The Dakotas (TV series)

Last updated
The Dakotas
Diane Brewster The Dakotas 1963.JPG
Diane Brewster as the wife, Jody Fargo, of a double-dealing lawman played by David Brian in the episode "Fargo" (1963)
Genre Western
Directed byAllan A. Buckhantz
Stuart Heisler
Paul Landres
Charles R. Rondeau
Robert Totten
Gordon Bau (make-up)
Starring Larry Ward
Jack Elam
Chad Everett
Mike Greene
Theme music composer Harold Levey
Kenneth S. Webb [1]
Country of originUnited States
Original languageEnglish
No. of seasons1
No. of episodes20 (1 unaired: Black Gold) (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producer William T. Orr
Producer Anthony Spinner
Production location California
Running time50 minutes
Production company Warner Bros. Television
Original release
Network ABC
ReleaseJanuary 7 (1963-01-07) 
May 13, 1963 (1963-05-13)
Related
Cheyenne

The Dakotas is an ABC/Warner Bros. Western television series starring Larry Ward and featuring Jack Elam, Chad Everett, and Michael Greene, broadcast during 1963. The short-lived program is considered a spin-off of Clint Walker's Cheyenne .

Contents

The Dakotas was cancelled one week after heavy viewer protest over an objectionable scene. [2]

Synopsis

The series follows the efforts of U.S. Marshal Frank Ragan (Larry Ward) and his three deputies, J. D. Smith (Jack Elam), Vance Porter (Mike Greene), and Del Stark (Chad Everett) as they try to keep order in the Dakota Territory during the Gilded Age prior to statehood in 1889. [3]

Series history

All four characters initially appeared in an April 23, 1962, episode of Cheyenne entitled "A Man Called Ragan", directors Richard C. Sarafian and Robert Sparr (uncredited), and writers Anthony Spinner (teleplay) and Harry Whittington (story).

However, the degree to which this episode makes The Dakotas a spin-off of Cheyenne is debatable. In the pilot on Cheyenne, the titular character of Cheyenne Bodie never appears. Also, the episode had followed five consecutive weeks of Bronco episodes, broadcast as a part of the wheel series that Cheyenne had effectively become. Moreover, the length of time between pilot and series—almost eight months—further weakened the link between Cheyenne and The Dakotas. [4] The biggest tip-off to viewers as to the parentage of the series was that it had assumed the Monday 7:30 p.m. ET time slot previously occupied since 1959 by Cheyenne.

Guest stars

Among the many guest stars, George Macready appeared as Captain Ridgeway, with Jeanne Cooper as Rebecca Ridgeway, in the third episode, "Mutiny at Fort Mercy". Chris Robinson was cast as Chino in "Red Sky over Bismarck", with Andrew Duggan as Colonel Winters and Kevin Hagen as a preacher. Warren Stevens and Karen Sharpe played Cain and Angela Manning in the episode, "Crisis at High Banjo"; Robert J. Wilke was cast in the same episode as Judge Markham.

Other guest stars included:

Cancellation

When viewers saw the program's eighteenth episode, "Sanctuary at Crystal Springs", they were shocked by a scene that depicted the lawmen killing two outlaws in a church, one of whom had caused injury to a pastor, played by Charles Irving, before dying. Calls for The Dakotas to end its run were answered virtually overnight. [2] After just one more episode, the show was pulled. A twentieth episode, entitled "Black Gold", was completed, but was never shown. [5]

Episodes

Several episode titles refer to geographic place names in the Dakotas.

