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I’ll say it upfront: We don’t need more Emmy categories. Between the two Creative Arts Emmy Awards and the Primetime ceremony, there are already 123 awards set to be handed out next month. And that’s just from the L.A.-based TV Academy; New York’s NATAS passes out hundreds more in daytime, children’s & family, news, sports and more. And then there are the local Emmy chapters all over the country, handing out trophies as well.

We live in Peak Emmy times. So take this all with a grain of salt: I do wonder if the 1950s Academy was onto something when it recognized certain scripted genres.

Back during the original Golden Age of Television — generally considered the mid-to-late 1950s — the then-infant medium fielded so many series (and on just three networks!) that the Emmys for scripted series were not just divided into comedy and drama. In...

Before creating Star Trek, Gene Roddenberry worked on a number of shows, but he wrote the most for a Western called Have Gun – Will Travel. In fact, while Roddenberry served as a showrunner for his legendary series, he only wrote fifteen episodes across three seasons, while for Have Gun – Will Travel, he wrote 24 episodes across six seasons.

Roddenberry had worked on Westerns before, after transitioning to a writing career from being a soldier and later a policeman. The writer was known for his adamant vision on his series and had frequently butted heads with studio executives as well as writers over his rules and guidelines for Star Trek. However, the show’s roots can be vaguely found in his previous works.

Gene Roddenberry Wrote 24 Episodes of Have Gun – Will Travel Before Trek Took Off William Shatner in Star Trek | Credits: Paramount

Gene Roddenberry’s hopeful vision for the...

As classic 1950s episodes of “Gunsmoke” make it into the Nielsen streaming rankers, Weigel Broadcasting is capitalizing on the recent western revival by launching West, a new over-the-air broadcast diginet devoted to series like “Gunsmoke,” “Bonanza,” “Maverick,” “Rawhide,” “The Virginian” and more.

West — which stands for “Western Entertainment Series Television” — will launch in fall, initially on Weigel-owned broadcast stations. More carriage deals will be announced at a later date.

“West will be dedicated 24/7 to showcasing the most beloved and iconic classic TV western series, with a massive library of titles that will make this the premier western network on television,” Neal Sabin, vice chairman of Weigel Broadcasting Co., said in a statement. “Featuring compelling story lines and narratives with universal adult appeal, the programs on West promise to transport viewers on an entertainment journey filled with excitement and adventure.”

This will rep the 10th channel created by Weigel, which also programs MeTV,...

Acclaimed actor Lisa Lu, whose storied career spans over 65 years across film, television and stage, will be honored with the 2,811th star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Bestowed the title of a “Living Legend” by the Chinese Government, Lu is a three-time Golden Horse winner whose recent work includes her memorable turn as Ah Ma, the matriarch of Singapore’s richest family in Warner Brothers’ box office hit “Crazy Rich Asians” (2018). Even in her 90s, Lu has maintained an active career, starring in “The Disappearance of Mrs. Wu” (2021), voicing Grandma Bai in the animated feature “Rally Road Racers,” and appearing in multiple episodes of the Hulu series “Death and Other Details” (2024).

Her stage career has been equally impressive, starring in Stan Lai’s epic eight-hour play “A Dream Like a Dream,” playing Lady Bracknell in the Chinese stage production of “The Importance of Being Earnest” at the National Theatre in Taipei,...

Gene Roddenberry was working as a Los Angeles cop in the mid-1950s when he began his writing career. He flew planes in the army during WWII, and famously survived three plane crashes. He was a commercial airline pilot for a spell before joining the LAPD. This is a wild backstory for a TV writer who would become best known for utopian science fiction. By the time he was a cop, "Star Trek" was still about a decade away.

Roddenberry's first writing gigs were, perhaps predictably, for crime shows like "Highway Patrol" and "Mr. District Attorney." For the bulk of the '50s and '60s, he contributed to the hit Westerns of the day, writing 24 episodes of "Have Gun -- Will Travel," and one-offs of "Wrangler," "Whiplash," and "Boots and Saddles." He was a Tinseltown journeyman.

Along the way, Roddenberry wrote several pilots for TV shows that were never picked up.

The television landscape is always evolving with the times, which is why westerns don't exactly make it to primetime television anymore — if at all. But there was a period where venerated networks like CBS would invest in programs such as "The Wild Wild West," "Have Gun, Will Travel," and the Clint Eastwood-starring vehicle "Rawhide." Having grown up in the presence of my father, of whom westerns were as vital as water, I became intimately familiar with most of them.

The titan among these titles, however, was "Gunsmoke," which stayed on the air for an unprecedented 20 seasons as the longest-running western series of all time on any network.

If there's any image that sums up the series' iconography, it's the showdown intro that remained a "Gunsmoke" staple for its first 12 seasons. It set the tone for the kind of peril James Arness' Marshal Matt Dillon would get himself into every week,...

