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Chamberlain was a virtual unknown with a limited number of TV guest shots and a low-budget movie to his credit when he was cast by MGM as Dr. Kildare in the hour-long medical drama.

Haas' changes include appointing a new chief race engineer and sporting director, both common positions the low-budget team did not have filled last season.

Critics tend to draw a hard line between the early, in-your-face garishness of Cronenberg’s low-budget films and the more polished, less bloody psychological meditations starting with 2005’s “A History of Violence.”

Studios continue to bet that auteurs who make low-budget, high-quality work can figure out how to harness hundreds of VFX artists, designers and stunt people to epic effect.

The low-budget episodes had comically simple plots, iffy acting, and all it took for a suspect to confess was a good slap from ACP Pradyuman.