Stingray (NBC television series)

This article is about the NBC TV series. For the ITV series see Stingray (TV show).

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Stingray is the name of a short-lived NBC television series produced by Stephen J. Cannell that ran from 1986 to 1987. It starred Nick Mancuso, who played the mysterious character known only as Ray, whose trademark was a black 1965 Corvette Stingray.

Related Topics:
Stephen J. Cannell - Nick Mancuso - Corvette

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Ray, who lives in Southern California, devotes his time to helping those who are in trouble, much like New York City's Robert McCall in CBS's contemporary but longer-running and more popular series The Equalizer. Ray's background is even more shadowy than McCall's. All that is known about him is that, like McCall, he advertises surreptitiously in newspapers, ostensibly offering a 1965 Stingray for sale and including a telephone number; those wishing to enlist his services, presumably having learned the ad's real meaning by word of mouth, can call him for help.

Related Topics:
New York City - CBS - The Equalizer

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Ray does not charge money for his help; instead, he extracts a promise from his client in advance that the client will repay Ray in the future by performing a favor, perhaps easy, perhaps difficult, upon Ray's request. As the series begins, Ray has apparently extracted this promise from many previous clients; this allows him to call in a variety of favors during the series to help his current clients. In one episode, for instance, when he poses as a doctor and is called upon, as part of his cover, to perform surgery, he calls in a favor from a former client who is a physician; the former client secretly takes Ray's place in the operating room and performs the surgery.

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Ray is a skilled driver and accomplished martial artist, and is excellent at covering his tracks and hiding his real identity. On several occasions, clients and government authorities believe that the have discovered who he really is, but in the end they find that they are mistaken. Often it seems that Ray either is or was affiliated with a secret government agency, perhaps the CIA, but this is never conclusively proven.

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While apparently possessing many of the elements for a good action/adventure show, the series never won high ratings and was cancelled shortly after its introduction.

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