Roy Rogers is the owner of the RR Ranch in the Mineral City area, which he runs with the help of the German shepherd dog Bullet and his horse Trigger. Roy, supported by his friend Pat Brady, is often helping the weakest usually threatened by cattle thieves, dishonest sheriffs and villains of various kinds. Pat Brady works as a cook at the Eureka Café, owned by Dale Evans.
Sky King is an American radio and television adventure series. The title character is Arizona rancher and aircraft pilot Schuyler "Sky" King. The series was likely based on a true-life personality of the 1930s, Jack Cones, the "Flying Constable" of Twentynine Palms in San Bernardino County, California, although this claim is unverified.
Although the series had strong western elements, King mostly captured criminals and spies, and found lost hikers with the use of his plane, the Songbird. Though the planes used changed during the course of the series, the later model was not given a number, but was still known as the Songbird.
King and his niece, Penny, lived on the Flying Crown Ranch, near the town of Grover, Arizona. Penny and Clipper were also pilots, though still relatively inexperienced and looking to their uncle for guidance and mentoring. Penny was an accomplished air racer and rated multi-engine pilot, whom Sky trusted to fly the Songbird. In the third TV episode, Penny refers to Clipper as "my brother", so they are siblings.
The musical score was largely the work of Herschel Burke Gilbert.
The Adventures of Champion follow a wild stallion named Champion, who remarkably becomes friends with a young boy named Ricky North.The show followed the boy and the horse as they went on crazy adventures in the Southern West during the late 1800s.
My Friend Flicka is a 39-episode western television series set at the fictitious Goose Bar Ranch in Wyoming at the turn of the 20th century. The program was filmed in color but initially aired in black and white on CBS at 7:30 p.m. Fridays from February 10, 1956, to February 1, 1957. It was a mid-season replacement for Gene Autry's The Adventures of Champion. Both series, however failed in the ratings against ABC's The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin.
After the initial Friday airing, viewers could still find the series on CBS Saturdays at 7 p.m. Eastern during March 1957, on Sundays at 6 p.m. from April to May 1957, and on Wednesdays at 7:30 p.m. from June to August 1957. NBC carried the program in color at 6:30 p.m. Sunday from September to December 1957 and at 7 p.m. Sunday from January to May 1958. In subsequent years, the series aired mostly on Saturday mornings on all networks. The Disney Channel ran it on Monday evenings in the mid-1980s. Over the years many viewers were unaware that the series produced episodes for only a single season.
My Friend Flicka starred native Canadian Johnny Washbrook as Ken McLaughlin, a boy devoted to his horse Flicka, Swedish for "little girl", but actually an Arabian sorrel named Wahana. Gene Evans played the authoritarian father Rob McLaughlin, a former U.S. Army cavalry officer. Anita Louise was cast as the gentle-spirited mother, Nell. Frank Ferguson portrayed Gus Broeberg, the loyal ranch hand. Flicka is based on a novel by Mary O'Hara, written at the Remount Ranch, located between Laramie and Cheyenne, Wyoming. Some Internet sites say that the series is set in Montana, where some of the filming was done. The majority of the filming, however, was at Fox Movie Ranch. My Friend Flicka holds the distinction of having been the first television series filmed by 20th Century Fox. A 1943 film, My Friend Flicka, starred Roddy McDowall as Ken.
Fury is an American western television series that aired on NBC from 1955 to1960. It stars Peter Graves as Jim Newton, who operates the Broken Wheel Ranch in California; Bobby Diamond as Jim's adopted son, Joey Clark Newton, and William Fawcett as ranch hand Pete Wilkey. Roger Mobley co-starred in the two final seasons as Homer "Packy" Lambert, a friend of Joey's.
The frequent introduction to the show depicts the beloved stallion running inside the corral and approaching the camera as the announcer reads: "FURY!..The story of a horse..and a boy who loves him." Fury is the first American series produced originally by Television Programs of America and later by the British-based company ITC Entertainment.
The High-Sierra adventures of Ben Cartwright and his sons as they run and defend their ranch while helping the surrounding community.
Laramie is an American Western television series that aired on NBC from 1959 to 1963. A Revue Studios production, the program originally starred John Smith as Slim Sherman, Robert Fuller as Jess Harper, Hoagy Carmichael as Jonesy and Robert L. Crawford, Jr., as Andy Sherman.
The Shiloh Ranch in Wyoming Territory of the 1890s is owned in sequence by Judge Henry Garth, the Grainger brothers, and Colonel Alan MacKenzie. It is the setting for a variety of stories, many more based on character and relationships than the usual western.
Empire is an hour-long Western television series set on a 1960s 500,000-acre ranch in New Mexico, starring Richard Egan, Terry Moore, Charles Bronson, and Ryan O'Neal. It ran on NBC from September 25, 1962, to May 14, 1963.
In the second abbreviated season, from September 24 to December 31, 1963, it was renamed Redigo after Egan's title character, Jim Redigo, the general manager of the fictitious Garrett ranch in Empire, and reduced to a half-hour. (Unaired Pilot: This Rugged Land)
Redigo is a 15-week Western dramatic series, set on a New Mexico ranch during the early 1960s, which aired over NBC from September 24 to December 31, 1963. The series features Richard Egan as ranch owner Jim Redigo, Roger Davis as Mike the ranch hand, and Elena Verdugo as Gerry. Don Diamond appeared in four episodes, three as the character Arturo.
Redigo was the truncated second half-hour season of the previous one-hour series, Empire, which aired from September 25, 1962, to May 13, 1963. Both programs were placed on the Tuesday evening schedule against CBS's The Red Skelton Show. Redigo also lost out in the ratings to the ABC military sitcom, McHale's Navy, starring Ernest Borgnine and Tim Conway.
