Musings on daytime Western TV

[mrsl]

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Often at the end of the month I have seen all the movies being shown, and TCM may just not be showing things of my interest, so I have been catching up on the old Western TV shows. I started with The Rifleman, moved to The Big Valley, and am now at the end of Maverick and Cheyenne. Through all of it, Have Gun Will Travel has steadfastly been there. I've also completed NCIS, Charmed, Little House on the Prairie, and Bones. Some of these I have watched two (and some three, times per episode). So now, I'm moving on to The Virginian but I need some help with this.

I started near the end of the series. I remember Judge Garth and Betsy, but they're gone. For about three weeks John Dehner was filling in, but now he's gone and Charles Bickford is Mr. Grainger with his grandson and grand daughter (Elizabeth and Stacey). What happened to Jennifer and Randy? I know Randy went to work for Jim on the Cimmarron Strip. but I mean in the Virginian story line. I looked it up on imdB, but their info is very sparse. I see that Clu Gulager is Sheriff in Medicine Bow until the end of the series, but mainly, I'm interested in who is in charge of Shihloh as each change takes place? If Jennifer was a Grainger, why was she there years before her family, and then leave when they came on?

Between these questions about the Virginian and watching Matt, Doc and Miss Kitty age before my eyes, I'm finally learning what people saw in both of these shows for all those years.
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[Lzcutter]

Anne,

I hope this helps:

The original owner of Shiloh was Judge Garth (Lee J. Cobb). He had a daughter, Betsy. Betsy fell in love with a preacher man (Glenn Corbett) and married him. As Randy Boone had been a brief romantic interest and singing partner of Betsy's, once she was gone, Boone's character was written out. Garth's ward, Jennifer Sommers, came to live with him. By 1966, Cobb was tired of working in television and wanted out of the show. The producers compiled.

John Dehner, as Morgan Starr, briefly came to Shiloh but was written out without much explanation.

The next owner was John Grangier (Charles Bickford). He had two grandchildren (I think they were his grandchildren), Stacey (Don Quine) and Elizabeth (Sara Lane). Bickford's death in 1967, forced the producers to kill off John Grangier and introduce his brother, Clay (John McIntire). Clay's wife, Holly (McIntire's real-life wife, Jeanette Nolan) joined the cast and Stacey and Elizabeth stayed on.

Shiloh burned down and they rebuilt it. As the show was getting long in tooth and rotating shows like the Sunday Night Mystery Movie were popular, the producers decided to change the format of The Virginian. Shiloh was sold to Alex MacKenzie (Stewart Granger), an Englishman who had come west. The rest of the cast, with the exception of James Drury and Doug McClure were let go. Lee Majors was added and each week featured one of the four characters in a stand-alone episode. The producers had hoped it would re-invigorate the show instead it sounded the death knell.

Emmett Ryker (Clu Gulager) wasn't the sheriff for the run of the show. He joined the series in the third season and was around for only two or three seasons. He was a reformed fast gun who started as a deputy for Sheriff Mark Abbott, then became sheriff, then when he left, Abbott returned to Medicine Bow and resumed being the sheriff.

It was the first 90 minute western and debuted in color. James Drury and Doug McClure (as Trampas) were the only two cast members who stayed with the show from the beginning to the end. The show was known for its writing and attracted a number of classic film stars (Bette Davis) and up and coming (Lee Marvin, Robert Redford) stars as guest stars.

[mrsl]

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Thanks lzcutter:

That really does help, because I know I'm near the last couple of seasons, and getting it straight is great. I really like the show. The stories are pretty good for the day, but I already miss Betsy, she was so perky all the time. Also, Clu Gulagher was quite fun to look at for 90 minutes.

Gunsmoke is easier and I'm finding it a good show also, especially when Burt Reynolds is in a Quint.
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[stuart.uk]

The Virginian had a huge turn over off actors. Gary Clarke played Steve Hill, who may have been the same character Steve from the movie, where The Virginan hung him for cattle rustling even though they were best friends.

