This Western Series Changed Network TV Forever

In the case of traditional Western tv, it is exhausting to pinpoint precisely which collection was essentially the most influential on the ever-expanding style. Gunsmoke was the longest-running, adopted shortly by Bonanza, however even these had been predated by The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp, which had a formidable six-season run of its personal. However there’s one Western tv traditional price revisiting on account of its standing as the primary hour-long Western program. In truth, many contemplate this to be the primary hour-long drama of any variety to run greater than a single season! That is proper, we’re speaking about ABC’s 1955 collection, Cheyenne, which starred Clint Walker within the title position as Cheyenne Bodie, wandering cowboy extraordinaire!

‘Cheyenne’ Is the Definition of a Conventional Tv Western

Earlier than Rod Serling tried his hand on the style with The Loner within the Nineteen Sixties or Clint Eastwood turned often called the Man With No Title, Cheyenne took its main man and set him on a course throughout the American West. A wandering hero with no place to name his dwelling, Cheyenne Bodie was a person’s man. He was a hulking determine with a deep voice and an honorable ethical code extra akin to the style’s conventional values earlier than it received extra “revisionist” within the ’70s. Although exhibits just like the anthology Demise Valley Days existed earlier than Cheyenne, this ABC Western was the primary of its variety. Cheyenne, very loosely based mostly on the 1947 Western of the identical identify, used its hour-long episodes to discover the intricacies of human existence and inform longer, self-contained tales that caught with you lengthy afterward.

Almost each style trope related to Westerns may be present in Cheyenne, from fabulous gunfights with the quickest draw within the West to hardcore villains with a chip on their shoulders and even daring romances with girls who swoon over the titular character. Cheyenne himself was at all times endeavor completely different Western jobs, comparable to ranch foreman, wagon prepare scout, and even lawman (a job he usually discovered himself doing even with no badge). He simply fell into new vocations with every new episode. The character was linked to the Cheyenne Indian tribe after whom he was named, although the present is fuzzy on the precise particulars. The present’s first episode, “Mountain Fortress,” reveals that Cheyenne’s dad and mom had been murdered when he was only a boy, and after the very fact, the Cheyenne took him in. Later that season, “West of the River” notes that he stayed with the tribe from 12 till 18. Nonetheless, Season 5’s “The Lone Rope” introduces the household who apparently raised the Western hero, they usually’re actually not Cheyenne.

Regardless of slight continuity errors, Cheyenne labored as a brand new, long-form tackle a well-recognized style and managed to inform some fairly thrilling tales alongside the best way. In accordance with Tim Brooks and Earle F. Marsh of their e book, The Full Listing to Prime Time Community and Cable TV Exhibits, 1946-Current, the present itself was a part of the Warner Bros. Presents tv initiative, which was the film studio’s first foray into tv. It was the preferred of the three exhibits that made up Warner Bros.’ trinity of packages, together with Casablanca and King’s Row (every based mostly on widespread movies), and infrequently rotated with these and later different exhibits like Sugarfoot and Battle. Brooks and Marsh be aware that Cheyenne was so troublesome to provide as an hour-long interval drama that the present hardly ever ran each week. As a substitute, an episode or two could be broadcast every month throughout its first 5 seasons till it discovered its footing close to the top.

Clint Walker Was the Solely Lead Character on ‘Cheyenne’

After all, the true draw for Cheyenne was Clint Walker himself. A six-foot-something burly cowboy with mushy options and a tricky demeanor, Cheyenne Bodie was the kind of hero you might simply root for. In truth, he was the one character who appeared in all however one episode, which is smart, contemplating the present was named after him. Nonetheless, one different character appeared in a small handful of episodes through the first season as Cheyenne’s sidekick, and that was Smitty. Performed by L.Q. Jones, Smitty solely confirmed up in “Boarder Showdown,” “Julesburg,” and the collection premiere “Mountain Fortress,” the place he labored alongside the titular cowboy hero. For no matter cause, Jones was dropped from Cheyenne early on and was by no means seen once more within the present’s seven-season run.

Except for L.Q. Jones, a bunch of different actors appeared in a number of episodes of Cheyenne, although, in contrast to Jones, they by no means confirmed up as the identical characters twice. Clyde Howdy appeared in 49 episodes of the present (usually going uncredited) as numerous facet characters, and actors like Chuck Hicks, Lane Chandler, Mickey Simpson, and Jack Mower confirmed up anyplace from 9 to fifteen instances. Due to the troublesome nature of manufacturing an virtually feature-length tv episode, it isn’t stunning that Cheyenne continued to reuse lots of the identical actors in minor or supporting roles. In any case, Cheyenne was sure to satisfy comparable of us throughout the West as he wandered out and in of each new city and county.

As beforehand talked about, Clint Walker solely appeared in all however certainly one of Cheyenne‘s 108 episodes. That is as a result of Cheyenne‘s Season 6 finale, “A Man Named Ragan,” follows, effectively, a person named Marshall Frank Ragan (performed by Larry Ward). If that identify sounds acquainted, it is perhaps as a result of this episode was truly the pilot for the 1962 Western collection The Dakotas, which, for some cause, was aired as an episode of Cheyenne initially. The Dakotas solely ran one season, and sadly, we by no means received to see Cheyenne Bodie and Frank Ragan work collectively on the American frontier. Possibly in cowboy heaven, that crossover is a actuality.