No. in
season
TitleDirected byWritten byOriginal air date
[pilot 1] "A Man Called Ragan"Richard C. Sarafian, Robert Sparr (Uncredited)Story by: Harry Whittington
Teleplay by: Anthony Spinner
April 23, 1962 (1962-04-23)
1"Return To Dryrock"Stuart HeislerStory by: Robert E. Thompson
Teleplay by: Cy Chermak
January 7, 1963 (1963-01-07)
2"Red Sky Over Bismarck"Stuart HeislerStory by: Harry Whittington
Teleplay by: Anthony Spinner
January 14, 1963 (1963-01-14)
3"Mutiny at Fort Mercy"Stuart HeislerStory by: Leo Lieberman
Teleplay by: Leo Lieberman and E.M. Parsons
January 21, 1963 (1963-01-21)
4"Trouble at French Creek"Stuart HeislerE.M. ParsonsJanuary 28, 1963 (1963-01-28)
5"Thunder In Pleasant Valley"Paul LandresStory by: Joyce Fierro
Teleplay by: S.S.Schweitzer
February 4, 1963 (1963-02-04)
6"Crisis at High Banjo"Stuart HeislerCy ChermakFebruary 11, 1963 (1963-02-11)
7"Requiem at Dancer's Hill"Paul Landres Peter B. Germano February 18, 1963 (1963-02-18)
8"Fargo"Stuart HeislerStory by: Mel Goldberg
Teleplay by: E.M. Parsons
February 25, 1963 (1963-02-25)
9"Incident at Rapid City"Allan A. BuckhantzNicholas E. BaehrMarch 4, 1963 (1963-03-04)
10"Justice at Eagle's Nest"Robert TottenS.S.SchweitzerMarch 11, 1963 (1963-03-11)
11"Walk Through the Badlands"Richard L. BareWilliam MourneMarch 18, 1963 (1963-03-18)
12"Trial at Grand Forks"Stuart HeislerStory by: Sy Salkowitz
Teleplay by: Peter B. Germano
March 25, 1963 (1963-03-25)
13"Reformation at Big Nose Butte"Robert TottenCy ChermakApril 1, 1963 (1963-04-01)
14"One Day In Vermillion"Allan A. BuckhantzDean RiesnerApril 8, 1963 (1963-04-08)
15"Terror at Heart River"Stuart HeislerWilliam MourneApril 15, 1963 (1963-04-15)
16"The Chooser of the Slain"Richard C. Sarafian,
Charles R. Rondeau (Uncredited)
Dean RiesnerApril 22, 1963 (1963-04-22)
17"Feud at Snake River"Charles R. RondeauRichard H. LandauApril 29, 1963 (1963-04-29)
18"Sanctuary at Crystal Springs"Richard C. SarafianCy ChermakMay 6, 1963 (1963-05-06)
19"A Nice Girl From Goliath"Charles R. RondeauE.M. ParsonsMay 13, 1963 (1963-05-13)
20"Black Gold"TBDTBDUnaired
  1. "A Man Called Ragan" was presented as an episode in season 6 of Cheyenne in 1962

Home media

On March 24, 2015, Warner Bros. released The Dakotas- The Complete Series on DVD via their Warner Archive Collection. This is a manufacture-on-demand (MOD) release, available through Warner's online store and Amazon.com. [6]

Related Research Articles

<i>Maverick</i> (TV series) American TV series (1957–1962)

Maverick is an American Western television series with comedic overtones created by Roy Huggins and originally starring James Garner as an adroitly articulate poker player plying his trade on riverboats and in saloons while traveling incessantly through the 19th-century American frontier. The show ran for five seasons from September 22, 1957, to July 8, 1962 on ABC.

<i>Bronco</i> (TV series) Western TV series

Bronco is a Western television series on ABC from 1958 through 1962. It was shown by the BBC in the United Kingdom. The program starred Ty Hardin as Bronco Layne, a former Confederate officer who wandered the Old West, meeting such well-known individuals as Wild Bill Hickok, Billy the Kid, Jesse James, Theodore Roosevelt, Belle Starr, Cole Younger, and John Wesley Hardin.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Warner Bros. Television Studios</span> Television arm of Warner Bros.

Warner Bros. Television Studios, operating under the name Warner Bros. Television, is an American television production and distribution studio and the flagship studio of the Warner Bros. Television Group division of Warner Bros., a flagship studio of Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD). Launched on March 21, 1955 by William T. Orr, it serves as a television production arm of DC Comics productions by DC Studios and, alongside Paramount Global's CBS Studios, The CW, the latter that launched in 2006 and WBD has a 12.5% ownership stake. It also serves as the distribution arm of WBD units HBO, Cartoon Network and Adult Swim.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Clint Walker</span> American actor (1927–2018)

Norman Eugene "Clint" Walker was an American actor. He played cowboy Cheyenne Bodie in the ABC/Warner Bros. western series Cheyenne from 1955 to 1963.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jack Elam</span> American actor (1920–2003)

William Scott "Jack" Elam was an American film and television actor best known for his numerous roles as villains in Western films and, later in his career, comedies. His most distinguishing physical quality was his misaligned eye. Before his career in acting, he took several jobs in finance and served two years in the U.S. Navy during World War II. Elam performed in 73 movies and in at least 41 television series.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ty Hardin</span> American actor (1930–2017)

Ty Hardin was an American actor best known as the star of the 1958 to 1962 ABC/Warner Bros. Western television series Bronco.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dorothy Provine</span> American singer, dancer, actress and comedienne ( 1935–2010)

Dorothy Michelle Provine was an American singer, dancer and actress. Born in 1935 in Deadwood, South Dakota, she grew up in Seattle, Washington, and was hired in 1958 by Warner Bros., after which she first starred in The Bonnie Parker Story and played many roles in TV series. During the 1960s, Provine starred in series such as The Alaskans and The Roaring Twenties, and her major film roles included It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963), Good Neighbor Sam (1964), The Great Race (1965). That Darn Cat! (1965), Kiss the Girls and Make Them Die (1966), Who's Minding the Mint? (1967), and Never a Dull Moment (1968). In 1968, Provine married the film and television director Robert Day and mostly retired. She died of emphysema on April 25, 2010, in Bremerton, Washington.

