The FBI season 3 now available on DVD

Warner Bros., as part of its Warner Archives program, has made season 3 of The FBI available on DVD.

Efrem Zimbalist Jr. as The FBI’s Lewis Erskine

By the 1967-68 season, The FBI had become a Sunday night fixture on ABC. It also became the flagship show of producer Quinn Martin after The Fugitive had ended its 1963-67 run. Still, the series had some retooling, including the first major casting change. William Reynolds, who had appeared twice previously as a guest star playing an FBI agent, was cast as Tom Colby, the new partner for star Efrem Zimbalist Jr.’s Inspector Lewis Erskine. Also, Norman Jolley, associate producer the first two seasons and an important writer for the show, would depart.

The FBI continued on, nevertheless, and included espionage-related stories in its mix. The show is part of the Warner Archives “manufacturing on demand” program where disks are produced in tandem with orders. Here’s the Warner Archives description:

Shortly before the Summer of Love signaled a radical shift in popular culture, the smartly dressed agents fought to keep the nation safe from a myriad of menaces both foreign and domestic. The FBI’s third season sees the nation’s enemies take a decided turn to the worst, with Colby and Erskine confronting bank robbers, blackmailers, saboteurs, defectors, embezzlers, accomplices, and yes, their victims. Bringing it all to vivid life is an array of stage and screen stalwarts and sirens like Phyllis Thaxter, Carol Lynley, Henry Silva, Kevin McCarthy, William Windom, Ed Asner, Martin Sheen, Anne Baxter, Bradford Dillman, Lynn Bari, Fritz Weaver, Robert Walke r and Suzanne Pleshette. Strap on your badge and fire up the Ford — your country needs you!

That last line is a reference to how Ford Motor Co. was the show’s major sponsor and supplier of cars. Anyway, if you’re interested, you can click HERE for the first half of season 3 and HERE for the second half. Each costs $29.95.

UPDATE (Sept. 20): Warner Archive uploaded previews clip to YouTube. Here they are: