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The Best Episodes of M Squad

Every episode of M Squad ranked from best to worst. Let's dive into the Best Episodes of M Squad!

Lt. Frank Ballinger is a no-nonsense plain clothes cop in the elite M Squad Division. The Squad's task is to root out organised crime and...
Genres:CrimeDramaMystery
Network:NBC

Best Episodes Summary

"Fight" is the best rated episode of "M Squad". It scored 8.2/10 based on 31 votes. Directed by Don Taylor and written by N/A, it aired on 4/18/1958. This episode scored 0.1 points higher than the second highest rated, "The Man in Hiding".

  • Fight
    8.2/1031 votes
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    #1 - Fight

    Season 1 Episode 30 - Aired 4/18/1958

    A boxer's (Lancaster) life is being threatened soon after another fighter dies after fighting with Lancaster. Suspicion falls on the other fighter's trainer who feels Lancaster is responsible for the death of the other fighter.

    Director: Don Taylor

    Writer: N/A

  • The Man in Hiding
    8.1/1021 votes
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    #2 - The Man in Hiding

    Season 1 Episode 24 - Aired 3/7/1958

    Ballinger investigates after a bank robber leaves a pencil at the scene.

    Director: Don Taylor

    Writer: N/A

  • Shot in the Dark
    8.1/1018 votes
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    #3 - Shot in the Dark

    Season 1 Episode 28 - Aired 4/4/1958

    A sniper is terrorizing Chicago. Ballinger joins the hunt.

    Director: N/A

    Writer: N/A

  • More Deadly
    8.0/1027 votes
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    #4 - More Deadly

    Season 2 Episode 1 - Aired 9/19/1958

    2 innocent men are iced by a currency exchange bookkeeper, to disguise her embezzlement. The sultry femme fatale's yarn that it was a heist gone bad makes sense at first, because of a wave of such robberies on Chicago's Far East Side. But the murdered customer Halper checks out as a solid working stiff, plus the other stick-ups were solo jobs while this was supposedly a 2 hood hold-up, so M Squad's debonair Lt. Ballinger's sic-ed on the case to soften up hard boiled Ora Kane.

    Director: Don Medford

    Writer: Sidney Marshall

  • Lover's Lane Killing
    7.9/1027 votes
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    #5 - Lover's Lane Killing

    Season 1 Episode 21 - Aired 2/14/1958

    Ballinger investigates a murder with multiple motives.

    Director: Robert Altman

    Writer: N/A

  • The Frightened Wife
    7.9/1020 votes
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    #6 - The Frightened Wife

    Season 1 Episode 22 - Aired 2/21/1958

    A man's aunt reports her nephew is missing. Ballinger investigates.

    Director: Don Taylor

    Writer: N/A

  • Hideout
    7.9/1019 votes
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    #7 - Hideout

    Season 1 Episode 27 - Aired 3/28/1958

    Bank robbers hide in a suburban house.

    Director: John Brahm

    Writer: N/A

  • The Executioner
    7.9/1013 votes
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    #8 - The Executioner

    Season 2 Episode 11 - Aired 12/5/1958

    No description available

    Director: N/A

    Writer: N/A

  • Killer in Town
    7.8/1024 votes
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    #9 - Killer in Town

    Season 1 Episode 9 - Aired 11/22/1957

    Frank Ballinger and his colleagues on the M Squad have to find a needle in a haystack: a cop killer somewhere in the city of Chicago. Their only clues are an old magazine and the killer's habit of saying "You bet."

    Director: Bernard Girard

    Writer: N/A

  • Diamond Hard
    7.8/1030 votes
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    #10 - Diamond Hard

    Season 1 Episode 10 - Aired 11/29/1957

    Lt. Frank Ballinger keeps an eye on Hazel, a bar girl with a record who nonetheless wants to go straight. He discovers she is involved with Joe Mazzerin, a safecracker. Ballinger goes undercover to get the goods on Mazzerin and to learn who his mysterious partner is.

    Director: Bernard Girard

    Writer: N/A

  • The Long Ride
    7.8/1019 votes
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    #11 - The Long Ride

    Season 1 Episode 18 - Aired 1/24/1958

    When a convicted murderer gets the upper hand on Lieutenant Ballinger during a train ride back to Chicago, his last best hope for recapturing the felon is the persistence of an alert young boy.

    Director: David Lowell Rich

    Writer: N/A

  • The Black Mermaid
    7.8/1021 votes
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    #12 - The Black Mermaid

    Season 1 Episode 23 - Aired 2/28/1958

    Ballinger goes undercover to capture a robbery suspect.

    Director: N/A

    Writer: N/A

  • Chicago Bluebeard
    7.8/1024 votes
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    #13 - Chicago Bluebeard

    Season 1 Episode 25 - Aired 3/14/1958

    A woman dies. Ballinger investigates.

