7.7/1042 votes#1 - 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
- 7.2/1038 votes
#2 - The Watchdog
Season 1 Episode 2 - Aired 9/27/1957
Ballinger and the Squad are out to catch a burglar who may have rabies.
Director: Robert Florey
Writer: Douglas Heyes
- 6.6/1031 votes
#3 - Neighborhood Killer
Season 1 Episode 3 - Aired 10/4/1957
The squad hunts down a cop killer.
Director: Bernard Girard
Writer: Stirling Silliphant, William Holder
- 7.4/1041 votes
#4 - Pete Loves Mary
Season 1 Episode 4 - Aired 10/11/1957
The squad goes after a jail inmate who's just escaped.
Director: Bernard Girard
Writer: Harold Jack Bloom
- 7.5/1033 votes
#5 - Face of Evil
Season 1 Episode 5 - Aired 10/18/1957
Ballinger investigates the murders of four women. The victims were all connected to the same church and lived within two miles of each other.
Director: Don Weis
Writer: David Alexander, Bernard C. Schoenfeld
- 7.7/1032 votes
#6 - 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
- 7.6/1028 votes
#7 - 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
- 7.2/1021 votes
#8 - The Hard Case
Season 1 Episode 8 - Aired 11/15/1957
A jewelry store robbery sends the thief to prison, but his claim that the night watchman, a former big-league ballplayer named Lightnin' Joe Adams, was in on the heist costs Adams his job. Lt. Frank Ballinger goes undercover in prison to find out from the robber whether Adams was involved in the crime and what happened to the loot.
Director: Bernard Girard
Writer: N/A
- 7.8/1024 votes
#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
- 7.8/1030 votes
#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
- 7.7/1023 votes
#11 - 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
- 7.2/1023 votes
#12 - The Specialists
Season 1 Episode 12 - Aired 12/13/1957
When a hired gunman gets himself tossed in jail following a fistfight, Lt. Frank Ballinger takes his place undercover as protection for a group of three businessmen who meet once a year to commit a specialized crime.
Director: Earl Bellamy
Writer: N/A
- 7.7/1028 votes
#13 - 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
- 7.4/1023 votes
#14 - The Palace Guard
Season 1 Episode 14 - Aired 12/27/1957
Gangster Tommy Hatch is wanted for murder, but the police have to keep him safe from other gangsters who want him dead before he can testify against them. Lt. Frank Ballinger is assigned to protect Hatch even though he despises him.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
- 7.0/1025 votes
#15 - The Slow Trap
Season 1 Episode 15 - Aired 1/3/1958
Ballinger investigates the case of a security courier who is charged with robbing himself of $75,000.
Director: Earl Bellamy
Writer: N/A
- 7.1/1022 votes
#16 - The Cover Up
Season 1 Episode 16 - Aired 1/10/1958
District Attorney Grover calls for Ballinger to help him sort out a potentially embarrassing situation involving the murder of a former business associate.
Director: Edward Ludwig
Writer: N/A
- 7.5/1023 votes
#17 - Blue Indigo
Season 1 Episode 17 - Aired 1/17/1958
The room mate of the third murder victim of the Blue Indigo serial killer may be the only link Ballinger has to catching him.
Director: John Brahm
Writer: N/A
- 7.8/1019 votes
#18 - 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
- 7.7/1020 votes
#19 - 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
- 7.6/1019 votes
#20 - Dolly's Bear
Season 1 Episode 20 - Aired 2/7/1958
Kathy Bane, an old flame of Ballinger's, needs his help when a blackmailer trying to extort money turns up dead-- in her apartment.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
- 7.9/1027 votes
#21 - 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
- 7.9/1020 votes
#22 - 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
- 7.8/1021 votes
#23 - 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
- 8.1/1021 votes
#24 - 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
- 7.8/1024 votes
#25 - Chicago Bluebeard
Season 1 Episode 25 - Aired 3/14/1958
A woman dies. Ballinger investigates.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
The Best Episodes of M Squad Season 1
Every episode of M Squad Season 1 ranked from best to worst. Discover the Best Episodes of M Squad Season 1!
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
Season 1 Ratings Summary
"The Golden Look" is the best rated episode of "M Squad" season 1. It scored 7.7/10 based on 42 votes. Directed by Bernard Girard and written by Joel Murcott, it aired on 9/20/1957. This episode is rated 0.5 points higher than the second-best, "The Watchdog".