a new Western as a TV episodic series? discuss

[jefferiestubes8]

I just made a thread over in General Trek
Space Western & Star Trek and was thinking about regular westerns on television.

The closest thing we've had to that is few things:
In 1987, many of the original cast reunited for the TV movie, Gunsmoke: Return to Dodge
Movie number two, Gunsmoke: The Last Apache (1990)

a mini series:
"Lonesome Dove" (1989) (TV mini-series)
"Return to Lonesome Dove" (1993) (TV mini-series)
spawning its own 2 tv episodic series
"Lonesome Dove: The Series" (1994) (TV series)
"Lonesome Dove: The Outlaw Years" (1995) (TV series)
other TV movies
Gunsmoke: To the Last Man(1992), Gunsmoke: The Long Ride(1993), and Gunsmoke: One Man's Justice(1994).

"Peacemakers" (2003) (TV series)

Peacemakers is an American crime fiction television series about forensic science in the Old West. It was filmed in Vancouver in British Columbia, Canada. The show was cancelled after one season of nine episodes.

and then the HBO
"Deadwood" (2004) (TV series) with three 12-episode seasons

I would say we had many elements of a Western TV series with "Jericho" (2006) (TV series).

other than reruns on the premium cable channel
Encore Westerns the only Encore channel currently airing series programming (in this case, classic western series), formerly Westerns

Would a modern American Western drama television series set during the settlement of the American West [pre or post railroads] be possible on TV today?
TNT, AMC, TBS, CBS? 12-episodes?

 

[auntiehill]

Possible, yes. Too expensive for networks to bother with? Definitely.

FX's "Justified" is about as close to an old-fashioned Western as you're going to get right now.

 

[Mr. Adventure]

I don't think you'd see an unadulterated Western but maybe one with some kind of other genre element.

 

[Aragorn]

Westerns on network TV are a very hard sell and aren't cheap to make. Off the top of my head, these were the last of them:

[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oVrZE5Y2lV4[/yt]

[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HdgA-008iiU[/yt]

[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ca4oH6Gvie8[/yt]

[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-9Kb-iC0xcc[/yt]

NED BLESSING: THE STORY OF MY LIFE AND TIMES (credits at 6:29)
[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qeFSALkrB20[/yt]

Couldn't find the intro for Lonesome Dove: The Series.

 

[Aragorn]

Forgot the add the obvious one:

[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o5h052g5-Rs[/yt]

 

[Trilliam]

No, no, no, no, no, oh, please G*d, no!!

I can't stand "Westerns"....not after a childhood where it seemed like every Western ever made, was watched in our house. I swear that the dust under the telly, was from the desert and not regular house dust! I even used to twitch when we went to places like Australiana Village (restored cottages & streetscapes from early colonial days) and "Old Sydney Town" (recreation of the early days of Sydney). Dust, log cabins, horses, stocks....

 

[Nowhere Man]

Unfortunately there is little interest in Westerns from what I can tell. I love Westerns though and would love to see a series. A Mini-series is the way to go. Spielberg's "Into the west" on TNT was cool, but not realy a Western like a shoot em' up.

 

[Harvey]

Well, there was Deadwood on HBO for three years, but judging by the ten episodes I've seen so far, it's not the kind of episodic western the OP wants to see.

 

[auntiehill]

^Which is a shame, because it was probably more realistic than any other Western---not to mention being one of the most brilliant television dramas I've ever seen.

 

[Harvey]

I've definitely enjoyed what I've seen so far. A shame its run was cut short.

 

[Hugo Rune]

I've definitely enjoyed what I've seen so far. A shame its run was cut short.

Trust me, when you get to the end of Season 3 and you realise there is a wonderfully, bleak, desperate end to the show in sight... and then remember there's no Season 4 to watch...

... you might throw an item or two in temper.

On rewatch last year Deadwood climbed to my number 3 TV series of all time, incomplete or not. It's beautiful, dark, adventurous and funny TV. I miss it dearly.


Hugo - God rest the souls of that poor family... and pussy's half price for the next 15 minutes

 

[Gov Kodos]

While I don't think the genre dead, a series would really have to be different to catch my interest. Doing a series about the Buffolo Soldiers http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buffalo_Soldier would be a fantastic western.

 

[Vendikarr]

You won't start to see more westerns until they make a resurgence on the big screen. Get people into the seats to see a western, and then TV will invest.

 

[Dar70]

^Which is a shame, because it was probably more realistic than any other Western---not to mention being one of the most brilliant television dramas I've ever seen.

It was too dark and gritty. It went beyond any reasonable realism. It took many liberties itself. While earlier tv Westerns went one extreme, Deadwood went to the otehr extreme. I would like to see something in between.

 

[scnj]

Considering dark and gritty is currently the 'in' thing, something like Deadwood is likely the best you'll get right now.

Really wish they'd finished it though.

 

[auntiehill]

Well, Deadwood did have its own kind of symmetry:

Spoiler

we meet Al scrubbing the blood off the floor, and we leave Al, again scrubbing blood off the floor. The Sheriff comes in to the town, and at the end the Sheriff loses his job. It all comes full circle--sort of.

 

[RandyS]

Forgot the add the obvious one:

Not to mention the only good one.

I'm no fan of westerns, but I would imagine doing one today would be easier than a new Sci-Fi series.

 

[RandyS]

^Which is a shame, because it was probably more realistic than any other Western

See, this is why the only Western I like is Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman. Great writing and characters aside, it was the first (and most likely only) western to show the real story of America. How our so-called free society systematically destroyed the culture that already lived here. Older shows such as Bonanaza, only portrayed Indians as "the bad guys".

 

[jefferiestubes8]

I'm no fan of westerns, but I would imagine doing one today would be easier than a new Sci-Fi series.

Wow RandyS when you put it like that you are so right.
Based on the discussion of just the Poll: What channel should a new Trek TV series be on? thread that covers many reasons why scifi on television is a risky venture by TV channels obsessed with Nielsen ratings instead of creating a series like HBO does and air the entire series.

I guess I'll have to settle for the every two or three years a Hollywood feature film Western that gets released in August instead of TV like
Open Range (2003)
3:10 to Yuma (2007) [remake]
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007)
There Will Be Blood (2007)

I think I'd rather see a mini-series though than a big-screen feature to be honest. Allow the characters more development time rather than planning for the big climax.

 

[scotpens]

. . . See, this is why the only Western I like is Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman. Great writing and characters aside, it was the first (and most likely only) western to show the real story of America. How our so-called free society systematically destroyed the culture that already lived here. Older shows such as Bonanaza, only portrayed Indians as “the bad guys.”

Have you actually watched any old TV Westerns? Many of them portrayed American Indians in a sympathetic light.

As for Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman, I found its Politically Correct approach absurdly anachronistic. The show frequently dealt with “issues” that simply WEREN'T issues in the 1870s. One critic quipped that he wouldn't have been surprised if the characters had called Indians “Native Americans” and cowboys “cowpersons.”