The series stars
Tony Musante and
Susan Strasberg and was based on the real-life story and published biography of
Newark, New Jersey police detective David Toma. Toma had compiled an amazing arrest record during his years on the force, particularly in arresting
drug dealers. His boss, Inspector Spooner, was played by
Simon Oakland. The actual David Toma played bit parts in the series. The show ended production after one season, as Musante had only agreed to film one full season, citing a desire not to get trapped into only playing one character over a long period of time. The network and producers had initially assumed this to be a negotiating ploy, but it was not. Musante held firm and did not return for a second season. Although the role of David Toma was recast with
Robert Blake, it was soon felt that Blake would be better served with a different concept; accordingly,
Toma was overhauled and became the 1975 series
Baretta. Apart from the circumstances of its conception,
Baretta has no obvious on-screen connection to
Toma, as the shows have no characters or settings in common. Many of the people on the
Toma writing staff would go on to write episodes of
The Rockford Files, which debuted shortly after
Toma's cancellation. These writers included
Stephen J. Cannell,
Roy Huggins (who signed most of his work on both shows as "John Thomas James"),
Juanita Bartlett, Zekial Marko, Don Carlos Dunaway, and Gloryette Clark. Series stars Musante, Strasberg and Oakland would also guest star on various episodes of
The Rockford Files. An early version of the character of Jim Rockford had originally been conceived of as a guest star for a never-filmed episode of
Toma; the script was rewritten and became
The Rockford Files 90-minute pilot, and all connections and references to
Toma were dropped. ==Episodes==