Tales of Wells Fargo

This isn't really a review, but it's the only way I can share. My grandmother, Evelyn Stevens, once worked for a clothing corporation named Blue Bell. Maybe one word, I'm not sure, the company doesn't exist anymore. I live in Goshen, IN, and there used to be a branch in nearby Nappanee according to my mother, but Nana lived in Commerce, GA. She sewed the jacket Dale Robertson wore in the season 1 and 2 intros. Not the one where he was kissing the girl, the one he has on the horse and in the gunfights. The jacket was denim and had Nana's operator tag sewn into the lining. She never bragged to me about this. I know it only because of my mother sharing with me at Nana's funeral.

Watching the first five b&w, 30 minute episodes was pure classic TV Western fun. Dale Robertson is Wells Fargo's special agent, Jim Hardy. Things go south in season 6 when the show expands to 60 minutes and color. Extra regular cast members are added, including William Demarest, Uncle Charlie from My Three Sons and a sidekick named, Bo. Not sure why the changes, but the series became silly and pointless. If The Big Valley had not come out a few years later, I would think they were trying to imitate that show.

Leave it to NBC they bought tales of Wells Fargo which ran for 5 years and was a nice neat 30 minute show. Crisp writing single character show that was well written and had a very good start. Then NBC got their hands on it. Made it an hour long split the story up with 7 people , moved the location to a horse farm and somehow decided a great them music need to be change to something that put you to sleep. Watch the first five seasons and skip this 1061 stew of whatever they made. What a great idea reminds you of a giant company buying a smaller successful one because of a great product they want then changing the ingredients or quality to try and make even more money and destroying what they bought.

The Western Encore channel has only just recently begun to show "Tales of Wells Fargo" here in January of 2016. I haven't watched this black and white cowboy show since it originally aired on network television back in the late Fifties and early Sixties. I must admit that I am really enjoying watching Dale Robertson as the Wells Fargo special agent or troubleshooter. The show brings to mind "Have Gun, Will Travel." Hardie, like Paladin, is a man who would rather use his wits and wiles before resorting to his fists or weapon. Like Paladin, Joe Hardie, travels all over the west and into Canada, tracking down highway agents, frauds and thieves.

The western-adventure series "Tales of Wells Fargo" premiered on NBC's Prime Time schedule as a mid-season replacement on March 18,1957 where it became one of the network's biggest hits that started in a era filled with television Westerns. Out of the 200 episodes that this series produced only actor Dale Robertson(who played special agent Jim Hardie for Wells Fargo) was with the series throughout it's entire six season run in all 200 episodes. Out of the 200 episodes only Seasons 1 through 5 produced only 166 black and white episodes that ran 30 minutes in length(with commercials)airing from March 18,1957 until July 10,1961. Only the first five seasons aired on Monday nights in prime time at the 8:30 eastern/7:30 central time slot where it produced 166 black and white episodes. In the sixth and final season of the series saw a change in production when NBC moved "Tales of Wells Fargo" from Monday nights to Saturday nights to an earlier time slot where the show expanded to a full hour and was what NBC would say "The Following Program Is Brought To You In Living Color" and this time new cast members were added. The sixth and final season which moved to Saturday nights at the 7:30 eastern/6:30 central time slot where 34 color episodes were produced airing from September 30,1961 to June 2,1962.

"Tales of Wells Fargo" was the brainchild of creators Frank Gruber and Gene Reynolds where Nat Holt served as executive producer of the series and was produced by Earle Lyon and Al C. Ward which produced a total of 200 episodes airing from March 18,1957 until June 2,1962. Actor William Demarest(later of "My Three Sons" fame)joined the cast in the final season of the series. "Tales of Wells Fargo" as a series was a well written satisfying western that followed the exploits of special agent Jim Hardie, agent for Wells Fargo who served during the first five seasons as narrator/agent and later on became a rancher while still protecting the law and order for Wells Fargo.

Big name directors from Earl Bellamy, Sidney Salkow, R.G. Springsteen, to William Witney, Christian Nyby, William F. Claxton, to George Waggner, Boris Segal and Gene Nelson contribute to some of the great episodes. Writers were Samuel A. Peeples, James Brooks, Gene Reynolds, Dwight Newton, D.D. Beauchamp, Ken Pettus, Barney Slater, Jack Turley, Sam Peckinpah, Frank Price, to Louis L'Amour and A.I. Bezzerides. "Tales of Wells Fargo" was produced by Revue Studios(the same studio that brought you "Wagon Train" and "The Virginian") for NBC Television.

The guest star roster consisted of Chuck Connors, Michael Landon, Hugh Beaumont, Robert Vaughn, Dan Blocker, James Coburn, Claude Akins, Denver Pyle, Jack Elam, Edgar Buchanan(who appeared in six episodes). Other guest stars were Nick Adams, Charles Bronson, Eddie Albert, John Dehner, Royal Dano, Martin Landau, Simon Oakland, Jan Merlin, Celia Kaye, to Jack Nicholson, Paul Fix(who appeared in six episodes), Buddy Ebsen, to Ray Teal, Lee Van Cleef among others.