Run Joe Run: Homecoming originally aired Saturday, October 19th 1974.

Joe, a German shepherd in the Army K-9 Corps, is wrongfully accused of attacking his trainer, Sergeant Will Corey (Arch Whiting). Now Joe must go on the run from the authorities that want to track him down. Each week while on the run Joe has a new adventure, making new friends and helping others in trouble along the way. His former master, Sgt. Corey, is also looking for Joe, whom he knows to be innocent of the crimes that he is accused. Corey continues to search for his friend, knowing he must find Joe before his government pursuers do.

Exhausted and hungry, Joe takes refuge in the barn of farmer Clyde Barnes (Albert Salmi). His daughter Judy (Kristie McNichol) discovers Joe there and takes care of him, they become fast friends. But Judy's father doesn't like dogs and when he mistakenly believes that Joe attacked his livestock (in reality a coyote) he decides that Joe can't stay. Judy, upset, runs away with Joe to her secret hiding place in the woods. But when Judy is hurt in a fall it is up to Joe to bring her some help before it's too late.

Essentially a retelling of The Fugitive from a dog's perspective, this inventive live-action children's program ran on NBC Saturday mornings for two seasons beginning in the fall of 1974. It is what you might expect from a low-budget kid's show from the mid 1970s, but there can be no denying that this program (and its premise) made for some unique and enjoyable Saturday morning viewing, certainly not the usual children's tv of the time. Kristy McNichol (credited here as Kristie McNichol) has the central part in the story, she does a good job with the role and it's quite interesting to see her in one of her earliest television performances.

Buying note: This show has never been available on commercial home video. But there are other sources for this as well as many other Kristy McNichol appearances that you might be looking for.

4-20-2007