<i>Sugarfoot</i> American Western TV series

Sugarfoot is an American Western television series that aired for 69 episodes on ABC from 1957-1961 on Tuesday nights on a "shared" slot basis – rotating with Cheyenne ; Cheyenne and Bronco ; and Bronco. The Warner Bros. production stars Will Hutchins as Tom Brewster, an Easterner who comes to the Oklahoma Territory to become a lawyer. Brewster was a correspondence-school student whose apparent lack of cowboy skills earned him the nickname "Sugarfoot", a designation even below that of a tenderfoot.

Larry Ward was an American actor who appeared in many films and television series. He was sometimes credited under the name Ward Gaynor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert Colbert</span> American actor (b. 1931)

Robert Louis Colbert is an American actor best known for his leading role as Dr. Doug Phillips on the ABC television series The Time Tunnel and his two appearances as Brent Maverick, a third Maverick brother in the ABC/Warner Brothers western Maverick.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Will Hutchins</span> American actor

Will Hutchins is an American actor most noted for playing the lead role of the young lawyer Tom Brewster, in the Western television series Sugarfoot, which aired on ABC from 1957 to 1961 for 69 episodes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Andrew Duggan</span> American actor (1923–1988)

Andrew Duggan was an American character actor. His work includes 185 screen credits between 1949 and 1987 for roles in both film and television, as well a number more on stage.

<i>Cheyenne</i> (TV series) TV program

Cheyenne is an American Western television series of 108 black-and-white episodes broadcast on ABC from 1955 to 1962. The show was the first hour-long Western, and was the first hour-long dramatic series of any kind, with continuing characters, to last more than one season. It was also the first series to be made by a major Hollywood film studio which did not derive from its established film properties, and the first of a long chain of Warner Bros. original series produced by William T. Orr.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ray Teal</span> American actor (1902–1976)

Ray Elgin Teal was an American actor. His most famous role was as Sheriff Roy Coffee on the television series Bonanza (1959–1972), which was only one of dozens of sheriffs on television and in movies that he played during his long and prolific career stretching from 1937 to 1970. He appeared in pictures such as Western Jamboree (1938) with Gene Autry, The Best Years of Our Lives (1946) with Fredric March and Myrna Loy, The Black Arrow (1948), Billy Wilder's Ace in the Hole (1951) and Judgment at Nuremberg (1961) with Spencer Tracy and Burt Lancaster.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peter Brown (actor)</span> American actor (1935-2016)

Pierre Lynn de Lappe, also known as Peter Brown, was an American actor. He portrayed Deputy Johnny McKay opposite John Russell as Marshal Dan Troop in the 1958 to 1962 ABC-Warner Brothers western television series Lawman and Texas Ranger Chad Cooper on NBC's Laredo from 1965 to 1967.

<i>Warner Bros. Presents</i> 1955 American TV series or program

Warner Bros. Presents is the umbrella title for three series that were telecast as part of the 1955–56 season on ABC: Cheyenne, a new Western series that originated on Presents, and two based on classic Warner Bros motion picture properties, becoming Casablanca and Kings Row. The series ran from September 13, 1955, until September 4, 1956, or September 11, 1956.

<i>Temple Houston</i> (TV series) 1963 American TV series or program

Temple Houston is an American Western television series starring Jeffrey Hunter as real-life 19th century Texas lawyer Temple Lea Houston. It ran for one season on NBC from 1963 to 1964. It is considered "the first attempt ... to produce an hour-long western series with the main character being an attorney in the formal sense." Temple Houston was the only program which Jack Webb sold to a network during his ten months as the head of production at Warner Bros. Television. It was also the lone series in which Hunter played a regular part. The series' supporting cast features Jack Elam and Chubby Johnson.

Michael Harris Greene was an American actor who was active from the 1960s through the 1990s.

<i>Kings Row</i> (TV series) 1955 American TV series or program

Kings Row is an hour-long American television period drama starring Jack Kelly, Nan Leslie and Robert Horton which was broadcast on ABC between September 13, 1955 and January 17, 1956 as part of the wheel series Warner Bros. Presents. It was the first of 20 filmed shows produced for ABC between 1955 and 1963 by Warner Bros Television, under the supervision of executive producer William T. Orr, Kings Row is also the only straight drama among those shows, whereas Westerns and detective/adventure series comprised 14 of the 20 productions.

References

Footnotes

  1. "The Dakotas". www.classicthemes.com.
  2. 1 2 Aaker, Everett (2017-06-08). Television Western Players, 1960-1975: A Biographical Dictionary. McFarland. p. 430. ISBN   978-1-4766-6250-3.
  3. "The Dakotas (TV Series 1962– )" via www.imdb.com.
  4. Cheyenne at Classic TV Archives Archived 2007-09-29 at the Wayback Machine
  5. "The Dakotas (WB)(1963) Larry Ward, Jack Elam, Chad Everett, Mike Greene". 4 September 2004. Archived from the original on 2004-09-04.
  6. DVDs for 'The Complete Series' of the Abruptly-Ended 1963 Western Archived 2015-03-13 at the Wayback Machine