The Oregon Trail | |
---|---|
Genre | Western drama |
Created by |
|
Written by | E. Jack Neuman Nicholas Corea |
Directed by | Bill Bixby |
Starring |
|
Opening theme | "Oregon Bound" performed by Danny Darst |
Composer | Don Costa |
Country of origin | United States |
Original language | English |
No. of seasons | 1 |
No. of episodes | 13 (7 unaired) |
Production | |
Producers |
|
Running time | 60 minutes |
Production company | Universal Television |
Original release | |
Network | NBC |
Release | September 21 – October 26, 1977 |
The Oregon Trail is an American Western television series aired on NBC from September 21 until October 26, 1977, except for its pilot episode that aired the previous year. The series was filmed in the Flagstaff, Arizona area. [1]
In the pilot, Evan was recently widowed and remarried. Evan's father was also recently widowed. Beginning with the series, the second wife was too dead; Evan's love interest is now Margaret Devlin. The father character was dropped, and the scout character (Luther Sprague) was added.
No. in season | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original air date | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
TVM | "The Oregon Trail" | Boris Sagal | Michael Gleason | January 10, 1976 | |
1 | "Hard Ride Home" | Burt Brinckerhoff & Herb Wallerstein | Michael Gleason & Eugene Price | September 21, 1977 | |
2 | "The Last Game" | Herb Wallerstein | Eugene Price | September 21, 1977 | |
3 | "The Waterhole" | Virgil W. Vogel | Story by : Parker Browning Teleplay by : Nicholas J. Corea | September 28, 1977 | |
Guest stars: Lonny Chapman and Kim Hunter | |||||
4 | "Trapper's Rendezvous" | Hollingsworth Morse | Story by : William Kelley & Robert Boxberger & Nicholas J. Corea Teleplay by : Nicholas J. Corea | October 12, 1977 | |
Guest star: Claude Akins | |||||
5 | "The Army Deserter" | Herb Wallerstein | Story by : Stanley Roberts & Eugene Price Teleplay by : Eugene Price | October 19, 1977 | |
Guest stars: Clu Gulager and Kevin McCarthy | |||||
6 | "Hannah's Girls" | Don Richardson | Nicholas J. Corea | October 26, 1977 | |
Guest star: Stella Stevens | |||||
7 | "Return from Death" | Richard Benedict | Story by : John W. Bloch Teleplay by : Robert Pirosh | UNAIRED (U.S.) November 23, 1977 (United Kingdom) | |
8 | "The Scarlet Ribbon" | Bill Bixby | Story by : E. Jack Neuman Teleplay by : Nicholas J. Corea | UNAIRED (U.S.) November 30, 1977 (United Kingdom) | |
9 | "The Gold Dust Queen" | William Wiard | Richard Collins | UNAIRED (U.S.) December 7, 1977 (United Kingdom) | |
Guest star: Susan Howard | |||||
10 | "Return of the Baby" | Alan J. Levi | Story by : Lester William Berke & S.S. Schweitzer Teleplay by : S.S. Schweitzer | UNAIRED (U.S.) December 14, 1977 (United Kingdom) | |
Guest stars: Kim Darby and Gerald McRaney | |||||
11 | "Evan's Vendetta" | Paul Stanley | Nicholas J. Corea & John Austin Based on a novel by Burt & Budd Arthur | UNAIRED (U.S.) January 17, 1978 (United Kingdom) | |
Guest star: William Smith | |||||
12 | "Suffer the Children" | John C. Champion | Story by : Norman Jolley & Richard H. Bartlett & Robert Hamilton Teleplay by : Robert Hamilton | UNAIRED (U.S.) January 24, 1978 (United Kingdom) | |
Guest star: Robert Fuller | |||||
13 | "Wagon Race" | Lewis Allen | Elizabeth V. Wilson | UNAIRED (U.S.) January 31, 1978 (United Kingdom) | |
Guest stars: Mariette Hartley and Andrew Prine |
Terry Wilson (Bill Hawks in Wagon Train ) served as production supervisor on the series, and series stars Rod Taylor and Charles Napier co-wrote the theme song, "Oregon Bound", with singer Danny Darst.