Until the late mid-’60s, Hollywood was governed by the infamous Hays code, which limited writers from exploring more grey figures in the mainstream landscape. But this isn’t to say there were no exceptions to the mold, and long before the likes of Tony Soprano and Walter White dominated the TV screens, we had Paladin.

Have Gun – Will Travel | Credit: CBS

While Gene Roddenberry is synonymous with revolutionizing sci-fi with Star Trek, long before his breakout TV hit, the writer used Have Gun – Will Travel as a vessel for more nuanced social commentary.

The timeless appeal of Gene Roddenberry’s Have Gun – Will Travel

At a time when traditional Westerns were losing steam, Richard Boone’s Have Gun became a major hit, and it’s easy to see why. In contrast to many Westerns at the time, the show didn’t resort to the most notable...

Pilar Del Rey, the character actress perhaps best remembered for her turn in Giant as the Mexican woman who has a seriously ill newborn who grows up to be the doomed World War II soldier played by Sal Mineo, has died. She was 95.

Del Rey died Sunday in Los Angeles of natural causes, her family announced.

Over four decades, Del Rey appeared in such other films as The Ring (1952), starring Rita Moreno; And Now Miguel (1953), starring Michael Ansara and Pat Cardi; The Siege at Red River (1954), starring Van Johnson and Joanne Dru; and Black Horse Canyon (1954), starring Mari Blanchard and Race Gentry.

In George Stevens’ epic Giant (1956), Del Rey portrays Mrs. Obregón, whose baby, Angel, is cared for thanks to Elizabeth Taylor’s compassionate Leslie Benedict. Leslie’s husband, Bick (Rock Hudson), doesn’t think the family doctor should tend to “those people.” (Mrs. Obregón’s husband, played by Victor Millan,...

Olive Sturgess, whose many acting credits through the 1950s and ’60s included numerous TV Westerns and the Roger Corman horror spoof The Raven starring Vincent Price, Peter Lorre, Boris Karloff and Jack Nicholson, died February 19 in Los Angeles. She was 91.

Her death was announced by her family.

Although her TV career included guest roles in such comedies as The Donna Reed Show and Petticoat Junction, her forte was the television Western, a genre that was wildly popular in the ’50s and ’60s. During those years, Sturgess made guest appearances on Cheyenne, U.S. Marshal, Sugarfoot, The Texan, Rawhide, Have Gun Will Travel, Lawman, Buckskin, Rebel, Laramie, Wagon Train, Maverick, The Rebel, Tall Man, Outlaws, Bonanza, Wide Country, Destry, and The Virginian. In 1965 she appeared in the Western feature film Requiem for a Gunfighter.

In an undated interview on the Western Clippings website, Sturgess reflected on the early days of her career.

Of all the great, classic Western television shows out there, it's hard to pick any one of them and label it "the best." So many of them have their merits, after all. Have Gun — Will Travel featured an exceptional lead, and Bonanza was a major hit ahead of its time. The Lone Ranger has maintained a lasting cultural impact, and Rawhide famously gave Clint Eastwood his start. But, of every classic TV Western that aired in the 1950s and '60s, none hold a candle to the impressive nature of Gunsmoke, which ran from 1955 to 1975 on CBS. If you prefer any of the above, don't worry, they can still be loved and enjoyed as they are. But as the most prolific Western to ever grace our television screens, Gunsmoke stands above the rest as the best that classic Western TV has to offer.

Unlike today, annual holiday episodes didn't exist in the same way in the television Westerns of the 1950s and '60s. Though Christmas specials are commonplace now, audiences were lucky to get one or two within an entire TV Western's catalog. Wagon Train and Gunsmoke each had some holiday hours of their own, but Have Gun - Will Travel took a different approach to tackling the Christmas spirit. This one-man Western, starring Richard Boone as the lone gun-for-hire Paladin, thrust its hero to the little town of Bethlehem, Texas for a night he wouldn't easily forget — and we haven't quite forgotten either. If you haven't seen the Have Gun episode "Be Not Forgetful of Strangers," this Christmas is the perfect time to revisit the Old West classic.

Not every television Western, or Western-adjacent series, thrived during the Golden Age of Television in the 1950s and '60s. Though shows like Gunsmoke, Bonanza, Wagon Train, Rawhide, and Have Gun - Will Travel were all popular during this time, plenty of television sagas slipped through the cracks. One such project was the short-lived syndicated series The Gray Ghost, which was cancelled after only 39 half-hour episodes. But what was The Gray Ghost about, and why was it so controversial? Well on top of the subject being centered around a Confederate soldier, the timing for the show just wasn't right.

Of all the Western television classics out there, Have Gun Will Travel stands out as one of the most memorable. Following the gunslinger Paladin (Richard Boone) as he wanders the open trail, the series often surprised us with its nuanced and thoughtful take on standard Western problems. But one of the best things about Have Gun Will Travel that has stuck with us over half a century later was the show's iconic opening. While the tune itself might not be as memorable as, say, Rawhide's or Bonanza's, it powerfully sets the stage for this lone rider's adventures across the Old West. There's no Western opening quite like it.

