Tour of Duty | |
---|---|
Season 1 | |
No. of episodes | 21 |
Release | |
Original network | CBS |
Original release | September 24, 1987 April 30, 1988 | –
Season chronology |
This is a list of episodes from the first season of Tour of Duty with episode summaries.
Producers:
Writers:
Directors:
No. overall |
No. in season | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original air date | Rating/share (households) | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 1 | "Pilot" | Bill L. Norton | Steve Duncan & L. Travis Clark | September 24, 1987 | 10.6/17 [1] | |
After
Firebase Ladybird suffers heavy casualties, Sergeant Anderson (
Terence Knox) goes to recruit new soldiers to replace men he lost. He selects the best from a group of new recruits and meets, for the first time, their new platoon leader, Second Lieutenant Goldman (
Stephen Caffrey). | |||||||
2 | 2 | "Notes From the Underground" | Bill L. Norton | Bill L. Norton | October 1, 1987 | 10.3/17 [2] | |
The
platoon gets attacked by the
Viet Cong (VC), who strike and then disappear into tunnels. The
GIs enter the tunnels to find the missing Taylor (
Miguel A. Núñez Jr.), only to get trapped when the tunnel caves in. | |||||||
3 | 3 | "Dislocations" | Aaron Lipstadt | Steven Phillip Smith | October 8, 1987 | 12.0/19 [3] | |
Among the villagers being relocated by the platoon is a beautiful woman (guest star
Tia Carrere) to whom Goldman (
Stephen Caffrey) is attracted. When they are attacked on the trail, Goldman's life is saved by a VC, who turns out to be the woman's husband. | |||||||
4 | 4 | "War Lover" | Jim Johnston | Rick Husky | October 15, 1987 | 10.4/17 [4] | |
The men find themselves assigned to assist a "hot shot" sergeant (guest star
William Russ) with a mission to destroy an enemy bridge. Tempers reach a breaking point when Anderson (
Terence Knox) finds a Vietnamese child and the sergeant wants the child killed. | |||||||
5 | 5 | "Sitting Ducks" | Aaron Lipstadt | Steve Bello | October 29, 1987 | 10.8/16 [5] | |
The company provides security for an
irrigation project, but it seems the VC know the Americans' every move. The platoon is assigned a guide named Tran (guest star
Mako), but every time the Americans leave the village, they are mysteriously
ambushed. | |||||||
6 | 6 | "Burn, Baby, Burn" | Reynaldo Villalobos | Story by : L. Travis Clark & Steve Duncan Teleplay by : L. Travis Clark & Steve Duncan & Steven Phillip Smith | November 5, 1987 | 10.2/16 [6] | |
Racial tension leads to violence when a militant black soldier named Tucker (guest star
Ving Rhames) and a white racist named Innes (guest star
Mark Rolston) both end up in Bravo Company. When the white soldier is killed with a
bayonet belonging to Johnson (
Stan Foster), black and white members of the company clash. | |||||||
7 | 7 | "Brothers, Fathers and Sons" | Bill L. Norton | Bill L. Norton | November 12, 1987 | 9.5/14 [7] | |
Anderson (
Terence Knox), Johnson (
Stan Foster), and Baker (
Eric Bruskotter) are shot down after catching a ride in a
helicopter. As they head back to base, they encounter a woman giving birth as she is dying. Anderson ends up taking care of the baby, and the three soldiers end up battling with the VC - with tragic results. | |||||||
8 | 8 | "The Good, the Bad and the Dead" | Reynaldo Villalobos | Brad Radnitz | November 19, 1987 | 10.8/17 [8] | |
A drunken GI steals a jeep and gets arrested. Anderson (
Terence Knox) recognises him as his former
drill sergeant Aubrey Decker (guest star
Tim Thomerson). Anderson helps to get him
acquitted and gets him drafted into the squad, but his old friend immediately begins to disobey orders. | |||||||
9 | 9 | "Battling Baker Brothers" | Bill L. Norton | Story by : Bill L. Norton Teleplay by : Bill L. Norton & David Wyles | December 10, 1987 | 10.6/17 [9] | |
When Baker's (
Eric Bruskotter) twin brother Karl (guest star Karl Bruskotter) shows up, the two end up fighting and nearly destroy the base. When his brother's helicopter goes down the next morning, Baker goes after him but gets captured by the VC. | |||||||
10 | 10 | "Nowhere to Run" | Randy Roberts | Rick Husky | December 17, 1987 | 10.7/17 [10] | |
Purcell (
Tony Becker) has just received a