    Director: N/A

    Writer: N/A

  • The Twenty-Six Girl
    7.8/1020 votes
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    #14 - The Twenty-Six Girl

    Season 1 Episode 29 - Aired 4/11/1958

    A young wife is shot by an unknown assailant when she drives with her ex-con husband to an isolated woods in search of their dream home. No one even reports the couple missing until after the police find them dead in the snow. The wife's sister is a wealthy spinster, who takes her time even coming to Chicago, claiming her brother-in-law was threatened with death by a blackmailer. Det. Ballinger suspects the sister knows more than she reveals.

    Director: Don Taylor

    Writer: N/A

  • Accusation
    7.8/1018 votes
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    #15 - Accusation

    Season 1 Episode 38 - Aired 6/13/1958

    A millionaire is found dead in a locked room. His young pretty wife (Fay Spain), and the big hansom driver (Ken Clark), are suspected of the crime. Lee Marvin figures out how the crime was committed.

    Director: Don Taylor

    Writer: N/A

  • The Golden Look
    7.7/1042 votes
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    #16 - The Golden Look

    Season 1 Episode 1 - Aired 9/20/1957

    The Squad is on the lookout for a bank robbery suspect with a unique feature, witnesses say he has gold teeth.

    Director: Bernard Girard

    Writer: Joel Murcott

  • Street of Fear
    7.7/1032 votes
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    #17 - Street of Fear

    Season 1 Episode 6 - Aired 11/1/1957

    Chicago cop Frank Ballinger stages a rescue in order to gain the confidence of Alice, a young woman who works for suspected jewelry fence Louis Prince. Pretending to be furniture salesman Bob Steele, Ballinger romances Alice and gets friendly with her boss. But Alice falls for "Bob" and Ballinger must weigh her feelings and safety against his duty as a police officer.

    Director: Don Weis

    Writer: N/A

  • The Alibi Witness
    7.7/1023 votes
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    #18 - The Alibi Witness

    Season 1 Episode 11 - Aired 12/6/1957

    When perennial loser Wally Gardner is identified as the perpetrator of a robbery-murder, he tells police unique details of a stranger he met miles away at the time of the crime. But when that stranger is found, he says he can prove that HE was miles from where Gardner says they met at the time of the crime. Lt. Frank Ballinger must determine who's lying.

    Director: John Brahm

    Writer: N/A

  • Family Portrait
    7.7/1028 votes
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    #19 - Family Portrait

    Season 1 Episode 13 - Aired 12/20/1957

    When his partner in an investigation is killed, Lt. Frank Ballinger makes it a personal business to pin the crime on narcotics lord Sam Hinder. But, as Ballinger discovers, Hinder has an unusual reason for wanting to keep the police out of his own personal business.

    Director: John Peyser

    Writer: N/A

  • The Shakedown
    7.7/1020 votes
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    #20 - The Shakedown

    Season 1 Episode 19 - Aired 1/31/1958

    Ballinger suspects an inside job when a dry cleaning company refuses to knuckle under to a shakedown mob.

    Director: N/A

    Writer: N/A

  • The Healer
    7.7/1016 votes
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    #21 - The Healer

    Season 1 Episode 32 - Aired 5/2/1958

    Lieutenant Ballinger searches for a mentally ill young woman who shot a psychiatrist, hoping all the while that he can also find sufficient evidence to obtain a felony conviction against the charlatan who was "treating" her.

    Director: Sidney Lanfield

    Writer: N/A

  • The Trap
    7.7/1016 votes
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    #22 - The Trap

    Season 2 Episode 5 - Aired 10/24/1958

    Danny Mitchell is trying to find an engagement ring for his girl when he mistaken for a thief by the store owner. A fight convinces him he has killed the old man-- as such Danny's on the run! Ballinger is called in to find the kid before he gets into real trouble.

    Director: Don Medford

    Writer: N/A

  • Murder in C-Sharp Minor
    7.7/1012 votes
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    #23 - Murder in C-Sharp Minor

    Season 3 Episode 5 - Aired 10/16/1959

    Detective Ballinger is brought in to investigate the murder of night club owner Joe Dalio. The case seems open and cut with a suspect in custody, however Ballinger has just enough doubt to continue the investigation.

    Director: N/A

    Writer: N/A

  • Needle in the Haystack
    7.7/1014 votes
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    #24 - Needle in the Haystack

    Season 3 Episode 23 - Aired 2/23/1960

    Lanny Cord escapes from a court room and disappears. Ballinger is interested in the case because he's originally arrested Cord and had always sworn to kill Ballinger if he had the opportunity.

    Director: N/A

    Writer: N/A

  • The Matinee Trade
    7.6/1028 votes
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    #25 - The Matinee Trade

    Season 1 Episode 7 - Aired 11/8/1957

    Lt. Frank Ballinger investigates the case of a gambling ring and its connection to an unidentified police officer. The deeper into the investigation he gets, the more Ballinger becomes concerned that the crooked cop may be an old friend.

    Director: Bernard Girard

    Writer: N/A