In Redigo, Egan's character Jim Redigo was no longer the manager of the large Garrett Ranch but the owner of his own smaller spread nearby. The half-hour format made it hard for the program to develop complex characters as had been done in the initial one-hour version of the show.
Kentucky Jones is a half-hour comedy/drama starring Dennis Weaver as Kenneth Yarborough "K.Y. or Kentucky" Jones, D.V.M., a recently widowed former horse trainer and active rancher, who becomes the guardian of Dwight Eisenhower "Ike" Wong, a 10-year-old Chinese orphan, played by Ricky Der. Harry Morgan, previously of the CBS sitcoms December Bride and Pete and Gladys, was featured in the series as Seldom Jackson, a former jockey who assists Dr. Jones. Cherylene Lee appears as Annie Ng, Ike's friend. Arthur Wong portrays Mr. Ng, Annie's father. Keye Luke stars as Mr. Wong, a friend of Dr. Jones. Nancy Rennick appears as Miss Throncroft, a social worker. Kentucky Jones, which ran on NBC from September 19, 1964, to September 11, 1965, was the first of Weaver's four series, the most successful having been McCloud, since he left the role of the marshal's helper Chester Goode on CBS's western classic Gunsmoke, starring James Arness.
Richard Bull, who later portrayed the henpecked storekeeper Nels Oleson on NBC's Little House on the Prairie, appeared twice on Kentucky Jones as Harold Erkel in episodes entitled "The Victim" and "The Return of Wong Lee".
The High Chaparral is an American Western-themed television series starring Leif Erickson and Cameron Mitchell which aired on NBC from 1967 to 1971. The series, made by Xanadu Productions in association with NBC Productions, was created by David Dortort, who had previously created the hit Bonanza for the network. The theme song was also written and conducted by Bonanza scorer David Rose, who also scored the two-hour pilot.
The Doris Day Show is an American sitcom that was originally broadcast on the CBS network from September 1968 until March 1973, remaining on the air for five seasons and 128 episodes. In addition to showcasing Doris Day, the show is remembered for its many abrupt format changes over the course of its five-year run. It is also remembered for Day's statement, in her autobiography Doris Day: Her Own Story, that her husband Martin Melcher had signed her to do the TV series without her knowledge, a fact she only discovered when Melcher died of heart disease on April 20, 1968. The TV show premiered on Tuesday, September 24, 1968.
Lancer is an American Western series that aired on CBS from September 1968, to May 1970. The series stars Andrew Duggan, James Stacy, and Wayne Maunder as a father with two half-brother sons, an arrangement similar to the more successful Bonanza on NBC.
Thunder is a television series which aired on Saturday Mornings on NBC during the 1977-1978 television season. The show centered around the adventures of Cindy Prescott and her friend, Willie Williams and featured Thunder, a black stallion who ran wild near the ranch owned by the Prescott family: The cast also featured Cindy’s parents: Bill, a rancher, and Anne, a veterinarian. Thunder was always there to rescue Cindy and/or Willie in times of trouble “caused by others’ misdeeds and thoughtlessness,” including a forest fire caused by a practical joker, and Willie being hit by a stray bullet fired by teens in a no-shooting area. Also playing a part in the adventures was Willie’s stubborn mule, Cupcake, who was trained to “burp” on camera.
For about a month, in an effort to improve ratings, the producers of Thunder re-titled the show “Super Horse, Starring Thunder.”
Thunder was created by the creators of Fury, another show featuring a stallion. This show also aired on NBC, from 1955 to 1960.
Thunder was part of a 90-minute block of three live action shows to debut on NBC during the 1977 season, along with Search and Rescue: the Alpha Team and The Red Hand Gang. It was the only one of the three run for a full season in the United States, with all episodes aired.
Big Hawaii is an American drama television series that aired from September 21 until November 23, 1977.
The world's first mega-soap, and one of the most popular ever produced, Dallas had it all. Beautiful women, expensive cars, and men playing Monopoly with real buildings. Famous for one of the best cliffhangers in TV history, as the world asked "Who shot J.R.?" A slow-burner to begin with, Dallas hit its stride in the 2nd season, with long storylines and expert character development. Dallas ruled the airwaves in the 1980's.
Bret Maverick is a 1981-82 American Western television series starring James Garner in the role that made him famous in the 1957 series Maverick: a professional poker player traveling alone year after year through the Old West from riverboat to saloon. In this sequel series, Maverick has settled down in Sweetwater, Arizona Territory, where he owns a ranch and is co-owner of the town's saloon. However, Maverick is still always on the lookout for his next big score, and continues to gamble and practice various con games whenever the chance arises. The series was developed by Gordon Dawson, and produced by Garner's company Cherokee Productions in association with Warner Bros. Television.
Seven Brides for Seven Brothers is an American musical television series loosely based on the film, which ran on CBS from September 19, 1982 to March 23, 1983.
The Yellow Rose is an American television series. It was broadcast on the NBC network during the 1983-1984 season. It was produced by Paul Freeman.
The series was at least partly inspired by the more coltish elements of the soap opera Dallas, and dealt with the intrigues of the Texas-based ranch-owning Champion family. The show's cast included Sam Elliott, David Soul, Edward Albert, Cybill Shepherd, Chuck Connors, Noah Beery, Jr., Ken Curtis, Robin Wright and Jane Russell. The Yellow Rose was canceled after one season of twenty-two episodes.
In the summer of 1990, the series was rerun again on NBC along with the short-lived Bret Maverick starring James Garner.