"Dear John" letter. After that, the bridge he was assigned to secure gets blown up. When he escorts a dying baby and its mother to a med evacuation center, Goldman (Stephen Caffrey) is reunited with an old flame; an Army nurse named Lt. Nikki Raines (
Pamela Gidley). | |||||||
11 | 11 | "Roadrunner" | Jim Johnston | Robert Burns Clark | January 7, 1988 | 12.5/18 [11] | |
Anderson's (Terence Knox) confidence is shaken when he is almost killed by a barrage of
mortar fire. When the soldiers are ordered to rescue downed pilots from an occupied valley, Anderson questions his ability to lead. | |||||||
12 | 12 | "Pushin' Too Hard" | Bill L. Norton | Story by : David Hume Kennerly & Dennis Foley Teleplay by : Steven Phillip Smith | January 14, 1988 | 11.7/17 [12] | |
Bravo company is sent on a
reconnaissance mission to capture a prisoner. With them is an attractive female reporter named Vickie Adams (guest star
Talia Balsam) who is intent on getting combat footage, but she quickly becomes a distraction to the men. | |||||||
13 | 13 | "USO Down" | Ronald L. Schwary | Jim Beaver | January 21, 1988 | 11.5/17 [13] | |
A
USO band, including three female dancers, are rushed to a helicopter to be flown to their next destination. The helicopter is shot down and the entire crew is killed, leaving the troupe's lives in the hands of Bravo Company. | |||||||
14 | 14 | "Under Siege" | Stephen L. Posey | Story by : Steve Bello Teleplay by : Steve Bello & Robert Burns Clark | February 11, 1988 | 12.5/19 [14] | |
A captain joins the platoon as the new leader and is immediately popular with the men. His arrival is
fortuitous because there is evidence that the
North Vietnamese Army (NVA) is planning a big push right over Firebase Ladybird. However, Anderson (Terence Knox) is wary of the new captain's tactics. | |||||||
15 | 15 | "Soldiers" | Bill L. Norton | Rick Husky | February 18, 1988 | 11.9/17 [15] | |
Purcell (
Tony Becker) is given emergency
medical leave to visit his sick father in
Hawaii. When he arrives, he learns his father has taken up with a much younger woman. Meanwhile, Taylor (
Miguel A. Núñez Jr.) and Ruiz (
Ramón Franco) get sent there for some
R&R and witness negative reactions to the war. | |||||||
16 | 16 | "Gray-Brown Odyssey" | Randy Roberts | Bruce Reisman | February 25, 1988 | 12.9/19 [16] | |
When Goldman (Stephen Caffrey) and Horn (Joshua D. Maurer) are ambushed in their jeep, their companions are killed and they are separated. Goldman is temporarily blinded, but Horn manages to capture a female VC, whom Goldman forces at gunpoint to lead him to safety. | |||||||
17 | 17 | "Blood Brothers" | Charles Correll | Christian Darren | March 12, 1988 | 9.0/16 [17] | |
Goldman's (Stephen Caffrey) estranged father arrives, a retired general on a fact-finding mission for Washington. Meanwhile, Ruiz (
Ramón Franco) begins to suspect there is a heroin supplier on the base. | |||||||
18 | 18 | "The Short Time" | Bill Duke | Story by : Bruce Reisman & Peter Lubliner Teleplay by : Bruce Reisman | March 19, 1988 | 10.5/18 [18] | |
Taylor (
Miguel A. Núñez Jr.) must address his mixed emotions about his return home. His hatred for the war conflicts with the strong bond he has with his fellow soldiers and his uncertainty about life back home. | |||||||
19 | 19 | "Paradise Lost" | James L. Conway | Robert Burns Clark | March 26, 1988 | 9.8/19 [19] | |
The squad meets a mysterious ex-GI living among the natives. Goldman (Stephen Caffrey) follows orders to help fortify the natives against the VC, but what follows is exactly what the mystery man warned him about. | |||||||
20 | 20 | "Angel of Mercy" | Unknown | Unknown | April 9, 1988 | 9.5/17 [20] | |
A wounded NVA colonel is captured by the platoon and Goldman (Stephen Caffrey) and Anderson (Terence Knox) are hit in a
firefight. All three are taken to the nearby hospital, where Goldman once again meets up with his former girlfriend, Nurse Lt. Nikki Raines, and hears some unexpected news. | |||||||
21 | 21 | "The Hill" | Robert Iscove | Steven Phillip Smith | April 30, 1988 | 8.3/15 [21] | |
Goldman (Stephen Caffrey) enjoys a brief R&R with Nikki, but she refuses to marry him. When he returns to base, he finds out his unit has been assigned to help take Hill 1000, which they've taken before and lost. Meanwhile, Horn (Joshua D. Maurer) refuses to follow orders at the risk of
court martial. |
Sources