The Gene Autry Show

Last updated
The Gene Autry Show
Geneautryshow.jpg
Title card
Also known asMelody Ranch
Genre Western
Directed by
Starring
Theme music composer
Opening theme"Back in the Saddle Again"
Ending theme"Back in the Saddle Again"
Country of originUnited States
Original languageEnglish
No. of seasons5
No. of episodes91
Production
Running time25 minutes
Production companyFlying 'A' Productions
Original release
Network CBS
ReleaseJuly 23, 1950 (1950-07-23) 
August 7, 1956 (1956-08-07)
Related

The Gene Autry Show is an American western/cowboy television series which aired for 91 episodes on CBS from July 23, 1950 until August 7, 1956, originally sponsored by Wrigley's Doublemint chewing gum. [1]

Contents

Overview

Gene Autry Gene Autry 1942.JPG
Gene Autry

Series star Gene Autry had already established his singing cowboy character on radio and films. Now he and his horse Champion were featured in a weekly television series of western adventures. Gene's role changed almost weekly from rancher, to ranch hand, to sheriff, to border agent, etc. Gene's usual comic relief and sidekick, Pat, was played by Pat Buttram. During the first season, Gene's sidekick was played by Chill Wills twice (as Chill) and by Fuzzy Knight four times (as Sagebrush). Alan Hale, Jr. played a bad guy in several episodes of Seasons 1 and 2, but he also played Gene's sidekick, Tiny, in two episodes of Season 1. Dick Jones was cast in ten episodes of The Gene Autry Show and acted in two other Flying A Productions, The Range Rider and Buffalo Bill, Jr.

Production

Autry established his own production company, Flying A Productions, [2] and acted as executive director for the series.[ citation needed ]

The theme song Back in the Saddle Again was written by Autry and Ray Whitley and sung by Autry. [3]

Initially the show was broadcast on Sundays from 7 to 7:30 p.m. Eastern Time. In July 1953 it was moved to Tuesdays from 8 to 8:30 p.m. E. T. In September 1954, It was moved to Saturdays from 7 to 7:30 p.m. E. T. [3]

Spin-offs

The Gene Autry Show had two spin-offs, The Adventures of Champion and Annie Oakley . [2]

Home media

Timeless Media Group has released all five seasons on DVD in Region 1, fully restored and uncut. [4] [5] [6] [7]

On December 10, 2013, Timeless Media released The Gene Autry Show- The Complete series. [8]

DVD NameEp #Release Date
The Complete First Season26June 7, 2011
The Complete Second Season26November 22, 2011
The Complete Third and Fourth Seasons26April 10, 2012
The Complete Fifth Season13May 21, 2013
The Complete Series91December 10, 2013

Related Research Articles

<i>NYPD Blue</i> American television police procedural (1993–2005)

NYPD Blue is an American police procedural television series set in New York City, exploring the struggles of the fictional 15th Precinct detective squad in Manhattan. Each episode typically intertwines several plots involving an ensemble cast. The show was created by Steven Bochco and David Milch, and was inspired by Milch's relationship with Bill Clark, a former member of the New York City Police Department who eventually became one of the show's producers. The series was originally broadcast by ABC from September 21, 1993‚ to March 1, 2005. It was ABC's longest-running primetime one-hour drama series until Grey's Anatomy surpassed it in 2016.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gene Autry</span> American actor (1907–1998)

Orvon Grover "Gene" Autry, nicknamed the Singing Cowboy, was an American actor, musician, singer, composer, rodeo performer, and baseball team owner, who largely gained fame by singing in a crooning style on radio, in films, and on television for more than three decades, beginning in the early 1930s. During that time, he personified the straight-shooting hero — honest, brave, and true.

<i>The Real McCoys</i> American sitcom

The Real McCoys is an American sitcom starring Walter Brennan, Richard Crenna, and Kathleen Nolan. Co-produced by Danny Thomas's Marterto Productions in association with Walter Brennan and Irving Pincus's Westgate Company, it was broadcast for six seasons: five by the ABC-TV network, from 1957 to 1962; and a final season by CBS, 1962–1963. Set in California's San Fernando Valley, it was filmed at Desilu studios in Hollywood.

