Il virginiano

"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.

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.

Compared to other Westerns, the Virginian was a latecomer to British television screens. Preceding it from the late 1950s were Cheyenne, Wagon Train, Rawhide and the like. Initially, all were shown in black and white on very small screens. Although the Virginian was novel in being 75 minutes long and in colour, the team which created it seems to have come from the former era. Blips overlooked in monochrome stand out like a sore thumb in colour, particularly now, when played on the huge screens we have in our homes.

Watching Seasons 3 and 4 (on DVD) for the first time in 50 years, and catching up on Seasons 1 and 2 on Freeview, I was intrigued by the contradictions. There was the ambitious use of acting royalty like Bette Davis and George C Scott, and yet for interior shots, the scenes of the outside world as seen through open doorways, are painted backdrops which look amateurish.

Given my love of Westerns, it's surprising just how unengaged I was initially with the Shiloh regulars. Betsy was close to my age at the time but I didn't identify with her at all. It's like when you read a novel - there needs to be a character with whom you can empathise, one you trust to lead you into the story. For me, that did not happen until Season 3 when Emmett Ryker rode into town. The experience was like Guy Fawkes night, the fireworks those of wit and humour. It was such a clever script. In those days, with no internet to consult, there was no way of finding out if he would appear the following week. There were no video recorders either so if you missed a programme that was it - gone. But he did become a regular, and therefore so did I.

Why Ryker? Sure, Clu Gulager is easy on the eye, but being handsome doesn't necessarily make a person or a character attractive. He was intriguing. Ryker's awkward childhood, his chequered history, are laid bare in that first episode, giving his character instant depth. You understand how his experiences have sharpened his survival instincts and his intellect. At a turning point in his life, he hits the ground running, inner conflict hot wired into him. The mystery is not who he was in the past but who he is going to become in the future as he takes on the role of upholding the law he was sometimes on the wrong side of. In later episodes the scriptwriters refrained from throwing him into doomed love affairs like the ones Doug McClure and James Drury had to endure, which was another huge plus.

With Gulager driving the performance, Ryker is never, ever boring. He had two good years on the Virginian, but then when Season 5 opened on tv, he just wasn't there. For weeks and weeks he was a no show. My interest in watching dwindled and I sought solace with Manolito Montoya over at the High Chaparral. I never went back. Until now.

Watching The Virginian episodes again, knowing how little time the actors and production team were given to create them, it's truly amazing what they managed to achieve. Season 3 in particular is very good. But the gruelling schedule must have taken a toll because from Season 4 onwards, the turnover of regular cast members is constant. Some long absences and disappearances remain unexplained which, with time invested following the story arcs of certain characters, can be frustrating for the viewer. If you've never see the Virginian before, you could do worse than start with Season 3 and see where you want to go from there.