Salvage 1

Salvage 1 is an American science fiction series that was broadcast for 16 episodes (of the 20 produced) on ABC during 1979. The series was based on the pilot film, Salvage, broadcast in early 1979.

Premise
Salvage operator Harry Broderick buys and sells scrap as well as electronics, aircraft and other equipment. Harry constantly has grandiose schemes to make money, sometimes not completely honestly. In the pilot, his dream is to recover equipment left on the Moon during Apollo Program missions for he believes the salvage value will make it a worthwhile venture. In the show's opening title narration, Harry states:

"'I wanna build a spaceship, go to the Moon, salvage all the junk that's up there, bring it back, sell it.'"

He recruits former astronaut Skip, who had departed from NASA because his revolutionary but unorthodox space flight theory was considered too risky. Skip leads Harry to Mel, a genius fuel and explosives expert who had been working as a pyrotechnics expert in the motion picture industry. Mel has formulated an extremely powerful but dangerous monopropellant, monohydrazine, that would enable not only single-stage-to-orbit but single-stage-to-the-Moon and back. FBI agent Jack Klinger is sent to investigate Mel's purchase of large amounts of explosive chemicals. They build a space vehicle named the Vulture and Skip and Mel voyage to the Moon, salvage the equipment and return.

The remainder of the series has the group embarking on various moneymaking ventures that Harry conceives, few of which involve the Vulture despite its prominence in the opening titles.

The Vulture
Harry built a spaceship dubbed the Vulture, made from reclaimed salvage and former NASA parts. A cement mixer, a gasoline tanker trailer, and several surplus rocket engines (bought at auction when the space program was in a slump) became the homemade spaceship. After the pilot, the Vulture was rarely used. One of its engines was destroyed in the second season premiere and it was never used again in subsequent episodes.

Cast

 * Andy Griffith as Harry Broderick, owner of Jettison Scrap and Salvage Co.
 * Joel Higgins as Addison "Skip" Carmichael, former NASA astronaut.
 * Trish Stewart as Melanie "Mel" Slozar, who worked with Skip at NASA.
 * J. Jay Saunders as Mack, a former engineer at NASA and Harry's technical assistant at Jettison.
 * Richard Jaeckel as FBI agent Jack Klinger (first season only).
 * Heather McAdam as Michelle Ryan, an orphan that Mel befriends and wants to adopt (second season only).

Jacqueline Scott played Lorene, the office manager at Jettison, in the pilot, but the character was eliminated in the series.

Season 1 (1979)
The first season ranked 48th out of 114 shows that season with an average 17.7/26 rating/share.

Season 2 (1979)
Six episodes of the second season were produced before ABC cancelled the series. Only the two-part season opener was broadcast. The last four episodes were shown in the early 1990s on The Nostalgia Channel, and overseas in the UK in some ITV regions in 1981.

Production
Science fiction author Isaac Asimov was the show's scientific adviser.

Merchandise
Estes Rockets made a prototype of a model rocket version of the Vulture. It was never brought to market.