{{distinguish|Steve Randell}} {{infobox television | alt_name = Hollywood Off Beat | image = | caption = | runtime = 30 minutes | creator = | producer = Marion Parsonnet<br>Lester Lewis | starring = Melvyn Douglas<br>Mary Beth Hughes<br>Will Jordan | country = United States | network = DuMont (Feb 1952-Jan 1953)<br>CBS (June-Aug 1953) | first_aired = {{Start date|1952}} | last_aired = {{End date|1953}} | num_episodes = 13 }} '''''Steve Randall''''' (also known as '''''Hollywood Off-Beat'''''<ref name=":0">{{cite news |title=Network Sponsor Activity |url=https://archive.org/details/rossreportstele25ross/page/n198/mode/1up?view=theater |access-date=April 8, 2022 |work=Ross Reports on Television including The Television Index |date=November 23, 1952 |page=2}}</ref>) is an American detective television series starring Melvyn Douglas. The series' 13 episodes were initially seen in syndication during the summer of 1952, before being picked up and rerun by the DuMont Television Network from November 7, 1952, to January 30, 1953. CBS subsequently ran 9 of the same 13 episodes again from June 16, 1953, to August 11, 1953.<ref name=tt>{{cite book|last1=McNeil|first1=Alex|title=Total Television: the Comprehensive Guide to Programming from 1948 to the Present |date=1996|publisher=Penguin Books USA, Inc.|location=New York, New York|isbn=0-14-02-4916-8|page= 383|edition=4th}}</ref>

== Background and premise == The series' concept originated from stories written by Louis Blatz, an attorney. The initial TV adaptation was ''A Hollywood Affair'', starring Lee J. Cobb and Adele Jergens. The pilot for that series did not sell, but the producers tried the same concept again with ''Steve Randall''.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Irvin |first1=Richard |title=Pioneers of "B" Television: Independent Producers, Series and Pilots of the 1950s |date=October 28, 2022 |publisher=McFarland |isbn=978-1-4766-8996-8 |page=138 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=c_mZEAAAQBAJ&dq=%22Hollywood+Off-Beat%22&pg=PA138 |access-date=February 22, 2023 |language=en}}</ref>

Steve Randall is a disbarred attorney who became a private detective in an effort to be reinstated as a lawyer. He handled cases such as blackmail and murder before he was reinstated in the series's final episode.<ref name="brooks">{{cite book |last1=Brooks |first1=Tim |last2=Marsh |first2=Earle F. |title=The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows, 1946-Present |date=June 24, 2009 |publisher=Random House Publishing Group |isbn=978-0-307-48320-1 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=w8KztFy6QYwC&dq=%22Hollywood+Off-Beat%22&pg=PA1309 |page=1309 |access-date=February 22, 2023 |language=en}}</ref>

== Cast and production == In addition to Douglas, the program featured Mary Beth Hughes.<ref>{{cite news |title=Melvyn Douglas Is Star Of 'Hollywood Off-Beat' Series |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/119450718/hollywood-off-beat/ |access-date=February 22, 2023 |work=Lubbock Avalanche-Journal |date=May 10, 1953 |page=TV section 6|via = Newspapers.com}}</ref>

Some episodes of the program were broadcast on local stations as ''Hollywood Off Beat'' before it began its network run. The episodes on DuMont were broadcast on Fridays from 8 to 8:30&nbsp;p.m. Eastern Time.<ref name="brooks" />

United Television Programs distributed the show.<ref name="bb" /> Marion Parsonnet was the producer and director.<ref name="tt" /> Sponsors included Swank men's jewelry<ref name=":0" /> and Dixie Cups.<ref name="bb" />

==Episode status== The series' final episode, "The Trial" (September 11, 1952), is available for viewing on the Internet Archive.<ref>{{Citation |title=Hollywood Offbeat (Steve Randall) - The Trial - Episode 13 |date=1953 |url=http://archive.org/details/Steve_Randall_13 |access-date=2026-05-02 |language=English}}</ref> Four episodes (June 12, July 3, August 14, and September 11, 1952) are in the J. Fred MacDonald collection at the Library of Congress.{{Citation needed|date=May 2026}}

==Critical response== Critic Jack Gould wrote in ''The New York Times'' in 1953 that a repeat of an episode was "just as familiar and just as tired" as it had been previously, with "the usual quota of murders, an oomphy siren and tough guys talking out of the side of the mouth."<ref>{{cite news |last1=Gould |first1=Jack |title=Television in Review: Melvyn Douglas Works Hard, but His 'Big Moment' Hardly Rates It -- 'Opera vs. Jazz' a Pleasantry |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1953/05/29/archives/television-in-review-melvyn-douglas-works-hard-but-his-big-moment.html |access-date=February 21, 2023 |work=The New York Times |date=May 29, 1953 |page=22|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

A capsule review in the trade publication ''Billboard'' said that Douglas "is adept at lending importance where little or none is due."<ref name=bb>{{cite magazine |date=September 6, 1952 |page=21 |title=Capsule Reviews of TV Film Shows |magazine=Billboard |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8R4EAAAAMBAJ&dq=%22Hollywood+Off-Beat%22&pg=PA21 |accessdate=February 21, 2023 }}</ref> As a result, it added, the series "often rises above its material."<ref name=bb />

Syndicated critic John Crosby wrote, "As adventure whodunits go, this is a pretty good one."<ref name="rnl">{{cite news |last1=Crosby |first1=John |title='Hollywood Off Beat' (sic) Is Pretty Good Show |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/119451462/hollywood-off-beat/ |access-date=February 22, 2023 |work=The Richmond News Leader |date=July 6, 1953 |page=12|via = Newspapers.com}}</ref>

==See also== * List of programs broadcast by the DuMont Television Network * List of surviving DuMont Television Network broadcasts

==References== {{reflist}}

==Bibliography== * David Weinstein, ''The Forgotten Network: DuMont and the Birth of American Television'' (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2004) {{ISBN|1-59213-245-6}}

==External links== * [https://archive.org/details/Steve_Randall_13 "The Trial" on the Internet Archive] * [https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0044294/ ''Steve Randall'' at IMDB] * [https://dumonthistory.com/a2.html DuMont historical website] * [https://ctva.biz/US/Crime/HollywoodOffBeatSteveRandall.htm List of episodes at CTVA] * [http://www.thrillingdetective.com/eyes/offbeat.html Steve Randall at ThrillingDetective]

Category:1952 American television series debuts Category:1953 American television series endings Category:Black-and-white American television shows Category:CBS original programming Category:DuMont Television Network original programming