The TV Zone

"Life on Mars,” the quirky series about a modern-day NYPD cop who suddenly finds himself living in 1973, returns to the ABC schedule Wednesday at 10 p.m. This got us thinking about parallel universes and the like, raising the question: Back in 1973, what show aired on ABC in that very same time slot?

The answer: “Owen Marshall, Counselor at Law,” one of TV’s finest legal dramas. From 1971 to 1974, Arthur Hill played a stalwart Santa Barbara attorney, considered by critics to be the legal equivalent of Marcus Welby, the stalwart doctor played by Robert Young on another popular ABC series.

Here are five things you need to know about “Owen Marshall.”

One of Marshall’s young partners was played by Lee Majors. In fact, for a while in 1973 and early ’74, Majors held down double duty on ABC, also playing Steve Austin on “The Six Million Dollar Man.”

When Majors decided to leave in February 1974, he was replaced by David Soul, who also would go on to greater fame in another ABC series, “Starsky and Hutch.”

And one final Lee Majors connection: Farrah Fawcett, who would marry Majors in 1973, appeared in two 1971 episodes, a half-decade before she became a superstar on “Charlie’s Angels.”

Steven Spielberg directed a 1971 episode featuring guest appearances by Anson Williams (Potsie from “Happy Days”) and David Soul (as another character).

Danny Paterno, a partner in the final season, was played by Reni Santoni, whom “Seinfeld” fans know well as Poppie, the restaurant owner with a nervous bladder.

Hey, you'd never believe it, but John Denver once appeared in a dramatic role on "Owen Marshall"!
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