The Californians (TV series)
| The Californians | |
|---|---|
 Adam Kennedy as Dion Patrick with Maria Tsien. | |
| Starring |
Richard Coogan Art Fleming Herbert Rudley Sean McClory Adam Kennedy Carole Mathews Nan Leslie |
| Theme music composer |
Harry Warren Harold Adamson |
| Opening theme | "I've Come to California" |
| Country of origin | United States |
| No. of seasons | 2 |
| No. of episodes | 69 |
| Production | |
| Running time | 30 minutes |
| Release | |
| Original network | NBC |
| Picture format | Black and white |
| Original release | September 24, 1957 – May 26, 1959 |
The Californians is a half-hour Western television series, set during the San Francisco gold rush of the 1850s, which was broadcast by NBC from September 24, 1957, to May 26, 1959, for 69 episodes.
Cast
Adam Kennedy starred in the first year in early episodes as Dion Patrick, an Irish newspaperman who helps the local vigilante committee. Season one episodes also featured Sean McClory as store owner Jack McGivern, who headed the vigilante committee and Nan Leslie as his wife, Martha McGivern. Early season one episodes featured Herbert Rudley as newspaper editor Sam Brennan but Jack McGivern later took over the newspaper. Due to sagging ratings, Richard Coogan was brought in in later season one episodes; his introduction boosted ratings, and led to the departure of Kennedy and McCrory. In season two, Coogan stars as Matthew Wayne, a sheriff and then marshal who organizes the city police, courts a young widow, Wilma Fansler, portrayed by Carole Mathews, and clashes with an ambitious attorney, Jeremy Pitt, played by Art Fleming, later the original host of "Jeopardy!". At the end of season two, Matt departs when the vigilante committee becomes active again, and the last episode has James Coburn as Matt's cousin, Anthony (Pittsburgh) Wayne, taking over as deputy marshal and series lead; however, the show was not renewed for a third season.
Episode list
- Nº = Overall episode number
- Ep = Episode number by season
Season 1: 1957–58
| Nº | Ep | Title | Original air date |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | "The Vigilantes Begin" | September 24, 1957 |
| 2 | 2 | "All That Glitters" | October 1, 1957 |
| 3 | 3 | "The Noose" | October 8, 1957 |
| 4 | 4 | "The Avenger" | October 15, 1957 |
| 5 | 5 | "The Search for Lucy Manning" | October 22, 1957 |
| 6 | 6 | "The Lost Queue" | October 29, 1957 |
| 7 | 7 | "The Regulators" | November 5, 1957 |
| 8 | 8 | "Man from Boston" | November 12, 1957 |
| 9 | 9 | "The Barber's Boy" | November 19, 1957 |
| 10 | 10 | "The Magic Box" | November 26, 1957 |
| 11 | 11 | "Little Lost Man" | December 3, 1957 |
| 12 | 12 | "Strange Quarantine" | December 10, 1957 |
| 13 | 13 | "Truce of the Tree" | December 17, 1957 |
| 14 | 14 | "The PO 8" | December 31, 1957 |
| 15 | 15 | "The Coward" | January 7, 1958 |
| 16 | 16 | "Panic on Montgomery Street" | January 14, 1958 |
| 17 | 17 | "China Doll" | January 21, 1958 |
| 18 | 18 | "Mr. Valejo" | January 28, 1958 |
| 19 | 19 | "The Alice Pritchard Case" | February 4, 1958 |
| 20 | 20 | "The Man from Paris" | February 11, 1958 |
| 21 | 21 | "The Duel" | February 18, 1958 |
| 22 | 22 | "Sorley Boy" | February 25, 1958 |
| 23 | 23 | "Gentleman from Philadelphia" | March 4, 1958 |
| 24 | 24 | "The Marshal" | March 11, 1958 |
| 25 | 25 | "Death by Proxy" | March 18, 1958 |
| 26 | 26 | "The Street" | March 25, 1958 |
| 27 | 27 | "J. Jimmerson Jones, Inc." | April 1, 1958 |
| 28 | 28 | "Skeleton in the Closet" | April 8, 1958 |
| 29 | 29 | "Pipeline" | April 22, 1958 |
