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TV Westerns Where Art Thou (1 Viewer)

Dave Scarpa

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I'm enjoying HBO's Deadwood on DVD and while certainly not a conventional TV Western it has me pining for all those great classic westerns from the 50's and 60's. many of these shows are on DVD from the Minor League Publishers like Brentwood and the like but they are mostly the PD stuff. And the the major Players Like Bonanza, Gunsmoke, Rawhide, The Big Valley , High Chaperral, Wagon Train and Wild Wild West are absent. It was Nice Paramount is releasing Have Gun Will Travel because its a show I had heard about but never seen due to almost no syndication. I've loved it so far but we need more.
 

Jeff Willis

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I heard that! I am wondering about the Westerns as well. I'm a Big Valley fan and want that one bad. I have WWW thru Columbia House ($ ouch) because I couldn't wait for the season sets. I'm also waiting for "Alias Smith & Jones".
 

Charles H

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Is WILD, WILD WEST still active with Columbia House? I have not received anything after Volume 15 a couple of months ago.
 

Jeff#

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I only have the first 10 DVDs of Wild Wild West, Charles, because I haven't purchased 11 through 15 yet. Are there still 3 episodes on each disc for those? And are they all 2nd season? It's good to see that CBS Video had been duplicating the shows in order, at least by original broadcast dates.

46 out of 104 WWW episodes is almost half of the series on DVD already. :emoji_thumbsup:
 

Charles H

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Volume 11 begins with "The Night of the Big Blast" (10/7/66) and Volume 15 concludes with "The Night of the Gypsy Peril" (1/20/67). There are still three episodes on each disc.
 

Greg_S_H

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I think it's a sure bet that anything available via Columbia House will eventually be released as a season set. They already have the episodes transferred, and they have a reasonable sales forecast. I figure if a show was performing poorly for CH, it would be dropped before too many volumes were available.
 

Bert Greene

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Add me to the chorus of those wanting to see more westerns. Haven't really thought about what I'd want most ("Have Gun, Will Travel," one of my favorites, is actually being done). "Rawhide" would be nice. There have been rumblings about "Maverick," which is another gem. I'd like to see "Zane Grey Theater" for its variety, and the fact I've not seen too many episodes over the years.

I met Robert Fuller last year, and it instilled in me a desire to see "Laramie" again. Don't recall too much about it. One western series I've never seen is "Tales of Wells Fargo," which had a healthy run in the late-50s. "Wagon Train" would be nice to see, but I'm afraid episodes from the first season or two can a bit too leisurely-paced, if my memory is correct. What about "Trackdown" with Robert Culp? Or "The Rebel" with Nick Adams? Those would be nice. Heck, I'm even forgetting "Wanted: Dead or Alive" with Steve McQueen. Surely that would be a good candidate. Ditto for the aforementioned "Alias Smith and Jones." The initial season of "Laredo" was good fun, too. Oh, and another really neat Warner Bros. entry was "Lawman," with John Russell. Lots of possibilities to wistfully mull over! Hope they are not as futile as I'm inclined to believe.
 

Jeff#

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Many of those westerns I discovered in 1980s cable TV reruns as well VHS tape trading during that period.

Rawhide and Maverick were both released on tape from Columbia House in the mid 1990s, but I'm not sure how far they got with Maverick. Rawhide is a CBS Video release, so it may already be on DVD in the same form as Wild Wild West.

Their are few Maverick episode available in stores, and you might find them for as little as $1 on VHS in a clearance isle. On DVD the only episode I know of is "Duel at Sundown" because it guest starred Clint Eastwood before Rawhide. That one is found on a 2 disc collector's edition of the Oscar-winning Eastwood western Unforgiven.

Tales of Wells Fargo starring Dale Robertson was originally a 1/2 hour B & W show for the first 4 years. When NBC increased the budget, it expanded to 1 hour and was filmed in color beginning in 1961 when Jim bought a ranch and hired old timer William Demarest as the foreman, while he continued on assignments for Wells Fargo. The ranch setting and also a widow and her 2 young daughters who lived at a neighboring ranch didn't help the show, so it was also the final season. Ironically, I never saw any of the 30 minute shows, and only 1 of the ranch episodes.
 

Lutz Koch

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Columbia House released 25 VHS tapes of Maverick (50 episodes), including all of the episodes featuring Bret and Bart together, most of the Bret solo episodes, some of the Bart solo episodes, but none of the Roger Moore episodes.