Before he created Star Trek, Gene Roddenberry worked as a freelance writer for a plethora of different programs beginning in the mid-1950s. But back then, the American Western was the most popular genre on television, which meant that Roddenberry wrote a few gunslinging tales in his day. Between hour-long and half-hour-long programs, there was almost always a Western on one of the Big Three television networks, and one of the most popular of the age was Have Gun - Will Travel. The six-season television series starred Richard Boone (from The Tall T) and ran from 1957 until 1963, telling just about every traditional Western tale you could imagine. Roddenberry wrote his fair share of those stories himself, which made their own mark on his more popular science-fiction series.

Jack Hogan, who most famously played Pfc William G. Kirby on ABC’s WWII-set series Combat!, died in his sleep Wednesday, December 6, according to the curator of an online community dedicated to Combat! He was 94.

Hogan played Pfc Kirby on 111 episodes of the long-running drama opposite Rick Jason, Vic Morrow and Pierre Jalbert. Robert Altman directed many episodes of the show, which was on the air from 1962-1967. It was not unfamiliar terrain: Hogan had been a staff sergeant in Japan during the Korean War.

Combat! was far from Hogan’s only credit.

He made his debut in the 1956 Anthony Quinn-starrer Man From Del Rio, Hogan worked steadily. He had multiple-epsisode arcs on The Rough Riders, Have Gun – Will Travel, Sea Hunt, Lock Up, Bat Masterson, The Lawman and The Rifleman.

After Combat!, Hogan worked steadily for the better part of the next three decades. His credits during...

Update, with DGA statement: Elliot Silverstein, who directed Jane Fonda and, in an Oscar-winning performance, Lee Marvin in the 1965 comedy-Western Cat Ballou, died Nov. 24 in Los Angeles. He was 96.

His death was announced by family members.

Born August 3, 1927, in Boson, Silverstein launched his directing career during television’s 1950s on such programs as Omnibus and the Alfred Hitchcock-produced mystery series Suspicion, Silverstein stayed busy with episodic series throughout the 1960s. Among his credits from the era: Route 66, Have Gun – Will Travel, Naked City, Dr. Kildare, The Defenders and four episodes of The Twilight Zone, including the fan-favorite, Rod Serling-penned 1961 installment titled The Passersby, a mournful ghost story set at the end of the American Civil War.

Lee Marvin in ‘Cat Ballou’

Silverstein’s TV career would continue, sporadically, through the 1990s when he directed four episodes of Tales From The Crypt and an episode of Picket Fences,...

Robert McCall is not a man with whom one should trifle. This much was evidenced in the first two Equalizer films, where the titular villain-dispatcher McCall (as exceptionally portrayed by Denzel Washington) doles out violent justice against the wicked who would seek to take advantage of those less fortunate. Thus, fanatics know The Equalizer sets the wrongs to rights and lets the bad guys know that even if they get away with it for now, they won't get away with it forever!

Denzel Washington was first tapped for great things after Hollywood watched him bring dusty Shakespeare to life in Much Ado About Nothing (1993). Washington's acting chops, having thus been demonstrated, the entertainment industry wished to see him in more action-oriented roles. Yet Denzel is keen to not overstay his welcome, as has been seen by the has-beens such as Steven Segal and his endless, low-budget, direct-to-video fare. But...

Captain America's iconic shield, made of vibranium alloy, is a powerful weapon and tool. However, in a surprising turn of events, a little-known hero named Paladin was able to counter its offensive abilities. Paladin, despite being an obscure and overlooked character in Marvel, has proven to be ruthlessly effective and has stood toe-to-toe with some of Marvel's top heroes. He defeated Captain America in single combat by using an intelligent Emf emitter to nullify the shield's attack. Paladin is a mysterious figure with superhuman strength, reflexes on par with Captain America, and extensive espionage training. He is a "hero for hire" who only fights for money. Despite his questionable motives, he has shown genuine honor by leaving a lucrative opportunity to keep a mythical spear out of the wrong hands.

Nothing in Marvel is more representative of the Stars and Stripes than Captain America's trademark shield, but this versatile...

History repeated itself last week when actors went on strike at the same time as writers, who have been picketing for more than two months. This is only the second time in the history of the industry that both guilds have halted work simultaneously, with advancements in technology at the root of their cause, and it’s been 63 year since that event shook Hollywood. Today, writers and performers are fighting for their fair share of residuals in a world that has now largely turned to streaming services, and to protect their work from being taken over by AI, whereas in 1960, they were fighting for residuals from reruns and theatrical films being shown on a relatively new medium — television. Let’s turn back time and flashback to life during that history-making time of the 1960 strikes.

The WGA began their strike on January 16, 1960, followed by the actors strike on March 7. Future United...

Finis Dean Smith, a stuntman regular in John Wayne Westerns who turned to Hollywood after becoming an Olympic gold medalist, died Saturday. He was 91.

Smith was born in Breckenridge, Texas and began his athletic career competing in track and field competitions, earning All-American status in the 100-meter dash in 1952.

