The Adventures of Champion

One of the big producers of TV westerns in television's first decade was the first of those singing cowboys Gene Autry. Among the shows he produced besides his own was Annie Oakley, The Range Rider, Buffalo Bill Jr., and this one starring his horse Champion.

Unlike Roy Rogers for whom there was only one Trigger, Autry had about four or five versions of his steed at the ready for movies, personal appearances and in this case a television series.

The Adventures Of Champion had the bad luck to debut when Autry was gradually getting out of television when G rated cowboys were being replaced by the adult western. It also had the bad luck to debut around the same time as a boy/horse show in a modern western setting named Fury was winning viewers on Saturday morning.

According to a recent biography of Gene Autry, Public Cowboy Number One, Gene originally offered the adult father figure role to one of his fellow singing cowboys Monte Hale. However Hale turned the role down because he didn't like being billed under the horse in the credits and the role of the sheriff went to Jim Bannon.

The cast as it finally rounded out was young Barry Curtis who lived with his uncle Jim Bannon and made a friend of the unrideable Champion which was the exact same premise that Fury had. For good measure young Curtis had a Rin Tin Tin German Shepherd dog in Rebel.

It was a nice kids show, but it certainly wasn't as memorable in the consciousness as Fury was.

Damn Right he will.

I remember this series with a lot of affection, "Champion The Wonder Horse" as it was released in the U.K heralded the beginning of the weekend and a whole heap of action for my 6 yr old mind.

Living in London, and not even having a pet the wild adventures of Ricky, Champion, Ricky's Dog and Uncle Sandy (who never seemed to do anything, but always had a pearl of wisdom for the end credits) were a staple of Saturday morning's.

Basic adventures but ones that fired the imagination. Baddies would be trying to sell worthless land by shooting gold dust into the ground, but Ricky and Champ would foil their plans, hiding from baddies Ricky would put a branch on Champ's tail to wipe away Hoof print's and would generally save the day. Which is what most kids at that age would love to do.

Light and harmless entertainment that was truly innocent, a great series and where is the DVD!

Welcome to easy-viewing TV from yesteryear.

Set in Southwestern America (during the 1880s) - The Adventures Of Champion" (1955-1956) tells of the exciting times of 12-year-old Ricky North who (throughout his daily activities) often relies heavily on the loyal support from his pals, Champion (the Wonder Horse) and Rebel (his faithful and ever-resourceful German Shepherd).

Staying on his Uncle Sandy's sprawling ranch, Ricky's day frequently turns out to be the ultimate adventure that most boys of his age only dream about.

One of those classic gems of 50's made American TV. Innocent and wholesome, the bad guys wore black hats, the good guys wore white hats and the kid, the horse and the dog saved the day ! Brilliant. Period.

This is still great to watch episodes of via YouTube today.

Great stuff.