| 30 | 30 | "The Foundling" | April 29, 1958 |
| 31 | 31 | "Second Trial" | May 6, 1958 |
| 32 | 32 | "The Inner Circle" | May 13, 1958 |
| 33 | 33 | "The Golden Bride" | May 20, 1958 |
| 34 | 34 | "Murietta" | May 27, 1958 |
| 35 | 35 | "Shanghai Queen" | June 3, 1958 |
| 36 | 36 | "Bridal Bouquet" | June 10, 1958 |
| 37 | 37 | "Golden Grapes" | June 17, 1958 |
Season 2: 1958–59
| Nº | Ep | Title | Original air date |
|---|---|---|---|
| 38 | 1 | "Dishonor for Matt Wayne" | September 23, 1958 |
| 39 | 2 | "Mutineers from Hell" | September 30, 1958 |
| 40 | 3 | "Lola Montez" | October 7, 1958 |
| 41 | 4 | "A Girl Named Sam" | October 14, 1958 |
| 42 | 5 | "The Salted Gold Mine" | October 21, 1958 |
| 43 | 6 | "Overland Mail" | October 28, 1958 |
| 44 | 7 | "Prince of Thieves" | November 11, 1958 |
| 45 | 8 | "Hangtown" | November 18, 1958 |
| 46 | 9 | "Dangerous Journey" | November 25, 1958 |
| 47 | 10 | "Halfway House" | December 2, 1958 |
| 48 | 11 | "The Painless Extractionist" | December 9, 1958 |
| 49 | 12 | "Old Sea Dog" | December 16, 1958 |
| 50 | 13 | "The Long Night" | December 23, 1958 |
| 51 | 14 | "The Man Who Owned San Francisco" | December 30, 1958 |
| 52 | 15 | "The First Gold Brick" | January 6, 1959 |
| 53 | 16 | "The Painted Lady" | January 13, 1959 |
| 54 | 17 | "Bella Union" | January 20, 1959 |
| 55 | 18 | "Crimps' Meat" | January 27, 1959 |
| 56 | 19 | "Corpus Delicti" | February 3, 1959 |
| 57 | 20 | "A Turn in the Trail" | February 17, 1959 |
| 58 | 21 | "Wolf's Head" | February 24, 1959 |
| 59 | 22 | "Cat's Paw" | March 3, 1959 |
| 60 | 23 | "Gold-Tooth Charlie" | March 10, 1959 |
| 61 | 24 | "Stampede at Misery Flats" | March 17, 1959 |
| 62 | 25 | "Guns for King Joseph" | March 24, 1959 |
| 63 | 26 | "Deadly Tintype" | March 31, 1959 |
| 64 | 27 | "A Hundred Barrels" | April 21, 1959 |
| 65 | 28 | "The Fugitive" | April 28, 1959 |
| 66 | 29 | "The Fur Story" | May 5, 1959 |
| 67 | 30 | "One Ton of Peppercorns" | May 12, 1959 |
| 68 | 31 | "The Bell Tolls" | May 19, 1959 |
| 69 | 32 | "An Act of Faith" | May 26, 1959 |
Guest actors
- Charles Aidman
- Frank Albertson
- Chris Alcaide
- John Anderson
- John Archer
- R.G. Armstrong
- Whit Bissell
- Robert Blake
- Willis Bouchey
- Edgar Buchanan
- James T. Callahan
- James Coburn
- Mike Connors
- Hans Conried
- Russ Conway
- Robert O. Cornthwaite
- Ted de Corsia
- Robert L. Crawford, Jr.
- Frank Dekova
- Troy Donahue
- John Doucette
- Douglass Dumbrille
- Douglas Fowley
- Robert Fuller
- Bruce Gordon
- Don Haggerty
- James Hong
- Russell Johnson
- Allyn Joslyn
- Robert Karnes
- Stacy Keach, Sr.
- Tommy Kirk
- Gail Kobe
- Michi Kobi
- Keye Luke
- Patricia Medina
- Don Megowan
- Gerald Mohr
- Robert Osborne
- J. Pat O'Malley
- Stafford Repp
- Addison Richards
- Carlos Romero
- Vito Scotti
- James Seay
- Arthur Space
- Bob Steele
- John Sutton
- Ray Teal
- Joan Tompkins
- Sammee Tong
- Audrey Totter
- Lurene Tuttle
- James Westerfield
- Peter Whitney
- Jean Willes
- Marie Windsor
Production notes
The Californians theme song was composed by Harry Warren, with lyrics by Harold Adamson, entitled "I've Come to California". Ken Darby, of the Ken Darby Singers, did some of the musical composition for the series.
The Californians had competition from The West Point Story, which was broadcast by the American Broadcasting Company, and The $64,000 Question by CBS. In its second season, the western competed with The Garry Moore Show on CBS and the crime/police reality show Confession, hosted by Jack Wyatt, on ABC.[1]
References
- ↑ 1957–1958 and 1958–1959 American network television schedules.