He went on to win varying athletic championships, culminating in his inclusion on Team U.S.A. as a member of the 4×100-meter relay team at the Helsinki Olympics, where he would win the gold medal. Following his graduation from University of Texas at Austin, Smith would play for the Los Angeles Rams and Pittsburgh Steelers for a few years ahead of his career in the entertainment industry.

Working as a stuntman, Smith was a part of several Oscar-winning Western films, including “True Grit” and “How the West Was Won,” in addition to “The Quick and the Dead,” “El Dorado” and “Rio Lobo.

Once the biggest genre in movies and TV, the western has experienced a renaissance in recent years, in large part thanks to the neo-western sub-genre. Neo-westerns adapt the core elements of westerns into new settings, some in the present day and others even in a fantastical science fiction world. The themes of westerns are incredibly versatile and have even found fresh life in expansive franchises.

Related: Best TV Shows Similar To Succession

Neo-westerns have proven popular in part because they continue to expand on some of the best tropes in fiction, from the gunslinger archetype to frontier justice. The genre's unique concepts for heroes, villains and settings all make for very fertile ground for great action, intense drama, and beautiful settings. Taking the basic morality tales from shows like Have Gun - Will Travel and Gunsmoke and placing modern-day complexities onto them, neo-westerns have the ability to create a sense...

Although “Schmigadoon!” is now campaigning for this year’s Emmys as a scripted variety series, its cast members can still be nominated as comedic actors. According to Gold Derby’s odds, the performer most likely to score a supporting bid for the Apple TV Plus program’s second season is Jane Krakowski, who plays the show-stopping role of singing lawyer Bobby Flanagan. With Best Comedy Supporting Actress notices for “30 Rock” and “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt” already under her belt, she could now make Emmys history as the first actress to be nominated in the same category for regular performances on three different continuing series.

SEEApple TV+ musical-comedy hit ‘Schmigadoon!’ moves from comedy series to scripted variety series category

Krakowski, who earned her four “30 Rock” nominations between 2009 and 2013 and her sole “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt” bid in 2015, could now become one of the 12 most-recognized actresses in her category. She is currently...

It was announced today that controversial actor Robert Blake has died at the age of 89. His niece, Noreen Austin, confirmed that he died at his Los Angeles home after a longtime battle with heart disease. Blake was best known for his roles in Richard Brooks’ adaptation of Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood, David Lynch’s Lost Highway, and for starring in the 1970s detective series Baretta.

Robert Blake got his start as a child actor, appearing as Mickey in forty installments of MGM’s Our Gang short films. He also played Little Beaver in twenty-three installments of the Red Ryder film series. He also appeared in The Treasure of the Sierra Madre as a young Mexican boy who sells a lottery ticket to Humphrey Bogart. Although many child actors can’t transition to adult roles, Blake managed to pull it off. His biggest break came with In Cold Blood,...

The Star Trek franchise is more popular than it has ever been, but many don't know that The Original Series actually had two pilot episodes. Starting with the unaired pilot "The Cage" in 1965, Tos had a long road to the small screen that involved shooting an entirely new pilot episode that saw most of the cast completely replaced. Though this hiccup seemed to spell doom for the sci-fi experiment, it was actually proof that the concepts devised by Gene Roddenberry had the strength to stand the test of time and were worth the investment in an unprecedented second chance pilot.

Pilot episodes in the 1960s were crucial for the success of a series, and they were presented to executives as a full-length proof of concept that a show could work. "The Cage" was Roddenberry's first attempt to present the world of Star Trek, but it had a totally different cast...

Christmas is truly the gift that keeps on giving for the television business and for viewers.

Dating back to the 1940s, there have been nearly 2,500 TV episodes and specials with Christmas themes according to a list on Wikipedia. Sitcoms have provided the most content with 813 episodes dating back to 1952.

For the variety show treatment, Perry Como got things rolling with the first of his The Perry Como Chesterfield Supper Club — Christmas Special in 1948. Old Blue Eyes himself joined the party in 1950 with The Frank Sinatra Show: Christmas Show in 1950. The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show’s Gracie’s Christmas dropped that same year.

Sitcoms and dramas followed soon thereafter. CBS crime drama Suspense (“Dancing Dan’s Christmas”) aired in 1950. NBC’s Dragnet (“The Big .22 Rifle for Christmas”) and CBS’ Racket Squad (“The Christmas Caper”) followed in 1952. Amos ‘n Andy (“The Christmas Story”) and The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet...

Paramount Global, flexing its corporate synergy muscles, is pulling a massive batch of TV shows out of the CBS vault and putting them on its free, ad-supported Pluto TV service.

Popular CBS classic series coming to Pluto’s linear streaming service through the end of 2022 include “Frasier” and “Cheers” (in the Sitcom Legends channel); “Star Trek: The Original Series” and “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine” (Star Trek channel); “Have Gun – Will Travel” and “The Wild Wild West” (Westerns TV channel) and “Petticoat Junction” (Classic TV Comedy channel).

