One of my favorite western series hit the air in 1989 and ran for three seasons. It concerned the fictionalized accounts of the Pony Express and was called The Young Riders (1989-92). There weren’t many westerns on the airways in the 80s and 90s, but along with The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr., this one was one of the best. It joined a number of bigger-than-life authentic western figures such as Wild Bill Hickok and Buffalo Bill Cody with characters cut from whole cloth, and besides the usual quota of western action, gunfights, Indians and so forth, it focused on the relationships between those characters and other folks who came into their lives, and did it well. Sometimes the characters even got killed when you least expected it.The show starred Stephen Baldwin (younger brother of Alec) as Cody, Josh Brolin as Hikock and character actor Anthony Zerbe as the irrepressible Teaspoon Hunter. It was created by Ed Spielman and took place in Nebraska in the days leading up to the Civil War.
The pilot was shot in California but once ABC picked up the series it moved to Arizona (which looks a whole lot like Nebraska, right?) and the series broke new ground as Don Franklin became the first black actor to hold a starring role in a TV western, portraying a black cowboy, instead of a slave. It also included a young woman who, in the show, passed herself off as a male to ride with the Pony Express, presenting some pretty humorous comic relief moments, especially during a skinny dipping scene in an early episode.Cinematography and location shooting gave the show more of a movie feeling than TV series, and while the ratings were somewhat dismal in the first season (it picked up in the second, winning its timeslot, but still hovered the 50s), the show quickly garnered a small but loyal following. It wound up compared to the awful Young Guns but was far better. A particularly touching episode found Teaspoon falling in love with a French piano teacher, who turned out to be a thief.
The Young Riders didn’t last a long time, though longer than CBS’s Magnificent Seven offering, but as I was just starting out writing westerns at the time, it inspired me to go beyond the superficial trappings of the genre and delve more into the people who lived in the Old West. The first season is available on DVD. With Josh Brolin as the lead in the soon to be released western, Jonah Hex, now would be a great time to give it a try.
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5 comments:
Oh my... I didn't think I would ever know anyone else who knew of this show. lol!
It is funny because I lived in Tucson when they were filming this and I met Stephen Baldwin. I just didn't know who he was because I didn't watch the show until I met my first husband who is in two episodes. (One episode he's just a picture, the other he's actually in the scenes.)
I worked at a Pizza Hut when Stephen came in. I think he appreciated my not knowing who he was, he thanked me profusely for not making such a fuss and being up front with him when I told him I certainly could not get a pizza out that fast (10 mins) because it would still be raw and he'd get sick. lol! Love the post!
I enjoyed this show. Especially because of Anthony Zerbe, who's good in everything he does.
This sounds good. As far as I know this didn't cross the pond (I checked this out with the kids who thought I meant 'Young Guns' - but there you go).
By the sound of things a hunt for the DVD collection will be on my to do list.
Hi Ray! I'm told the 1st season was indeed released in England, so you may be in luck.
And here I thought I was the only one who watched it. In fact, I purchased the first season a while back on DVD from Amazon and lent it to some teenage girls. They didn't want to give it back to me:) I guess they thought those young riders were pretty hot.
I don't know why they don't try another western on tv. They certainly don't have any competition these days, what with all the stupid reality shows. I'm beginning to thing they just don't want to put out the money to hire writers.
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