Of the episodes that WB released, only "Iron Hand" and "The Bundle from Britain" did not duplicate any CH releases, the latter being the only Roger Moore Maverick episode released so far.

I sincerely hope that WB makes good on their recent announcement of Maverick DVDs. I really love this show.
 

Jeff#

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I think "The Bundle from Britian" was the first episode of Maverick with Roger Moore as Beau Maverick. However, while still under contract to Warner Bros. Moore did guest star on the show two years earlier in "The Rivals" in a different role, and he appeared with both James Garner and Jack Kelly.
 

Joseph Bolus

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I *loved* all the Bret and Beux Maverick (James Garner and Roger Moore) solo eps, as well as the Bret and Bart combo episodes. But, for the most part, I was pretty bored with the Bart Maverick solo eps.

Still ... I'll spring for the entire series when it's released. According to "The Digital Bits" and the "TVShowsOnDVD" sites, Maverick will be coming to DVD "later this year"! Can't wait!

Now ... When are we getting "Briscoe County Jr."??
 

Gregory V

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I am most anxious to see the old western comedy, Pistols n Petticoats, starring Ann Sheridan (who died in 1967 during production) released on DVD. The entire series was only 26 episodes, and they have released many short run series. If they can release "The Tick", why not this one????????
 

Jeff Willis

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Dave L of TSoD fame just posted something about Rawhide. No release date yet but it looks like it's coming. Yessssss :emoji_thumbsup: I loved watching this one with my Dad during it's original airing.
 

Jeff Willis

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Does anyone have a quick list available for what's currently out on DVD? Mainly, the TV Westerns that aired between, say, the mid-late 50's up to the late 70's. I did a "sanity" check of my collection and I see that I'm a little thin in the Western series. The only one that I have at present is the "Rifleman" sets. I know that "Have Gun" and "Wanted Dead or Alive" is out but I'm not sure about getting those yet. I see where Rawhide is expected out this year.
 

David Lambert

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Jeff, did you know TSoD can list DVDs by genre? :D

114 Western releases on DVD


Note that we use the IMDB's genres by-and-large, so if it's listed there as a Western then we will be consistent with that. Having said that, I have no idea how the "Galaxy Rangers" cartoon got on that list. Might as well put Firefly on it, too! :laugh:
 

Michael Alden

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I would love to see it as well. But unfortunately The Tick is of recent vintage and I assume is cartoonish or based on a comic strip so it therefore appeals to that crowd. Pistols appeals only to a much older crowd (those of us with good memories) and is really not something that would be in Universal's plans.
 

Jeff Willis

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Dave, thanks for the reminder of the "search" by type function at TSoD. I forgot about that one :rolleyes:I was surprised at how many westerns are out there already. Looked like a lot of them are "best of"'s. Anyone readiing this have S1 of "Wanted Dead or Alive"? That's one that I'm interested in getting but haven't
"pulled the trigger" on yet.
 

Lutz Koch

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Yes, I bought it simply because of its reputation as a classic TV western; I had never watched it before. And I can definitely say that I'm pleasantly surprised, it does live up to its good reputation, at least IMHO. Picture and sound quality are fine, considering the age of the material. There have been reports that PAL masters were used to do this set, so there might be PAL speedup, but I never notice things like that, they are too subtle for me. Haven't got around yet to watching any of the extras, so I can't comment on them, but they sound interesting. Based on how much I like this show, I have now decided to get the first of the RIFLEMAN sets, too (though I realize that those aren't season sets).

I am also glad to report that the first season of BONANZA, which was released in Germany (R2) just a few weeks ago (surprisingly not by Paramount but by an independent company) is a real winner. I have now watched the first four episodes, and only the first one was familiar to me, the other ones I had never seen before. It is amazing how well this show has aged. Sound and picture are in great shape (some clean-up has obviously been done), colors are fresh and vibrant. The audio is in English and German, and the original theme song as well as the original episode-specific main and end titles are included. As a lifelong fan of TV westerns, I haven't been this happy with a release in a long time and can't wait for season 2 and beyond.
 

Jeff Willis

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Lutz,

Thanks for the info on "Wanted". And, Hello from "across the water" over here in the U.S. :D

I have all 3 (#4 on order) sets of the Rifleman. I guarantee you'll like that series. I'd have preferred season sets but given the length of this series, I figure it'll be a while before we see any season releases of the Rifleman. But, with the TV/DVD industry, "anything's possible".

I think you gave me the ammo to "pull the trigger" & get the "Wanted" S1 set :D
 

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