Tales of Wells Fargo

As a child, I watched this series and enjoyed it very much. It had all of the aspects of the old "B" westerns, but the acting and writing was so much better. Dale Robertson made a number of "B" movies in his time and I believe that this series was the best of the group. Up until a few years ago, it was hard to find any of the episodes in this series. So, I am glad that it is now being shown on cable TV and the quality is really better than when I watched them many years ago.

(IMO) - "Tales Of Wells Fargo" was a first-rate TV Western of the late-1950s that was just as entertaining and action-packed as was the ever-popular "Gunsmoke" of that same era in boob-tube history.

Not only did "Tales Of Wells Fargo" clearly have a sizable budget to work with (which really helped to bring honest period authenticity to this production) - But, on top of that - There was also some real intelligent thought put into this program's scripts, as well (which certainly kept the story-lines interesting and believable without being unnecessarily padded by irksome filler scenes).

And, as an added bonus - I, personally, thought that actor, Dale Robertson (who played the character of cowboy/agent, Jim Hardie) was a very welcome asset to the overall success of this particular TV Western from yesteryear.

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.

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.

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.