The Rifleman

[RedRiver]

Maybe he's an ambidextrous rifleman

A switch hitter!

TV loves single parents. It opens the story for plenty of Boy Meets Girl. It's flabbergasting to recall that in Mary Tyler Moore's show, her character was intended to be a divorcee. But executives felt the public wasn't ready for that. Wow! What a different world. People might have thought she was divorced from Rob Petrie!

[JackFavell]

heaven forbid!

[mrsl]

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The funny thing about single parents in the 50's-60's westerns is that even though the door was open for a lot of romantic interludes, most of the fellows, like The Rifleman, Matt Dillon, the Lawman, etc. had steady ladies that were on their arms for any town parties or meetings. Lucas McCain had Millie the storekeeper, Matt of course, had Miss Kitty, and Marshall Troop had Miss Lily, owner of the prettiest saloon on any Western show. I'm glad some of you other ladies have found out why I always thought Chuck Connors was worth a second or third look in the hierarchy of things.

The one thing I doubt if a reboot could equal is the warmth and feeling of true emotion between Chuck and Johnny Crawford. I still get dewy eyed, no matter how many times I've seen each episode, when little Mark goes running to his "Paw" after some heart stopping event.
.

[JackFavell]

Andy Griffith had Helen Crump.

[RedRiver]

I like Ellie. Little Elinor Donahue, the town pharmacist. Andy should have kept her!

[MissGoddess]

I like Ellie. Little Elinor Donahue, the town pharmacist. Andy should have kept her!

I so agree. I call the other one Helen Grump.

[JackFavell]

Ha! that is so funny! I thought I was the only one who liked Ellie for Andy.

[RedRiver]

Helen should have stayed with The Blob!

[RedRiver]

I've watched a few RIFLEMAN episodes on ME TV this week. Nice. Warm, direct and pointed.

[RedRiver]

My favorite TV channel is running the first episodes this week. Wow! Very well conceived. It's like a comic book. Lucas is actually known by the titular nickname. "Trouble in town. Go get THE RIFLEMAN!" The main characters have "origins." Micah was a drunk! In most TV of that era, characters were just there. Relationships pre-established. Not this one. This is exceptional television.

The first two episodes are Peckinpah scripts. Another features young Michael Landon as an outlaw with a conscience. I don't remember any of this stuff. Maybe I saw it, and loved it, fifty years ago. But it's all new to me now!

[MissGoddess]

Aren't they fun? I love this show and wish I could watch it again (on cable).

[Professional Tourist]

Aren't they fun? I love this show and wish I could watch it again (on cable).

If you're in the U.S. there is always Hulu. Currently they have fifty full episodes posted from seasons one through four.

http://www.hulu.com/the-rifleman

[mrsl]

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Redriver: What you said in your post was exactly what I said when The Rifleman started on Encore a year or so ago. It is new and fresh, the characters HAVE character, and as the story goes on, the relationship between father and son continues as something fine and good to see. It iss unlike the 1/2 hour Mr. Dillon episodes which are also being shown. Although I love them too, they have no back story, and don't always finish the plot. The person in question is caught, but you are not always let in on whether they are let go or not. In some cases they should definitely be, but you're left in the dark. e.g. recently a woman killed her own son when he was going to kill Matt, or the Doc or someone like that, and knowing Matt, he would normally bring that person in for arraignment before a judge, but this happened at the end and all you saw was all of the people going back into the house with no final scene. Other times, I realize they have to fill 25 minutes with a storyline, but sometimes its silly that they do because one little sentence could set the whole record straight.
.

[RedRiver]

So, does the Katy Jurado character become Lucas' first love interest? Spoil it. I don't mind! Yesterday's show featured Jurado's Miss Julie setting up a boarding house, having to face a sordid past. She didn't leave town. That leads me to believe we'll see more of Miss Julie!

Is it sad that a grown man plans his day around a fifty year-old TV show?

[mrsl]

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Redriver:

In answer to your second question first, NO, I don't think it's sad at all. When I get hooked, I get hooked for months sometimes and it takes that long to get over it and onto something else, and I'm a female who's older than you.

That was a one time visit for Katy, but Lucas gets his share of ladies as the years go by. I think most of them you'll like because they all have a certain amount of fire in them.