On the on-demand side, Pluto is adding more than 6,300 episodes — tripling the amount of CBS series currently available on-demand on the streamer — including crime dramas “Criminal Minds” and “Hawaii Five-o.”

Other titles on tap for Pluto TV’s on-demand include “Beverly Hills 90210,” “The Brady Bunch,” “Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman,” “Everybody Hates Chris,” “Family Ties,” “Gunsmoke,” “Laverne & Shirley,” “The Love Boat,...

Director Gary Nelson, whose credits include live-action Disney films like "The Black Hole" and the original "Freaky Friday," as well as numerous TV episodes, has died of natural causes at the age of 87. Nelson's son confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter on Friday that Nelson had passed away in his Las Vegas home several months ago, on May 25, 2022, though the news is only just now coming to light.

Nelson was born in Los Angeles on October 6, 1934, and he first came up in Hollywood as an assistant director. Among his earliest credits are the classic James Dean film "Rebel Without a Cause" and Joseph L. Mankiewicz's 1955 film adaptation of the Broadway musical "Guys and Dolls," both of which were nominated for multiple Academy Awards. He followed this up with further Ad work on two more Oscar-nominated Westerns, "The Searchers" and "Gunfight at the O.K. Corral," before crossing over into television.

TV Work...

Burt Metcalfe, the revered TV producer who worked on all 11 seasons of “Mash,” died July 27 in Los Angeles. He was 87.

Metcalfe was an actor turned director-producer who was recruited to work on “Mash” by director Gene Reynolds, who launched the series adaptation of Robert Altman’s 1970 black comedy released by 20th Century Fox. Metcalfe started out as an associate producer and rose to showrunner for the show’s final six seasons. He also directed 31 episodes of the series’ 251 installments.

Reynolds, who was with “Mash” through the 1976-77 season before moving on to the helm of CBS’ “Lou Grant,” died at age 96 in February 2020.

The CBS series adaptation defied low expectations for movie adaptations and became pop culture touchstone of the 1970s and early ’80s. Set during the Korean War, Alan Alda starred as Col. Franklin “Hawkeye” Pierce, a cynical surgeon with a heart of gold who helped run a mobile...

Tommy Morgan, a harmonica soloist who contributed to hundreds of movie and TV shows including “Roots” and “Dances With Wolves,” died June 23. He was 89.

Morgan played on film soundtracks and record dates going back to the early 1950s. His estimated 7,000 recording sessions, according to statistics on his website, suggest that more people have heard his harmonica work than that of any other player of the instrument.

That’s Morgan’s harmonica on Quincy Jones’ “Sanford and Son” theme, Mike Post’s “Rockford Files” theme and the scores for numerous shows including “Maverick,” “The Waltons,” “The Dukes of Hazzard,” “China Beach,” “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” and “Family Guy.”

He played on the Emmy-winning score for “Roots” and its sequel, “Roots: The Next Generations.” And his bass harmonica was the signature sound of Arnold Ziffel, the pig on “Green Acres.”

In addition, Morgan played on dozens of classic films including “Seven Brides for Seven Brothers,...

Josh Brolin has spent his career pushing the narrative boundaries of the West.

Roles in resurgent Westerns such as “No Country for Old Men” and “True Grit” fortified the Oscar nominee’s place in the genre’s recent canon. His first major TV role was on ABC’s 1989 series “The Young Riders,” about the Pony Express.

The year prior to “Riders,” Brolin spent 24 hours believing he’d get his big break on CBS’ “Lonesome Dove” miniseries, having been cast as Newt, an orphan in the West, alongside his all-time favorite actor Robert Duvall. But the day after getting the role, the network pulled the offer, citing a contractual obligation to eventual star Rick Schroder.

“It was the greatest moment of my life,” Brolin recalls. “It is still the most elated I’ve ever felt about anything work-related and then it left as quickly as it came. I was absolutely freaking devastated.

James Olson, who starred opposite Joanne Woodward in 1968’s Rachel, Rachel, played a surgeon investigating a deadly alien organism in the 1971 sci-fi classic The Andromeda Strain and survived the notorious Broadway flop Breakfast at Tiffany’s starring Mary Tyler Moore that closed before it opened in 1966, has died. He was 91.

His April 17 death at his home in Malibu was reported by the Malibu Times.

Hollywood & Media Deaths In 2022: Photo Gallery

A familiar character on television and in film for four decades before retiring in 1990, Olson received his first national exposure in the title role of Kraft Theatre‘s 1956 TV installment The Life of Mickey Mantle, following up that high-profile performance with guest appearances throughout the decade and into the 1960s among them Robert Montgomery Presents, Have Gun – Will Travel, Playhouse 90, Route 66, The Defenders and The Magical World of Disney.

His breakthrough film role came in 1968 with Rachel,...