‘Cheyenne’ Spun-off Into ‘Bronco’ After a Main Pay Dispute

Talking of crossover, The Dakotas wasn’t the one present that spun off from Cheyenne throughout its widespread run. The Western collection usually ranked within the High 20 of all tv broadcasts on the time (particularly throughout its center seasons), and due to its consistency in viewership, Warner Bros. and ABC had been capable of launch a brand-new collection below the Cheyenne banner—although the circumstances behind mentioned launch weren’t too nice. In 1959, simply earlier than Cheyenne‘s third season, Clint Walker turned disillusioned together with his contract (the studio was forcing him to sit back half of his in-person look income to them) and left Warner Bros. It was a daring transfer, particularly since this identical contract prevented the Western star from working elsewhere, and finally, in 1959, he returned to Cheyenne. “I’m like a caged animal,” he instructed the media. It wasn’t however a couple of extra years earlier than Walker was freed, and Cheyenne ended after seven seasons.

However throughout Clint Walker’s absence, Warner Bros. was compelled to maintain the present going, they usually did so by launching Bronco. Ty Hardin starred because the titular Bronco Layne, a former Accomplice who wandered concerning the Outdated West in the identical means Cheyenne Bodie did. Below the Cheyenne banner, Bronco did effectively for itself, even with out Clint Walker enjoying the unique title position. For some time, Hardin’s Bronco adventures had been technically episodes of Cheyenne, however when Walker returned to his authentic collection, the community and studio retroactively made Bronco its personal entity. It wasn’t lengthy after that earlier than ABC opted to show Cheyenne right into a Western franchise, making The Cheyenne Present an anthology-ish collection that both adopted Walker’s Cheyenne Bodie, Hardin’s Bronco Layne, or Will Hutchins‘ Tom “Sugarfoot” Brewster of Sugarfoot fame. Solely as soon as did all three seem on digital camera on the identical time, and that was within the Cheyenne episode “Duel at Judas Basin,” the place the three Western heroes teamed as much as cease a dealer from promoting firearms to an area Indian tribe. Nonetheless, we should always be aware that Bronco and Sugarfoot reunited for the Bronco episode “Yankee Twister” a couple of months later, they usually had labored collectively twice earlier than on Sugarfoot.

Surprisingly sufficient, lengthy earlier than cinematic universes had been a significant deal in Hollywood, the Cheyenne model prolonged past simply these three exhibits and The Dakotas. Walker’s Cheyenne, Hardin’s Bronco, and Hutchins’ Sugarfoot all appeared within the 1960 Maverick episode “Hadley’s Hunters,” which additionally featured characters from Lawman, 77 Sundown Strip, and even referenced exhibits like Colt .45 and The Insurgent. Plus, an episode of Bronco (“Freeze-Out”) ties The Virginian into the canon as effectively. This makes a complete of ten Western tv productions that technically exist throughout the identical historic geography (extra should you depend all of the productions that tied to The Virginian in some unspecified time in the future, comparable to its spin-off Laredo). If solely we may get trendy Westerns like Longmire, Justified, Joe Pickett, and even perhaps Yellowstone to do one thing comparable nowadays…

Clint Walker Returned as Cheyenne Bodie for a Few Events

On December 17, 1962, simply earlier than Christmas, Cheyenne Bodie appeared for the ultimate time within the Cheyenne episode “Showdown at Oxbend.” A typical Cheyenne hour, our hero throws himself between two sides of a variety conflict and helps resolve this battle the one means he is aware of how. When the episode concludes, Cheyenne rides out of city, waving goodbye to each the folks of the Outdated West and the viewers who watched him for the higher a part of a decade. “So lengthy, of us,” he cries as he rides out on his wagon. However by some means, even this wasn’t the top for good previous Cheyenne Bodie. Almost thirty years later, Clint Walker returned to the display screen as Cheyenne for the Kenny Rogers made-for-TV film The Gambler Returns: The Luck of the Draw.

Different Western TV stars, comparable to Hugh O’Mind‘s conventional tackle Wyatt Earp from The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp, Chuck Connors and Johnny Crawford (enjoying Lucas and Mark McCain) from The Rifleman, James Drury and Doug McClure (enjoying the Virginian and Trampas) from The Virginian and even David Carradine‘s Kwai Chang Caine from Kung Fu all made appearances additionally. Likewise, Have Gun-Will Journey is referenced within the movie, thus increasing this Western world even additional. To make issues even weirder, Kung Fu was revived within the Nineties by way of the sequel collection Kung Fu: The Legend Continues. Whereas the unique Kung Fu came about within the 1800s American West, the sequel collection was a recent manufacturing. So, how does Cheyenne match into all this? Two phrases that may match higher in a Bizarre Western than a standard one: time journey. Within the 1995 Season 3 episode “Gunfighters,” Kwai Chang Caine (nonetheless performed by Carradine) works with an older Cheyenne Bodie to defeat a person terrorizing their city earlier than he swaps locations together with his future grandson (additionally named Kwai Chang Caine), who then does the Again to the Future Half III factor prior to now with Cheyenne.

Although Cheyenne Bodie, who remains to be as booming and mild as ever, is not a lot concerned with the time journey side, it is enjoyable to see Clint Walker again within the saddle. This might find yourself being Walker’s ultimate on-screen position as an actor earlier than retirement (although he voiced Nick Nitro in Small Troopers), which is a really becoming finish to a longstanding profession as a Western icon. Whereas Cheyenne may not be as effectively often called many different Western TV classics, it’s influential. The community and studios’ courageous resolution to make an everyday hour-long Western drama led to a lot of our favorites at present.

Cheyenne may be bought on DVD through Amazon.

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