<i>The Facts of Life</i> (TV series) American sitcom

The Facts of Life is an American television sitcom created by Dick Clair and Jenna McMahon and a spin-off of Diff'rent Strokes that originally aired on NBC from August 24, 1979, to May 7, 1988, making it one of the longest-running sitcoms of the 1980s. The series focuses on Edna Garrett, as she becomes a housemother at the fictional Eastland School, an all-girls boarding school in Peekskill, New York.

<i>Green Acres</i> American television sitcom (1965–71)

Green Acres is an American television sitcom starring Eddie Albert and Eva Gabor as a couple who move from New York City to a country farm. Produced by Filmways as a sister show to Petticoat Junction, the series was first broadcast on CBS, from September 15, 1965, to April 27, 1971.

<i>Death Valley Days</i> American television series

Death Valley Days is an American Western anthology series featuring true accounts of the American Old West, particularly the Death Valley country of southeastern California. Created in 1930 by Ruth Woodman, the program was broadcast on radio until 1945. From 1952 to 1970, it became a syndicated television series, with reruns continuing through August 1, 1975. The radio and television versions combined to make the show "one of the longest-running Western programs in broadcast history."

<i>Charles in Charge</i> American comedy television series

Charles in Charge is an American sitcom television series that premiered on October 3, 1984, on CBS. The series was a production of Al Burton Productions and Scholastic Productions in association with Universal Television and starred Scott Baio, who had previously starred in Happy Days, in the title role. Willie Aames, who had previously been a cast member on Eight Is Enough, also starred as Charles’ best friend Buddy Lembeck.

<i>Medical Center</i> (TV series) TV series or program

Medical Center is an American medical drama television series that aired on CBS from 1969 to 1976. It was produced by MGM Television.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pat Buttram</span> American character actor (1915–1994)

Maxwell Emmett "Pat" Buttram was an American character actor. Buttram was known for playing the sidekick of Gene Autry and for playing the character of Mr. Haney in the television series Green Acres. He had a distinctive voice that, in his own words, "never quite made it through puberty."

<i>The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp</i> TV western (1955-1961)

The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp is the first Western television series written for adults. It premiered four days before Gunsmoke on September 6, 1955. Two weeks later came the Clint Walker western Cheyenne. The series is loosely based on the life of frontier marshal Wyatt Earp. The half-hour, black-and-white program aired for six seasons on ABC from 1955 to 1961, with Hugh O'Brian in the title role.

<i>The Scooby-Doo Show</i> American animated television series

The Scooby-Doo Show is an American animated mystery comedy series. The title of the series is an umbrella term for episodes of the third incarnation of Hanna-Barbera's Scooby-Doo franchise. A total of 40 episodes ran for three seasons, from 1976 to 1978, on ABC, marking the first Scooby Doo series to appear on the channel. Sixteen episodes aired as segments of The Scooby-Doo/Dynomutt Hour in 1976, while eight aired as part of Scooby's All-Star Laff-A-Lympics in 1977. A final set of sixteen episodes came out in 1978, with ten running individually under the Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! name and the remaining six as segments of Scooby's All-Stars.

<i>The Phantom Empire</i> 1935 serial film

The Phantom Empire is a 1935 American Western serial film directed by Otto Brower and B. Reeves Eason and starring Gene Autry, Frankie Darro, and Betsy King Ross. This 12-chapter Mascot Pictures serial combined the Western, musical and science-fiction genres. The duration of the first episode is 30 minutes, while that of the rest is about 20 minutes. The serial film is about a singing cowboy who stumbles upon an ancient subterranean civilization living beneath his own ranch that becomes corrupted by unscrupulous greedy speculators from the surface. In 1940, a 70-minute feature film edited from the serial was released under the titles Radio Ranch or Men with Steel Faces. This was Gene Autry's first starring role, playing himself as a singing cowboy. It is considered to be the first science-fiction Western.