James Best, who played the memorable Sherrif Roscoe P. Coltrane on the hit TV series The Dukes of Hazzard, passed away yesterday at the age of 88 from complications of pneumonia. The actor played Roscoe P. Coltrane, the longtime rival to the Duke brothers, on all seven seasons of The Dukes of Hazzard, which ran from 1979 to 1985.

The actor was raised in Indiana and ended up moving to New York after serving in World War II. He found work as a fashion model which lead to him being discoverd by a casting agent. He became a contract player for Universal Pictures. He appeared in a number of films throughout the 1950s such as Winchester '73 alongside James Stewart and The Cimarron Kid with Audie Murphy. He ended up working in both TV and film throughout the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, appearing in notable episodes of The Twilight Zone, Wagon Train and Have Gun - Will Travel,...

Stuntman and Burt Reynolds director Hal Needham dead at 82: Received Honorary Oscar in November 2012 Veteran stuntman and stunt coordinator Hal Needham, whose stunt-work movie credits ranged from John Ford Westerns to Roman Polanski’s Chinatown, and who directed a handful of popular action comedies starring Burt Reynolds, died today, October 25, 2013, in Los Angeles. Needham, who had been suffering from cancer, was 82. (See also: "Stunt Worker Hal Needham: Honorary Oscar 2012".) Born in Memphis, Tennessee, on March 6, 1931, Hal Needham began his long Hollywood stuntman career in the mid-’50s. A former tree trimmer and paratrooper, and a motorcycle and car racer, Needham performed stunts in both big-screen and small-screen Westerns, such as John Ford’s 1962 classic The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, starring John Wayne and James Stewart; the all-star 1963 Best Picture Academy Award nominee How the West Was Won; and the television series Have Gun - Will Travel, doubling for star Richard Boone.

Michael J. Fox had well-known TV parents during his "Family Ties" days. Now, he has a new pair.

The five-time Emmy winner returns to series work when NBC launches "The Michael J. Fox Show" Thursday, Sept. 26. Though they aren't in the debut, his new on-screen parents will turn up soon enough: Candice Bergen and Charles Grodin will guest-star as the parents of New York TV newscaster Mike Henry (Fox), with the potential for the characters to become recurring.

It won't be the first time the two actors have worked together, though it certainly has been a while. In the 1974 caper movie "11 Harrowhouse," they played a romantically involved couple entangled in a scheme to steal all the gems stored at England's Diamond Exchange -- check out the picture below for a blast from the past. Grodin and Bergen also have "Saturday Night Live" hosting gigs in common.

Of course, Bergen has...

CBS continues its old TV show DVD rollout with the final season of popular western show Have Gun - Will Travel (divided up into two separate volumes with 16 episodes a piece). Long before the days of Craigslist, the “knight without armor” Paladin (Richard Boone) is a hired gun eager to seek out justice on behalf of paying clients in the San Francisco area in the late 1800s. This popular series aired from 1957-1963 before spawning its own popular radio show and managing to rack up a couple Emmy nominations.

The series’ scope is solely focused on this white knight of the west. Each half-hour episode follows his chivalrous quests to right whichever wrongs his clients require.

Read more...

The only thing CBS loves more than reviving old series is the police procedural, so to combine the two must be an exciting prospect indeed.  As such, the network as given the greenlight for a series based on the movie Beverly Hills Cop, which originally starred Eddie Murphy as a quippy Detroit detective Axel Foley who moves to Los Angeles. The new series will not move far from its roots -- not only will Murphy reprise his role for the pilot (at least, if not more), the TV show will pick up where the movie franchise left off, this time focusing on Foley's son.  In an interesting addition, The Shield creator Shawn Ryan will serve as showrunner, which could give the series more weight.  For more on the project, hit the jump. As we reported recently, Murphy has wanted a storyline focused on Axel Foley's son for some time.  After...

Since CBS cancelled his series “The Unit” in 2009, David Mamet hasn’t had a lot brewing on the small or big screen -- his last feature-length film was the 2008 Mma drama “Redbelt.” But the acclaimed playwright has some new television work in the pipeline in the form of a reboot of the classic western series “Have Gun - Will Travel.” There’s been talk about a reboot of the 1957 CBS series before, with one of the stranger takes being an Eminem-starring film set in the modern day, but it looks like the network was impressed enough by Mamet's pitch that they’ve put the project into development, with Mamet to write it and possibly helm the pilot. The original series followed Paladin, a Civil War veteran and top-notch gunfighter who becomes a “gun for hire” and scours the west looking for situations that required his particular expertise. He “preferred to...

Westerns have been coming back into fashion lately (in fact, they're hotter than a whorehouse on nickel night!), from Deadwood's run a few years ago to the more current Hell On Wheels and Justified, and CBS is looking to get in on the action.  The network has teamed up with David Mamet (Glengarry Glen Ross)  to create a revival of Have Gun - Will Travel, which originally aired on CBS from 1957-63. Have Gun, which ran for six seasons, was a huge ratings success for CBS, solidifying Richard Boone (who played Paladin) as a star, and also spawned a popular radio show.  If the reboot goes to series, it will go alongside Vegas, another CBS Western starring Dennis Quaid (The Day After Tomorrow) and Michael Chiklis (The Shield). For more on the series and why it's likely to be a helluva hog-killin' good time, hit the jump. CBS joins other broadcast networks in developing Westerns,...

