Die Leute von der Shiloh Ranch

"The Virginian" was without a doubt one grand amazing ambitious series which made use of its first class actors and some of the most magnificent piece of location Technicolor photography ever assembled for a brilliant television series which kept its viewers tuned in for 90 minutes during the impressive nine seasons that it stayed on the NBC-TV network from its premiere in 1962 until its final episode in 1971.

Based on the classic novel by Owen Winsler,the series is set on the Shiloh Ranch in the Wyoming Territory of the 1800's and the goings on within the town of Medicine Bow. In its early years,and within the first five seasons,the series had five main characters:Judge Henry Garth(Lee J. Cobb),the owner of the Shiloh Ranch,which was a great big cattle ranch in Wyoming who was also the not only the town Judge but the District Attorney as well;his innocent young teenage daughter Betsy (Roberta Shore);the Virginian(James Drury),his heroic foreman Trampas (Doug McClure),and the assistant ranch hand Steve(Gary Clarke). The relationship between these five individuals,as they were developed and testing were providing the most affecting and amusing moments,and later on during this series new characters would be added on to provide support. It was also during the early years of the show that "The Virginian" was rise to the top of the Nielsen ratings,and to anyone's surprise rack up several Emmy nominations for actors Lee J. Cobb and James Drudy not to mention the show's theme song for musical composer Percy Faith. During its initial run,the show was always in the top ten and it stood shoulder to shoulder among the television Western giants like "Gunsmoke","Bonanza",not to mention "Rawhide",and the courtroom drama "Perry Mason".

The series gave us strong,intelligent stories,which could be either tragic or light-hearted,and most often the direction was either imaginative,and sometimes even poetic,but still this series was one action-packed show full of unexpected excitement and breathtaking suspense along with some comedical support in some of the episodes which were directed with excellent timing by some of the best in the business. However,throughout its entire run,only actors James Drudy and Doug McClure stayed on the series until the final episode in 1971. As for the special guest stars on this series,this show had them,and some of them appear in either one or two episodes within the 90 minute time frame. In some of the episodes you got to see Hollywood greats like Bette Davis and Lee Marvin and in some episodes you get Charles Bronson, James Coburn,Richard Anderson,Telly Savalas,Arthur Hunnicutt,John Dehner,David Hartman,Lee Majors,Pippa Scott,Stewart Granger,Diane Baker, Inger Stevens,Harry Morgan,Brian Keith,George C. Scott,Pete Duel,Hari Rhodes,Harrison Ford,and the list of the guest star roster goes on and on with very familiar actors doing the "Stagecoach" routine each week.

As the series went on the issues of the day were very informal subjects ranging from injustice,racial prejudice,individual responsibility and the necessary for compromise were explored,and during the final years of the series the name of "Shiloh" came to stand for something for the virtues of tolerance,compassion,and courage and optimism as well the respect of mankind were the objectives of the day,and this show delivered the goods. Compared to other Western shows of that era,"The Virginian" was well acted and for one,it had a lot of heart and like other shows it knew exactly when to call it quits beforehand. Most recently,this series is now on The Hallmark Channel,and for those who never seen this series,it is a worth seeing every weekend where Hallmark shows back to back episodes of this series. Not to missed!

NOTE:"The Virginian" was produced by Revue Studios/Universal Television and it produced an astounding 249 episodes,all in color during its impressive nine year run on the NBC Network.

Good series, it's sad it's been kinda forgotten. It's easy to write it off as another 'Bonanza' knockoff-Big Valley, High Chapperell, for example, but it wasn't that, not at all. In one episode, you get to see Lee J Cobb, Richard Anderson, Harry Morgan, Arthur Hunnicutt and a host of other Very familiar character actors doing the 'Stagecoach' routine-while McClure, Drury and co weren't exactly chopped liver either.

It had heart, it was well acted and was on forever. I would watch this over Bonanza any day.

*** outta ****

With no less than the presidential imprimatur of Theodore Roosevelt on the novel by his good friend Owen Wister, many consider The Virginian to be the first realistic western novel. Before that the rather discredited prose of people like Ned Buntline dominated the field and none of their 'literature' survives today.

This television series takes the basic characters of The Virginian, Trampas, Steve, and Molly Wood from the novel and makes them all friends. The guys are foreman and his two best buddies all working at Shiloh Ranch. They're played by James Drury, Doug McClure, and Gary Clarke. Pippa Scott plays Molly Wood, school teacher in the novel, but in the TV series newspaper editor of the Medicine Bow periodical. The Shiloh ranch is owned by Judge Garth who lives there with his daughter Roberta Shore.

That's how it started but regulars came and went. The Shiloh ranch changed hands first to John McIntire and his real life wife Jeanette Nolan. Later on it went to Stewart Granger and the series changed its name to Men Of Shiloh as the women regulars were all eliminated. And we never learned what The Virginian's real name was or his past as in the novel.

The Virginian had the distinction of being the first 90 minute series on television. It must have been grueling shoot, it's like shooting several feature films in a year. It also had some name guest stars like that other series from Revue Productions Wagon Train.

The Virginian ran for 9 seasons before NBC pulled the plug. But in that time it gave us good and memorable television western shows.

This was an ambitious series, which made use of first class actors and magnificent location photography.

In its early years the series had five main characters: Judge Garth, owner of Shiloh, a great cattle ranch in Wyoming; his innocent young daughter Betsy; the Virginian, his heroic foreman; and two likeable ranch hands, Trampas and Steve. The relationships between these five, as they were developed and tested, provided the most affecting and amusing moments.

The series gave us strong, intelligent stories, which could be tragic or light-hearted, and often the direction was imaginative, sometimes even poetic. Issues such as injustice through prejudice, individual responsibility and the necessity for compromise were explored, and 'Shiloh' came to stand for the virtues of tolerance, compassion, courage and optimism. Compared with earlier Western series, The Virginian was amazingly deep yet subtle.

As the series ran on over the years it created a hopeful vision of a society slowly progressing towards order and peace.

I first saw the Virginian in England in the 1960s. It became my favorite Western series. The characters were honest, likable and honorable. The acting was good and the stories were compelling and well written. The show also seemed more subtle and complex than the average western series. The stories usually had a moral message and the good guys always came out on top.James Drury, Doug McClure and Lee J.Cobb were all excellent.

The Virginian came from a time when American TV shows were very popular in the UK.During the 1960s and 1970s we tended to see a lot of American shows in prime-time in Britain, but that changed in the 1980s. This show is being shown on Encore and I'm enjoying watching it in color for the first time.