<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.

<i>A Haunting</i> American TV series or program

A Haunting is an American paranormal drama anthology television series that depicts eyewitness accounts of alleged possession, exorcism, and ghostly encounters. The program features narrations, interviews, and dramatic re-enactments based on various accounts of alleged paranormal experiences at reportedly haunted and mostly residential locations.

<i>The Tall Man</i> (TV series) American TV series or program

The Tall Man is a half-hour American Western television series about Sheriff Pat Garrett and gunfighter Billy the Kid that aired on NBC from September 10, 1960, to September 1, 1962, filmed by Revue Productions.

<i>The Texan</i> (TV series) US television series

The Texan is a Western television series starring film and television actor Rory Calhoun, which aired on the CBS television network from 1958 to 1960.

<i>Gene Autrys Melody Ranch</i> Western variety radio show in the United States

Gene Autry's Melody Ranch is a Western variety radio show in the United States. A 15-minute pilot show aired on December 31, 1939. The program ran from January 7, 1940 to August 1, 1943, and from September 23, 1945 to May 16, 1956. The show's entire run was broadcast over the CBS radio network, sponsored by Doublemint gum. The approximately two-year interruption resulted from Autry's enlistment in the United States Army to serve in World War II. Initially titled Doublemint's Melody Ranch, the show's name was changed to Gene Autry's Melody Ranch in early 1941. Episodes were 30 minutes long except for a 15-minute version that ran from September 23, 1945 to June 16, 1946. The theme song was "Back in the Saddle Again".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gene Autry filmography</span>

This Gene Autry filmography lists the films and television episodes starring the American singing cowboy Gene Autry.

Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer is the first syndicated television series based on Spillane's hard-boiled private detective Mike Hammer, played by Darren McGavin. The series was produced from 1957 to 1959, and had a run of 76 episodes over two seasons. Episodes were filmed in black and white and filled a half-hour time slot. As a syndicated television series, original air dates and the order of episodes vary by geographic location – for example, in New York City. The series debuted January 28, 1958, on WCBS-TV, and the first episode aired was "Letter Edged in Blackmail".

References

  1. Woolery, George W. (1985). Children's Television: The First Thirty-Five Years, 1946-1981, Part II: Live, Film, and Tape Series. The Scarecrow Press. pp. 189–192. ISBN   0-8108-1651-2.
  2. 1 2 McNeil, Alex (1996). Total Television: the Comprehensive Guide to Programming from 1948 to the Present (4th ed.). New York, New York: Penguin Books USA, Inc. p. 315. ISBN   0-14-02-4916-8.
  3. 1 2 Brooks, Tim; Marsh, Earle F. (2009). The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows, 1946-Present. Random House Publishing Group. p. 521. ISBN   9780307483201 . Retrieved December 3, 2016.
  4. "The Gene Autry Show DVD news: Announcement for the Gene Autry Show - Season 1 | TVShowsOnDVD.com". Archived from the original on 2011-04-16. Retrieved 2011-05-06.
  5. "The Gene Autry Show DVD news: Announcement for the Gene Autry Show - the Complete 2nd Season | TVShowsOnDVD.com". Archived from the original on 2013-02-18. Retrieved 2011-10-21.
  6. "The Gene Autry Show DVD news: Box Art and Extras for the Gene Autry Show - the Complete 3rd & 4th Seasons | TVShowsOnDVD.com". Archived from the original on 2012-02-02. Retrieved 2012-02-01.
  7. "The Gene Autry Show DVD news: Announcement for the Gene Autry Show - the Final Season | TVShowsOnDVD.com". Archived from the original on 2013-02-16. Retrieved 2013-03-01.
  8. "The Gene Autry Show DVD news: Box Art and Extras for the Gene Autry Show - the Complete Series | TVShowsOnDVD.com". Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2013-09-11.