The story of Sara Yarnell, a schoolteacher who moves from Philadelphia to the Western frontier to start a new life. She becomes the only teacher in a one-room schoolhouse in Independence, Colorado.
The Oregon Trail is a 14-episode NBC western television series starring Rod Taylor as the widower Evan Thorpe, who leaves his Illinois farm in 1842 to take the Oregon Trail to the Pacific Northwest. The show also starred Andrew Stevens, Tony Becker, and Gina Marie Smika as Thorpe's children. Darleen Carr starred as Margaret Devlin, one of the passengers on the wagon train, and Charles Napier portrayed Luther Sprague, a frontier scout recruited by Thorpe. The series was filmed in the Flagstaff, Arizona area.
The Gabby Hayes Show is a general purpose western television series in which the film star and Roy Rogers confidant, George "Gabby" Hayes, narrated each episode, showed clips from old westerns, or told tall tales for a primarily children's audience.
Pony Express is an American western television series about the adventures of an agent in the 1860s of the Central Overland Express Company, better known as the Pony Express. The half-hour program starring Grant Sullivan was created by California National Productions. Pony Express ran for thirty-five episodes in syndication from the fall of 1959 until the May 1960.
The Rounders was a 17-episode western-style situation comedy about two cowboys on the fictitious J.L. Ranch in Texas. It starred Ron Hayes as Ben Jones and Patrick Wayne, a son of John Wayne, as Howdy Lewis. The M-G-M television series aired on ABC from September 6, 1966, to January 3, 1967. The program was loosely based on a 1965 film of the same name, The Rounders, starring Glenn Ford and Henry Fonda, set near Sedona, Arizona, rather than Texas.
Chill Wills, a native Texan and formerly of CBS's Frontier Circus, appeared as the shady ranch owner, Jim Ed Love. Janis Hansen co-starred as Ben's girlfriend, Sally, and Bobbi Jordan played Howdy's girlfriend, Ada. Jason Wingreen appeared as Shorty Dawes, and Walker Edmiston as Regan. Character actors Strother Martin and J. Pat O'Malley appeared as "Cousin Fletch" and "Vince", respectively. James Brown, formerly the lieutenant on The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin, played "Luke".
Selected episodes with notable guest stars include: "A Horse on Jim Ed Love", series premiere w
Brave Eagle is a 26-episode half-hour western television series which aired on CBS from September 28, 1955, to March 14, 1956, with rebroadcasts continuing until June 6. Keith Larsen, who was of Norwegian descent, starred as Brave Eagle, a peaceful young Cheyenne chief.
The program was unconventional in that it
⁕ reflects the Native American viewpoint in the settlement of the American West and
⁕ was the first series to feature an American Indian as a lead character.
Larsen's co-stars were Kim Winona, a Sioux Indian, as Morning Star, Brave Eagle's romantic interest; Anthony Numkena of Arizona, a Hopi Indian then using the stage name Keena Nomkeena, appeared as Keena, the adopted son of Brave Eagle; Pat Hogan as Black Cloud, and Bert Wheeler of the comedy team Wheeler & Woolsey, as the halfbreed Smokey Joe, full of tribal tall tales but accompanying wisdom.
The episodes center upon routine activities among the Cheyenne, clashes with other tribes, attempts to prevent war, encroachment from white settlers, rac
Dundee and the Culhane is an American Western television series starring John Mills and Sean Garrison that aired on the CBS television network from September 7 to December 13, 1967.
Law of the Plainsman is a Western television series starring Michael Ansara that aired on the NBC television network from October 1, 1959, until May 5, 1960. The character of Native American U.S. Marshal Sam Buckhart was introduced in two episodes of the popular ABC Western television series The Rifleman starring Chuck Connors as Lucas McCain.
Law of the Plainsman is distinctive and unique in that it was one of the few television programs that featured a Native American as the lead character, a bold move for U.S.network television at that time. Ansara had earlier appeared in the series Broken Arrow, having portrayed the Apache chief, Cochise. Ansara, however, was not Native American but of Syrian descent.
Ansara played Sam Buckhart, an Apache Indian who saved the life of a U.S. Cavalry officer after an Indian ambush. When the officer died, he left Sam money that was used for an education at private schools and Harvard University. After school, he returned to New Mexico where he became a Deputy Marshal working for
Frontier Justice is a CBS television Western anthology series which had thirty-one telecasts over the summers of 1958, 1959, and 1961. It was a repackaging of episodes from CBS's Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theater, and was hosted by Lew Ayres, Melvyn Douglas, and Ralph Bellamy, one each summer. The program was a production of Four Star Television.
Starring in various episodes were Eddie Albert, Phyllis Avery, Russ Conway, John Derek, William Fawcett, Dean Jagger, David Janssen, Ida Lupino, Strother Martin, Jack Palance, John Payne, Judson Pratt, Denver Pyle, Robert Ryan, Stuart Whitman, and James Whitmore, among others.
The half-hour, black-and-white program, a summer-replacement series, debuted on Monday, July 7, 1958, and ended its run on Thursday, September 28, 1961. It was produced by Four Star Television, co-owned by Dick Powell, David Niven, Charles Boyer, and Ida Lupino.
Gunslinger was a Western television series starring Tony Young that aired on the CBS television network from February 9 until May 18, 1961 on Thursdays from 9 to 10 p.m. EST. The series theme song was sung by Frankie Laine.
Young played Cord, a young gunfighter who works undercover for the local army garrison commander, acting as a secret law enforcement agent in the territory. The series lasted for only twelve episodes.
Gunslinger was the successor to Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theater.
Jefferson Drum, also known as The Pen and the Quill, is an American Western television series starring Jeff Richards that aired on the NBC network from April 25 to December 11, 1958.
The Man From Blackhawk is a Western television series starring Robert Rockwell that aired on the ABC television network from October 9, 1959, until September 9, 1960. The series was created by Academy Award winning screenwriter Stirling Silliphant.
Cimarron City is an American Western television series, starring George Montgomery as Matt Rockford and John Smith as Lane Temple, that aired on NBC from October 11, 1958 until April 4, 1959. The name "Cimarron City" refers to a boom town in Logan County north of Oklahoma City. Rich in oil and gold, Cimarron City aspires to become the capital of the future state of Oklahoma, created in 1907.
Buckskin is an American Western television series starring Tom Nolan, Sally Brophy, and Mike Road. The series aired on the NBC network from July 3, 1958 until May 25, 1959, followed by summer reruns in 1959 and again in 1965.
Destry is a Western television series starring John Gavin that aired on the ABC television network from February 14, 1964 until May 8, 1964. Destry was based on the classic James Stewart Western, Destry Rides Again, and a subsequent remake, Destry, starring Audie Murphy.
In the original films, the main character was Tom Destry, a Western lawman who was a crack shot, but who preferred non-violent solutions to problems with outlaws. In the television series, Gavin played Harrison Destry, son of Tom, who had himself been a lawman until he was framed for a crime and sent to prison. The show followed Harrison Destry upon his release from prison as he wandered the West looking for the people that framed him. Just like the feature films, many comedic situations arose because Destry went to great lengths to avoid violence even though he was always running into trouble.
Destry never caught on with television audiences, especially since the popularity of the Western genre had begun to wane, and the series only lasted for t
Barbary Coast is an American television series that aired on ABC. The pilot movie first aired on May 4, 1975 and the series itself premiered September 8, 1975; the last episode aired January 9, 1976.
Barbary Coast was inspired by a similar 19th-century spy series, The Wild Wild West, and like the earlier program, Barbary Coast mixed the genres of Western and secret agent drama.