The Deputy

At best I could only give "The Deputy" (1959-1961) an average, 5-star rating - 'Cause I found that this TV series was pretty mediocre viewing (for the most part).

About the only time that I thought that "The Deputy" actually showed any real promise was when actor, Henry Fonda was not physically present in the story.

Yeah. I thought that Fonda (as Marshal Simon Fry) was about as drab and dreary as you could ever possibly imagine an actor to be (in a pivotal role).

In fact - I'd actually go so far as to say that Fonda's stale and tired performance pretty much ruined my enjoyment of this TV Western in a really big way. Yep. It sure did.

I really liked this series. I which they would no more shows like this. Allen Case is great. I know most of these actors are gone. But I think we need more show like this.

Beware. The DVD cover presented by IMDb and the DVD from Amazon.com are not from this series. Legendary Lawmen is a different series. The Deputy has not been released on DVD or VHS as of September 1, 2006. Some of the episode copyrights were renewed by Universal City Studios, Inc., which now is owned by the National Broadcasting Company (NBC), which is owned by General Electric (GE).

Also, the program music theme by Jack Marshall is under copyright so even if some episodes are in public domain, the theme music is under copyright. There were seventy-six episodes produced by Top Gun Productions.

I recently saw one of the episodes from the series and I had the chance to recorded it,being this will a rare opportunity you'll see Henry Fonda is his only TV series. One interesting part about the show: Fonda was the Marshal who was in charge of law and order in the Arizona Territory of the 1800's as Simon Fry. He always had a deputy beside(who was a storekeeper and lawman as well)him to bring in criminals who broke the law and brought them to justice in the old west. The show was a huge hit when ran on NBC from 1959-1961,when Fonda was still cranking out feature films and starring in a TV series during that time. One note about the show: Fonda also had a second partner helping him out as well,if you catch some of the episodes you'll see a boyish looking Kent McCord(long before he became Officer Malloy on Adam-12 years later)which is rarely seen nowdays. But if you do,it will be a opportunity to catch a great Hollywood actor in one of his best and only TV series that produced 78 episodes and produced by Revue Studios,the same studio that produced the westerns "Wagon Train", "Shotgun Slade",and "The Virginian";the crime shows "Johnny Staccato", "M Squad",and the situation family-friendly comedies "Leave It To Beaver","Bachelor Father",not to mention the anthology drama series "Alfred Hitchcock Presents".

The Deputy had a fatal gimmick to start with when it debuted on television in 1959. It's star was to be movie legend Henry Fonda who played a US Marshal. But note the title of the series, the one who carried the show for the most part was his deputy in one particular town in his jurisdiction, Allen Case.

Case was a storekeeper in the town so the deputy's job was a part-time gig. He was not a violent man, only resorting to firearms when he absolutely had to. For action fans this was a big no no.

But in plain fact it was Fonda's name that lured viewers to the show and he only appeared in maybe a third of the episodes and in some only brief appearances. So people tuned in for Fonda and didn't get him.

This was a busy period in Henry Fonda's life, he was working in three different mediums, stage, screen, and television. My guess is that he didn't have the time to devote to a weekly television series and opted for this format. After two seasons The Deputy was canceled.

It was an average television western, but the next time Fonda did a regular TV series it was as a full time star.