many people into diving, Sea Hunt was cancelled in the early 60s, but by then had amassed an impressive 155 episodes, putting it on par with some contemporary shows such as Twilight Zone and Combat. Although I've only seen a small number of episodes so far, I have no doubt that Sea Hunt is going to be a good show due to its action, quality storytelling, and just the fact that a diving centric show is quite rare. If there's a better word to describe Sea Hunt than "unique", I don't know what it would be.
Review of Sea Hunt