The budget for the series was a reported $380,000 an episode. [2]
NBC cancelled the show after six episodes, but the remaining seven episodes were later aired on BBC 2 in the UK, [3] and the entire series was shown in the UK on BBC1 from November 1977 to January 1978.
NBC broadcast a single, 90-minute pilot episode in 1976. The series then ran 13 episodes during the 1977-1978 season.
On April 13, 2010, Timeless Media Group (TMG) released the show on six DVDs, running 750 minutes. The set includes 14 original episodes, including the feature-length pilot and the six episodes that did not air on NBC. [4]
Wilfred Bailey Everett Bixby III was an American actor and television director. His career spanned more than three decades, including appearances on stage, in films, and on television series. He is known for his roles in the CBS sitcom My Favorite Martian as Tim O'Hara, in the ABC sitcom The Courtship of Eddie's Father as Tom Corbett, in the NBC crime drama series The Magician as stage Illusionist Anthony Blake, and the CBS science-fiction drama series The Incredible Hulk as Dr. David Banner.
The Bob Newhart Show is an American sitcom television series produced by MTM Enterprises that aired on CBS from September 16, 1972, to April 1, 1978, with a total of 142 half-hour episodes over six seasons. Comedian Bob Newhart portrays a psychologist whose interactions with his wife, friends, patients, and colleagues lead to humorous situations and dialogue. The show was filmed before a live audience.
Rodney Sturt Taylor was an Australian actor. He appeared in more than 50 feature films, including Young Cassidy (1965), Nobody Runs Forever (1968), The Train Robbers (1973) and A Matter of Wife... and Death (1975).
Police Story is an American anthology crime drama television series that aired weekly on NBC from September 25, 1973, through April 5, 1977, followed by a season of irregularly scheduled television film specials from September 27, 1977, to May 28, 1978, with three further television films screened in 1979, 1980, and 1987. The show was created by author and former police officer Joseph Wambaugh and was described by The Complete Directory of Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows as "one of the more realistic police series to be seen on television". It was produced by David Gerber and Mel Swope.
McCloud is an American police drama television series created by Herman Miller, that aired on NBC from September 16, 1970, to April 17, 1977. The series starred Dennis Weaver, and for six of its seven years as part of the NBC Mystery Movie rotating wheel series that was produced for the network by Universal Television. The show was centered on Deputy Marshal Sam McCloud of the small western town of Taos, New Mexico, who was on loan to the metropolitan New York City Police Department (NYPD) as a special investigator.
McMillan & Wife is an American police procedural television series that aired on NBC from September 17, 1971, to April 24, 1977. Starring Rock Hudson and Susan Saint James in the title roles, the series premiered in episodes as part of Universal Television's wheel series NBC Mystery Movie, in rotation with Columbo and McCloud. Initially airing on Wednesday night, the original lineup was shifted to Sundays in the second season, where it aired for the rest of its run. For the final season, known as McMillan, numerous changes were made that included killing off St. James' character of Sally McMillan.
The Danny Thomas Show is an American sitcom that ran from 1953 to 1957 on ABC and from 1957 to 1964 on CBS. Starring Danny Thomas as a successful night club entertainer, the show focused on his relationship with his family, yet went through a number of significant changes in cast and characters during the course of its run. Episodes regularly featured music by Thomas, guest stars and occasionally other cast members as part of the plot.
Barney Miller is an American sitcom television series set in a New York City Police Department police station on East 6th Street in Greenwich Village. The series was broadcast on ABC from January 23, 1975, to May 20, 1982. It was created by Danny Arnold and Theodore J. Flicker. Noam Pitlik directed the majority of the episodes. It spawned a spin-off series, Fish, that ran from February 5, 1977, to May 18, 1978, focusing on the character Philip K. Fish.