CBS is developing a reboot of its late 50's/early 60's western series "Have Gun - Will Travel" says Deadline. David Mamet will write and direct the potential pilot, and will executive produce the series with Elliott Webb.

Richard Boone starred in the original series as 'Paladin', a top-notch gunfighter who preferred to settle problems without violence but stood his ground when provoked.

The original series spawned a successful radio version and one of the main writers was Gene Roddenberry, the man who went on to create "Star Trek".

Mamet previously worked with CBS on his only TV series to date - the military drama "The Unit".

CBS tried to reboot another late 50's western, "The Rifleman", last year. That project however never made it to pilot.

Hope you're hungry, because we have a heaping helping of TV Snacks today. Enjoy 'em while they're hot!

Dallas Roberts ("The Good Wife," "Rubicon") is joining "The Walking Dead" as Milton, who, unlike most of the characters inspired by Robert Kirkman's comics, is wholly original to the TV series. "Milton is the details guy," Kirkman tells EW, "[who] works with the Governor...He's not exactly a scientist, but he's a smart guy that is trying to find out how zombies behave. Watching him do his little experiments is going to be a lot of fun." [EW]

Our favorite serial killer reunites with his long-lost stepchildren -- Astor anyway -- in the second half of "Dexter's" Season 7. Christina Robinson, who plays Rita's angsty daughter, was photographed with Michael C. Hall filming a beach scene in Los Angeles. "Dexter" returns to Showtime Sept. 30. [The Insider]

Two more Brits have joined the ever-expanding Season 3 cast...

David Mamet is gunning for a hit with his next project. Mamet is heading up a reboot of the classic TV western "Have Gun - Will Travel," which is being developed by CBS via a script order. Mamet will write and executive-produce the project, with Elliott Webb also executive-producing. Also read: CBS and Chris Columbus to Reboot "The Rifleman" The original series, which ran on CBS from 1957 to 1963, starred Richard Boone as gentleman gunfighter Paladin. CBS has expressed interest in a number of gunslinger-themed projects of late. In addition to the 1960s-era...

Playwright, Oscar-nominated screenwriter, essayist and occasional angry person David Mamet has a new TV project in the works. According to The Hollywood Reporter, CBS has made a script deal with Mamet for a reboot of the 1957-1963 Western "Have Gun - Will Travel." The original series was created by Sam Rolfe and Herb Meadow and starred Richard Boone as the San Francisco gunfighter Paladin, who had high-class taste but was still a total badass despite a slightly frou-frou taste for chess symbolism. "Have Gun - Will Travel" ran for 225 episodes, one of which was written by Sam Peckinpah, and 24 of which were written by "Star Trek" creator Gene Roddenberry. A potential movie remake has been bouncing around in development for a while, first with John Travolta attached to star and later Eminem. Mamet will serve as writer and executive producer on the reboot, and he'll direct a pilot if one's ordered.

CBS is looking to reboot Have Gun - Will Travel with two-time Oscar-nominated writer David Mamet at the helm. The network has made a script deal for the CBS TV Studios-produced Western, which originally aired on CBS from 1957-63. During its six-season run, the drama starring Richard Boone as Paladin not only delivered top-five ratings but also spawned a successful radio show. If ultimately ordered to series, Have Gun could join Vegas, an upcoming Western starring Dennis Quaid and Michael Chiklis, on CBS' schedule. The genre generated heat last year at this time, with many of

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Tuesday marked thirty years since the untimely passing of Warren Oates. The great, grizzled actor's work has fallen somewhat out of fashion these days -- few, bar perhaps Quentin Tarantino, name Sam Peckinpah or Monte Hellman, Oates' closest and most frequent collaborators, as influences. If you're familiar with him at all, it's likely from his parts as outlaw Lyle Gorch in "The Wild Bunch" or as Sgt. Hulka in Bill Murray comedy "Stripes." But for a time in the 1970s, Oates was Hollywood's go-to badass character actor, a man who everyone from Norman Jewison and William Friedkin to Steven Spielberg and Terrence Malick wanted to work with.

Born in Depoy, Kentucky in 1928, Oates discovered acting at the University of Louisville, and soon headed west to L.A. where he swiftly became a regular face in the golden era of TV westerns, including parts on "Rawhide," "Wanted: Dead or Alive," "Have Gun - Will Travel...

Some of you may be too young to remember The Last Dinosaur. Others of you are old enough to remember seeing it when it first aired in 1977 or the million times it ran in syndication throughout the Eighties. Now everyone can get reacquainted with this cult favorite that has dwelled in obscurity for too long thanks to the Warner Archive.

