TV Veteran Leif Erickson Appeared In A '70s Sci-Fi Series That We Don't Talk About Anymore
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15 years before "The X-Files" premiered on Fox, there was "Project U.F.O." Created by "Dragnet" writer-producer-star Jack Webb and Harold Jack Bloom for NBC, the series follows two U.S. Air Force investigators who travel throughout the country looking into possible U.F.O. sightings. It's based on the real-life Project Blue Book study which ran from 1952 to 1969 and sought to verify whether or not these alleged alien visitors meant us harm.
The study concluded that there was no hard evidence of U.F.O. encounters, but that didn't stop sci-fi nuts and conspiracy theorists from discounting the government's findings. Their speculation unleashed a spate of movies, TV shows, and books that purported to contain the real truth about extraterrestrials on Earth, and, obviously, "Project U.F.O." hoped to cash in on this watch-the-skies craze. Unfortunately, the series didn't catch on with viewers, so NBC canceled it after two seasons.
You'd think that the blockbuster success of Steven Spielberg's "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" might've goosed the ratings for "Project U.F.O.," but its visual effects were dire even by 1970s network television standards. Just take a look at the episode "Sighting 4004: The Howard Crossing Incident" on YouTube (the whole series appears to be on the platform). The episode finds series protagonists Major Jake Gatlin (William Jordan) and Staff Sergeant Harry Fitz (Caskey Swaim) trying to determine if the ranch of Frederick Carlson (Leif Erickson) is being attacked by glowing green aliens. The poor visual effects notwithstanding, the episode does a poor job of building suspense. Even a veteran actor like Erickson, who, coincidentally, starred in "Invaders from Mars," can't save the material.
Leif Erickson's Project U.F.O. episode has a Steven Spielberg tie
"Project U.F.O." might be forgotten today, but this episode is notable for being based on the real-life Kelly-Hopkinsville encounter, where the residents of a Kentucky farmhouse rushed to their local police station claiming that they'd been under siege by around 12 dark figures that they believed to be aliens. This close encounter has since been debunked, with several ufologists stating that the supposed extraterrestrial were actually great horned owls.
Do Gatlin and Fitz throw cold water on Carlson's extraordinary claim? You should watch the episode to find out, as it's kind of amusing to watch Webb struggle to make his sturdy "Dragnet" formula work in the science-fiction realm. It'll also give you a very loose idea of what Spielberg's "Night Skies" would've looked like, as his horror sci-fi project, which became "E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial," was also inspired by the Kelly-Hopkinsville encounter. I doubt you'll want to continue on with the series, but hey, don't let me yuck your cheaply produced vintage television yum!