Charles Lewis Napier was an American actor known for playing supporting and occasional leading roles in television and films. He was frequently cast as police officers, soldiers, or authority figures, many of them villainous or corrupt. After leaving his Kentucky hometown to serve in the Army, he graduated from college and worked as a sports coach and art teacher before settling on acting as a career. His first prominent role in a film was in Cherry, Harry & Raquel! (1969), which was the first of four films he would do with director Russ Meyer. Napier established himself in character roles and worked steadily for the next 35 years. He made numerous collaborations with director Jonathan Demme, including roles in Something Wild (1986), Married to the Mob (1988), The Silence of the Lambs (1991), Philadelphia (1993), Beloved (1998), and The Manchurian Candidate (2004).
Evening Shade is an American sitcom that aired on CBS from September 21, 1990, to May 23, 1994. The series stars Burt Reynolds as Woodrow "Wood" Newton, an ex-professional football player for the Pittsburgh Steelers, who returns to rural Evening Shade, Arkansas, to coach a high-school football team with a long losing streak. Reynolds personally requested to use the Steelers as his character's former team because he was a fan.
The Bionic Woman is an American science fiction action-adventure television series created by Kenneth Johnson based on the 1972 novel Cyborg by Martin Caidin and starring Lindsay Wagner, that aired from January 14, 1976, to May 13, 1978. The Bionic Woman series features Jaime Sommers, who takes on special high-risk government missions using her superhuman bionic powers. The Bionic Woman series is a spin-off from the 1970s Six Million Dollar Man television science fiction action series.
Father Knows Best is an American sitcom starring Robert Young, Jane Wyatt, Elinor Donahue, Billy Gray and Lauren Chapin. The series, which began on radio in 1949, aired as a television show for six seasons and 203 episodes. Created by Ed James, Father Knows Best follows the lives of the Andersons, a middle-class family living in the town of Springfield. The state in which Springfield is located is never specified, but it is generally accepted to be located in the Midwestern United States.
Eight Is Enough is an American comedy-drama television series that aired on ABC from March 15, 1977, to May 23, 1981. The show was modeled on the life of syndicated newspaper columnist Tom Braden, a real-life parent with eight children, who wrote a book by the same title.
The Incredible Hulk is an American television series based on the Marvel Comics character the Hulk. The series aired on the CBS television network and starred Bill Bixby as Dr. David Banner, Lou Ferrigno as the Hulk, and Jack Colvin as Jack McGee.
Claude Aubrey Akins was a character actor with a long career on stage, screen, and television. He was best known as Sheriff Lobo on the 1979–1981 television series B. J. and the Bear, and later The Misadventures of Sheriff Lobo, a spin-off series.
Tabitha is an American fantasy sitcom and a spin-off of Bewitched that aired on ABC from September 10, 1977, to January 14, 1978. The series starred Lisa Hartman in the title role as Tabitha Stephens, the witch daughter of Samantha and Darrin Stephens who was introduced on Bewitched during its second season.
Harry O, sometimes spelled Harry-O, is an American private detective series that aired for two seasons on ABC from 1974 to 1976. The series starred David Janssen, and Jerry Thorpe was executive producer. Harry O followed the broadcast of two pilot films: firstly Such Dust as Dreams Are Made On and secondly Smile Jenny, You're Dead, both starring Janssen.
Baa Baa Black Sheep is an American television series that aired on NBC from September 23, 1976, until April 6, 1978. It was part period military drama, part comedy. In the final seven episodes, the character list was revamped, dropping some squadron pilots, adding a 16-year-old pilot and four nurses.
Bearcats! is an American Western television series broadcast on the CBS television network during the fall 1971 television season. It starred Rod Taylor and Dennis Cole as troubleshooters in the period before the American entry into World War I (1917).
Outlaws is an American science fiction Western television series which aired Saturday nights on CBS from December 28, 1986 until May 30, 1987. The original series began as a 2-hour pilot movie, and was followed by eleven one-hour episodes.