Yes, this is worse than "Hardcastle and McCormick." Worse than "Sonny Spoon." Worse than even "The A-Team."
After Prince Charles and Diana's big wedding the previous year, royalty was on everyone's mind, including Cannell's, and so he concocted what was intended to be a light-hearted adventure series, but it ended up a light-headed mess.
"The Quest" (not to be confused with the 1976 Kurt Russell series) was about King Charles, monarch of a tiny European kingdom, who was at death's door and had no heir. For reasons best forgotten, he chose four American strangers and persuaded them to participate in an around-the-world "Amazing Race" style competition for the throne. The king chose the countries they traveled to by throwing a dart into a map. The second episode found them in a Hollywood simulation of Africa, complete with stereotypical cannibal tribes and headhunters (in 1982!).
There had to be a villain in such proceedings, of course, and so we had Count Dardinay, who claimed the throne as his and set out to destroy the contestants with a tenacity Wile E. Coyote would envy. Frankly, Dardinay would have made a better king than any of the Americans.
Cannell even threw in the usual catchy Mike Post theme song, whose lyrics have all the subtlety of a jackhammer: "Kings and queens/ It's a race for a place in the royal celebration/ Hopes and dreams /Shining like the jewels in a golden crown,/ Kings and queens/ It's the time of your life and you know it's all or nothing/ Just like kings and queens."
After only a handful of episodes, "The Quest" lost its quest for viewers, and it died a quicker death than King Charles.
After Prince Charles and Diana's big wedding the previous year, royalty was on everyone's mind, including Cannell's, and so he concocted what was intended to be a light-hearted adventure series, but it ended up a light-headed mess.
"The Quest" (not to be confused with the 1976 Kurt Russell series) was about King Charles, monarch of a tiny European kingdom, who was at death's door and had no heir. For reasons best forgotten, he chose four American strangers and persuaded them to participate in an around-the-world "Amazing Race" style competition for the throne. The king chose the countries they traveled to by throwing a dart into a map. The second episode found them in a Hollywood simulation of Africa, complete with stereotypical cannibal tribes and headhunters (in 1982!).
There had to be a villain in such proceedings, of course, and so we had Count Dardinay, who claimed the throne as his and set out to destroy the contestants with a tenacity Wile E. Coyote would envy. Frankly, Dardinay would have made a better king than any of the Americans.
Cannell even threw in the usual catchy Mike Post theme song, whose lyrics have all the subtlety of a jackhammer: "Kings and queens/ It's a race for a place in the royal celebration/ Hopes and dreams /Shining like the jewels in a golden crown,/ Kings and queens/ It's the time of your life and you know it's all or nothing/ Just like kings and queens."
After only a handful of episodes, "The Quest" lost its quest for viewers, and it died a quicker death than King Charles.