Re: Hangtown - from ron moore So is it going to be set in the real Hangtown (since renamed Placerville) in the Sierras? Early 1900s? Meh, all the fun is over by then. There are too many Westerns popping up all over. How about one drama set during the Civil War instead? Doesn't even have to be battle-focused if that blows the budget. Also, somebody should do a series or miniseries about the life of John C. Fremont. He was an interesting guy.
We know how Titanic ended, but that didn't stop them from making a couple of movies and now a TV series anyway. At least a Civil War series covers something that lasts more than 2 1/2 hours. How are they going to do a 12-part miniseries about it? Trace the construction of every last bolt and rivet back to the origin of its constituent molecules in some supernova 10 billion years ago?
I've been wondering about the return of the TV western. NPR did a poll not too long ago about cancelled TV shows people would most like to see return to the air. The top 2 vote getters were Deadwood & Firefly.
Re: Hangtown - from ron moore What do you mean the fun is over? Besides The Wild Bunch there are a number of good westerns set in the early 1900s: The Professionals, Ride the High Country, The Shootist. Most "modern" Westerns I've liked have not really been "lawman" stories: Hud, Rancho Deluxe, Junior Bonner. But Lone Star was great, as was Clint Eastwood's A Perfect World, though that might be stretching the definition of Western. If a contemporary Western series on the level of Justified came along, I'd be all for it. I certainly wouldn't object. I thought the recent movie The Conspirator was quite good and it had only one short combat scene at the beginning to establish a character. There was plenty going on in the Civil War era to make a good drama. --Justin
California was gettin' pretty tame and civilized-like by the turn of the last century. And since the real Hangtown is in California, I figure that's where the show will be set. Hangtown was really rip-roaring during the Gold Rush, which started in 1849. I'd like to see a show that is closer to that date. And now that I've seen several episodes of Justified, I see it's not really a Western at all. The lead character dealt with his lousy childhood by adopting the values and mannerisms of the characters in TV Westerns, which is kind of interesting. But he's not on the frontier - he's in his own home state, dealing with family and childhood issues. That's very atypical of Westerns. People in Westerns aren't supposed to be dealing with all that family baggage - the whole point of throwing them into the frontier is that they can start fresh, re-create themselves, be mysterious and have no past (and maybe no name). Justified is a very well acted and well written cop show/character-based drama but has nothing to do with Westerns.
Looks like NBC wants in on the bandwagon for sure: NBC Hoping For Another Bonanza: Buys Western Project from Company of Emmy-Winning Actor NBC's project: Watching the premiere of Modern Family this week set at a dude ranch near the Grand Tetons was amazing looking. All shot on location in Wyoming. I can't wait for new Westerns shot outdoors. The current digital cameras really can handle the high contrast locations. via Deadline Well this is very promising. ABC, NBC and further up Wild, Wild, West remake for CBS? 3 networks are developing Westerns! A project from Friday Night Lights alums was mentioned further up the thread.
I saw that news story. Shrinks vs. Cowboys? Sure, sounds like it could be fun. I guess the networks are sick of shoehorning cop show stuff into sf/f and are now shoehorning cop show stuff into Westerns.
Re: the rifleman Can't believe we're discussing "the Rifleman" and no one's mentioned this comic book cover yet.
Speaking of Bonanza, a few years ago my dad and I caught the original version's first ep on a cable channel. Man, that show was originally DARK. Pa was an almost Eastwoodian badass, telling the boys to shoot people who threatened the ranch down in cold blood.
"Tales of the Frontier" on askmilton.tv "Tales of the Frontier" global tv network on the Internet: http://askmilton.tv/ click on ON DEMAND click on Tales of the Frontier 3 episodes up already Here is an article on where it is shot: Local film team set to debut Western series Each episode is about 9 minutes. 9x13 = 117 minutes so like a 2 hour movie altogether. well after skimming 2 episodes it looks low budget and you can hear the wind on the boom mic so it sounds low budget. At least they have horses in it.