The Daredevil TV Show That Almost Existed

Did we have a Daredevil TV show 40 years ago (almost)?

In 1971, Marvel’s blind superhero Daredevil arguably became, in TV writer Stirling Silliphant’s hands, a private detective named Longstreet, played by James Franciscus.

Silliphant had consulted with Stan Lee about a Daredevil TV series before he created Mike Longstreet. The character’s heightened remaining senses could pick up clues others missed, and he could fight with spectacular martial arts abilities taught to him by Bruce Lee.
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Author's note, January 2020: I stand corrected on this fine — but apparently untrue— theory, as reader John Grace was kind enough to point out to me. Just shows you how even a seemingly plausible theory can be in error.

John Grace wrote, "Silliphant wrote the Daredevil pilot around 1983 as part of a three-pilot script contract deal he had with ABC. One of the filmed broadcast pilots was Travis McGee, starring Sam Elliot, which didn't make it to series. Longstreet was based on Baynard Kendrick's Duncan Maclain novels, two of which were adapted into movies in the 1940s. The first movie began with Maclain getting a judo lesson at his home, similar to Bruce teaching Longstreet in the first episode. While Daredevil did not inspire Longstreet, the mag's artists seemed to start drawing Murdock looking like James Franciscus. There's some info about Silliphant's Daredevil script in Nat Segaloff's biography The Fingers of God."