A joint production between Rankin/Bass (the makers of such classic Christmas specials as "Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer") and Tsuburaya Productions (the creators of "Ultraman"), The Last Dinosaur was originally scheduled to be a theatrical release but ended up premiering as an ABC TV movie in 1977. The subsequent repeat airings and limited VHS release have all been of the 90-minute TV cut. The Warner Archive just released 16x9 full frame print contains the never before seen in the Us 106-minute theatrical cut.

“It eats meat! Us!!” "It" is a Tyrannosaurus,...

The weekend’s here. You’ve just been paid, and it’s burning a hole in your pocket. What’s a pop culture geek to do? In hopes of steering you in the right direction to blow some of that hard-earned cash, it’s time for the Fred Weekend Shopping Guide - your spotlight on the things you didn’t even know you wanted…

(Please support Fred by using the links below to make any impulse purchases - it helps to keep us going…)

While it’s not the equal of How To Train Your Dragon, I really did dig Dreamworks latest CG-animated flick, Mastermind (Dreamworks, Rated PG, Blu-Ray-$49.99 Srp), which concerns itself with the titular supervillain in a world that’s forever been tilted in favor of his superheroic contemporary since their births on nearby dying worlds, Metroman. But then Mastermind succeeds in killing his rival, leaving him in control of Metro City…...

American actor Bruce Gordon has passed away just days after the death of his The Untouchables co-star Paul Picerni.

The 94 year old, who lived in Santa Fe, New Mexico, died last Thursday after a long illness, according to Santa Fe Funeral Options, a local funeral home.

The news comes just a week after his TV colleague Picerni suffered a fatal heart attack at his home in Llano, California.

Gordon made his Broadway debut in 1937, playing several small roles in The Fireman's Flame. His other Broadway credits include Arsenic and Old Lace, Medea, Richard II, The Lark and Nowhere to Go But Up.

His television career kicked off in the 1940s, with guest appearances on several U.S. series, including I Spy, Have Gun - Will Travel, Gunsmoke, Perry Mason, Bonanza and Police Woman, among others.

In the late 1950s, he was the host of espionage docudrama Behind Closed Doors, and in the 1960s he enjoyed a recurring role on Peyton Place.

But Gordon will perhaps be best remembered for his role as mob boss Frank Nitti on classic 1960s U.S. TV series The Untouchables.

His feature film credits include Love Happy (1949), The Buccaneer (1958) and Tower of London (1962).

Information on Gordon's survivors was not made available as WENN went to press.

Oakland — Just in time for the holiday season, the Gravy has arrived.

Saint Misbehavin’: The Wavy Gravy Movie opens up in various theaters across America at the start of December. Wavy Gravy is an icon with an ever changing career. He’s gone from the legendary Merry Pranksters to the head of security at the original Woodstock to running a respected charity and finally achieving international greatness as a flavor of Ben and Jerry’s ice cream. The many facets of his life are covered in the documentary directed by Michelle Esrick.

We had a chance to sit down for an extensive interview with Wavy Gravy and Michelle Esrick when the movie premiered at 2009’s Full Frame Documentary Film Festival.

This first part has him discuss getting drunk with Jack Kerouac (On the Road) and dropping acid at the Electric Acid Kool-Aid Tests. Ahhh good times.

Now we get...

Emmy Award-winning television and film director Lamont Johnson has died after suffering heart failure. He was 88.

Johnson passed away at his home in Monterey, California on Sunday.

He won critical acclaim for his controversial U.S. television works, including 1970 series My Sweet Charlie, which explored interracial relationships, 1972's That Certain Summer, which took a look at homosexuality, and 1981 series Crisis at Central High, about America's civil rights movement.

He also directed episodes of Have Gun - Will Travel, Peter Gunn, The Twilight Zone, Naked City and The Defenders, in addition to helming films including 1973's The Last American Hero, starring Jeff Bridges.

Johnson, who received 11 Emmy nominations during his 40-plus years directing, won in 1986 for his work on Wallenberg: A Hero's Story, a miniseries about Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg.

In 1989 he won another Emmy for Gore Vidal's Civil War drama Lincoln, starring Sam Waterston.

Johnson is survived by a son and daughter, three grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.

 

Hey everyone! I hope everyone had a fun and safe 4th! I went and saw Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time and I Loved it! Can't wait for it to come out on DVD. Anywho let's move on to this week's releases. Here are the highlights of the week.

 

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Journalist Mikael Blomkvist (Michael Nyqvist) and rebellious computer hacker Lisbeth Salander (Noomi Rapace) team up to investigate the unsolved disappearance of wealthy Henrik Vanger's (Sven-Bertil Taube) teen niece (Ewa Fröling), only to uncover dark secrets about Vanger's powerful family. Niels Arden Oplev directs this Swedish thriller based on the first novel from Stieg Larsson's best-selling trilogy.

Starring: Michael Nyqvist, Noomi Rapace

Director: Niels Arden Oplev

*You can play this in English as well*

From what I have heard this movie is amazing! I can't wait to watch it. I had it on my...