Tim Mattheson played Jim Bowie. It was the 1st of 3 tv westerns he did. He was brought to fill in the gap the late Dan Blocker left, as ex con Griff in the final season of Bonanza, then he paired up with Kurt Russell in the highly underrated The Quest

I don't remember Jennifer, I had a kid's crush on Betsy, remembering her and Randy on his debut show, but know of Elizabeth and Holly Grainger

[JackFavell]

I've been watching Palladin on HGWT lately, thanks to Miss Goddess' recommendation - episodes are available on Netflix. What great writing! I love shows like this one, Maverick, Mr. Lucky, The Fugitive, and The Millionaire, because they were able to cover so much ground dramatically speaking. They could do a comedy one week, a tragedy the next, and everything in between, using the main character as a centerpiece (Richard Boone is a pretty awesome centerpiece). The main character's psychology is established more and more, depending on the situation, and the writers could be as creative as they wanted to.

[Lzcutter]

Also, David Hartman was on the show for awhile (1967-1969) as ranch hand, David Sutton.

I agree with Stuart about The Quest being underrated!

[movieman1957]

"JF"

If you get to the second or third season of "HGWT" be on the lookout as Boone himself directed several episodes.

[JackFavell]

Thanks, Chris. I will check those out. Of course the first one I watched had Ben Johnson - thanks again to Miss Goddess for cluing me in that he was in an episode.
Then I started at the beginning. SO far my favorite without Ben is the one with Charles Bronson as an outlaw who wants to see his son one more time before Palladin takes him in. Bronson could be a bit of a handful I've heard, but man, he could act.

[klondike]

the one with Charles Bronson as an outlaw who wants to see his son one more time before Palladin takes him in.

That exact plot is closely paralleled by an excellent episode from the first season of "Wanted: Dead or Alive", with Steve McQueen & John McIntyre in the lawman-&-dad roles, and, if memory's not monkeying with me, a pre-Virginian Clu Gulager in the fugitive-son role

Bronson could be a bit of a handful I've heard, but man, he could act.

As a neighboring Vermonter, most of us around here found him quiet, cordial & retiring, but I don't doubt he could be a heller on a TV shooting schedule. I've heard that the real star-spangled corker that way was Lee Marvin; evidently, he turned up roaring drunk for first call one day on the old "Twilight Zone" set - after calling an early quit & sending everybody else home, Rod Serling purportedly went nose-to-nose with LM, read him the proverbial riot act with nary a blink, and bum-rushed him into a taxi. Starting the next morning, and for the rest of the shoot, Marvin impressed everybody in the cast & crew by being on-time, on-mark, polite, dead-sober and, in Serling's words, "Jesuit perfect" for the cameras.

[JackFavell]

Gosh you made me giggle thinking of petite Rod Serling going up against Lee Marvin like that! I can't even imagine it, but I bet Serling could be a real stickler, judging from his incredibly great writing.

I'll have to check out the Wanted Dead or Alive episode -- I do love Steve McQueen, and have long been wanting to see that show. And with John McIntyre - well, it's a given that it would be marvelous.

[knitwit45]

Wendy, while standing in the checkout line at Wally-world (walmart) I saw 2 shelves of $5.00 movies, and one of them was the entire first season of Wanted Dead or Alive. I bought it for my son, he's a real Steve McQueen fan, lives in Germany, so he doesn't get to see old re runs on TV. How many seasons of WDOA were there?

[Lzcutter]

Nancy,

I think there were three seasons of Wanted Dead or Alive.

[knitwit45]

thanks, Lynn, I am now on a mission to find the remaining 2 seasons.

[movieman1957]

I've been watching "Wanted: Dead or Alive." It is a decent show. I wouldn't put it with "HGWT" but it is a pretty good half hour. I remember the Bronson episode of "HGWT" and it is hard not to like Bronson in that role. You have to keep reminding yourself he is the bad guy.

There is one a little later where he plays a man (of course) who gets Paladin to be a go between with his lady neighbor that he fancies. He is a bit shy in that one and it is fun to watch him as he often tries to hard to be the gentleman and woo his friend. There are three more episodes to find with Bronson.

[JackFavell]

OOh. I will have to check the 5buck bin next time I am at Walmart!

Thanks for the info on the Bronson episodes of HGWT too. You know, except for the seventies, I really like him. He's a riot in Pat and Mike and I absolutely love his character in The Great Escape. There you get both Bronson and Mcqueen!

But the real winner for me is Richard Boone. My introduction to him was in the Boetticher/Scott western.... oh, blast, which one was it? Anyway, I really liked his either/or character, neither good nor bad. Paladin is a lot like that too... you see him making his own judgments of people, regardless of what the law said. He is an ambivalent character and that is Boone's strength - his thoughtfulness.