Post by geode on Oct 27, 2017 14:36:29 GMT
Why don't we kick off this thread with...
The Roy Rogers Show (1951-1957). This was one of the most popular of TVs early westerns, especially with younger viewers. 101 episodes over seven seasons were produced. I saw the first two episodes of Season 3. The half hour format is in that frontier/modern mash-up universe that sprang up in the 1940s, often when cowboys would battle Nazis during the war years, that is to say, the primary story background is the western milieu where everyone dressed in cowboy and cowgirl costume, rode horses, drove buckboards, and packed six-shooters on their hips like an open carry wet dream, but motorized vehicles could also show up, mainly, in the case of this show, the jeep (named Nellybelle) driven by comic sidekick Pat Brady. The regulars were Roy Rogers, his wife Dale Evens, Brady, and Roy’s horse Trigger, his dog Bullet, and Dale’s horse, Buttermilk. The two things that struck me most while watching were 1) in episode 2, Roy kills four people. Of course, they are nameless henchmen who just fall down during a gunfight and are never mentioned again; 2) Roy hardly ever stops smiling. It’s a little creepy, particularly when there are bodies to pick up.
S.3, Ep 1 “The Milliner from Medicine Creek” (October 11, 1953). Millie and her father come to town to open a new hat shop. Pat gets all hot and bothered over the new lady in town, but Dale thinks that she is just a little too smooth. The viewers quickly learn that she is part of a plot to rob a gold shipment.
S.3 E. 2 “Pat's Inheritance” (November 1, 1953). Pat receives notice that he has inherited an old broken down ranch that is reputed to be haunted.