My husband sits for hours and watches that show and other 60’s-70’s westerns on TV. He says nothing else is fit to watch.
I have the first four seasons of The Virginian on dvd.
Actually I have almost all of the great westerns from the late 50’s through the 60’s.
We’ve been watching Rawhide every night for the last 2 weeks and just started the second season last night.
As a little kid who missed the first few episodes, I do remember wondering why the show was named after the foreman, and how Trampus got his name. Thanks for answering a question I never thought about getting answered.
Drury quote:
“The girl always had to die at the last minute, so I could be involved with another lady in the next show. There were lots of love stories.”
Now CBS is essential when one want's to See Bull S***.
I grew up on the TV westerns and having to listen to Gunsmoke (on the radio Sunday evenings), when we were traveling home from visiting relatives two states away. And I remember having an adolescent crush on Sugarfoot (Will Hutchins).
Please tell me he didn’t have a “chrome” plated Colt SAA. It had better have been nickel plated like all genuine Colts. I would think the Virginian would know the difference.
Babe Paley didn’t like westerns or the hilarious Beverly Hillbillies or Green Acres. Not that she watched any of them but her pals complained.
TV has never recovered!
My great-great-great-grandfather went to Oregon on the Oregon Trail in 1852 and lived on a farm a few miles from Salem.
We came back from overseas in 1969 and I wondered why TV changed so quickly.
I guess CBS and the other lemming networks got tired of being the adults in the room, and started showing trash.
The show was popular in West Germany under the title “Die Leute von der Shiloh Ranch” (the people from the Shiloh Ranch).
Thanks for posting great piece.
I remember that program...goodness, I’m getting old.
(Great article, thanks.)
The Virginian fell victim to the “rural purge” of 1969-1971, when shows such as Green Acres, Andy Griffith and the Beverly Hillbillies, with their rural settings, were replaced by shows with urban settings that spewed liberal-leftist propaganda such as Mod Squad and All in the Family.
RALPH COMPTON
Thanks for the post.
L
***the “rural purge” of 1969 to 1971.***
I remember that. Many a good TV show for
Flyover Country disappeared, including comedies aimed at more mature and aged audiences.
It was said the new shows were designed for the hip urban youth with MONEY to spend.
It also came on the tail of the Bobby Kennedy assassination and TV shows began to do away with gunfighter movies and westerns as they were accused of “glorifying violence”. Adult Westerns (still safe for kids) like GUNSMOKE were dumbed down to kiddie shows.
He Haw was another one. it was a hit in Texas and other parts of Flyover country but failed to gain an audience in the ONLY TWO AREAS THAT MATTERED back then. New York and California. So it was dropped like a hot rock and went into syndication where it remained on for years.
bookmark
Very interesting story & The Virginian was a great show. We still watch the reruns.
I’ve met him a few times. He has come to the Memphis Film Festival several times. It specializes in old Western movies and TV shows.