"In the aftermath of the bloodletting called the Civil War, thousands of ruthless, restless searching men traveled West. Such a man is William Colton. Like the others, he carried a blanket-roll, a proficient gun, and a dedication to a new chapter in American history ... the opening of the West!"
It wasn't very successful, in part because Westerns were now passé, and the CBS network interfered in the production, which led to the consistently somber but thoughtful and stylishly made The Loner being cancelled after half a season. Serling and his team of collaborators, who included actors turned directors, Joseph Pevney, Don Taylor, Paul Henreid and Norman Foster, appeared to be attempting to present relevant stories about perennial issues in American life such as violence, rootlessness and the creation and dissolution of families and communities. Though the setting of The Loner was the late 1860s, the show dealt with combat flashbacks, despair, youthful discontent and tenuous efforts to heal the internal wounds of the Civil War era on both sides and make a new start.
I had never heard of this series until a few weeks ago when a friend on another message group pointed out the quality of several of the half hour episodes, which have begun to appear on youtube recently. The guest stars are first rate on the epis I've looked at, and include familiar Twilight Zone veterans and new talents such as Whit Bissell, John Hoyt, James Sikking, Katharine Ross, Dub Taylor, David Opatoshu , Burgess Meredith and Brock Peters, among others.
After the series was cancelled, Rod Serling was reportedly deeply disheartened. He told an interviewer some time later that ""There was a time when I wanted to reform television. Now I accept it for what it is. So long as I don't write beneath myself or pander my work, I'm not doing anyone a disservice." An extremely hard worker who never stopped striving to keep some standards for his work and the medium, his family believed that one reason for his relatively early death was that relentless drive, (though those constant cigarettes he was always photographed with and three years in the worst combat in the Pacific sure didn't help either). What a legacy the guy left us.
You can see several of the 30 minute programs here on youtube. Maybe this is another program that The Encore Western Channel should consider airing?