The Oregon Trail (TV series)
The Oregon Trail is an American western television series that aired on NBC from September 21 until October 26, 1977, starring Rod Taylor as widower Evan Thorpe who leaves his Illinois farm in 1842 to take the Oregon Trail to the Pacific Northwest. The show also stars Andrew Stevens, Tony Becker, and Gina Marie Smika as Thorpe's children. Darleen Carr stars as Margaret Devlin, one of the passengers on the wagon train, and Charles Napier portrays Luther Sprague, a frontier scout recruited by Thorpe. The series was filmed in the Flagstaff, Arizona area.[1]
| The Oregon Trail | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Western drama |
| Created by | Samuel A. Peeples Michael Gleason |
| Written by | E. Jack Neuman Nicholas Corea |
| Directed by | Bill Bixby |
| Starring | Rod Taylor Andrew Stevens Darleen Carr Charles Napier Tony Becker Gina Marie Smika |
| Opening theme | "Oregon Bound" performed by Danny Darst |
| Composer(s) | Don Costa |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language(s) | English |
| No. of seasons | 1 |
| No. of episodes | 13 (7 unaired) |
| Production | |
| Producer(s) | Carl Vitale Michael Gleason Richard Collins |
| Running time | 60 minutes |
| Production company(s) | Universal Television |
| Release | |
| Original network | NBC |
| Picture format | Color |
| Original release | September 21 – October 26, 1977 |
Cast
- Rod Taylor as Evan Thorpe
- Andrew Stevens as Andy Thorpe
- Gina Marie Smika as Rachael Thorpe
- Darleen Carr as Margaret Devlin
- Charles Napier as Luther Sprague
- Tony Becker as William Thorpe
Episodes
NBC cancelled the show after six episodes, but the remaining seven episodes were later aired on BBC 2 in the UK,[2] and the entire series was shown in the UK on BBC1, from November 1977 to January 1978.
| No. | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original air date | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| TVM | "The Oregon Trail" | Boris Sagal | Michael Gleason | January 10, 1976 | |
| 1 | "Hard Ride Home" | Burt Brinckerhoff & Herb Wallerstein | Michael Gleason & Eugene Price | September 21, 1977 | |
| 2 | "The Last Game" | Herb Wallerstein | Eugene Price | September 21, 1977 | |
| 3 | "The Waterhole" | Virgil W. Vogel | Teleplay by: Nicholas J. Corea Story by: Parker Browning | September 28, 1977 | |
| Guest stars: Lonny Chapman and Kim Hunter | |||||
| 4 | "Trapper's Rendezvous" | Hollingsworth Morse | Teleplay by: Nicholas J. Corea Story by: William Kelley & Robert Boxberger & Nicholas J. Corea | October 12, 1977 | |
| Guest star: Claude Akins | |||||
| 5 | "The Army Deserter" | Herb Wallerstein | Teleplay by: Eugene Price Story by: Stanley Roberts & Eugene Price | October 19, 1977 | |
| Guest stars: Clu Gulager and Kevin McCarthy | |||||
| 6 | "Hannah's Girls" | Don Richardson | Nicholas J. Corea | October 26, 1977 | |
| Guest star: Stella Stevens | |||||
| 7 | "Return from Death" | Richard Benedict | Teleplay by: Robert Pirosh Story by: John W. Bloch | UNAIRED | |
| 8 | "The Scarlet Ribbon" | Bill Bixby | Teleplay by: Nicholas J. Corea Story by: E. Jack Neuman | UNAIRED | |
| Guest stars: Richard Jaeckel, Donna Mills, Bill Bixby and William Shatner | |||||
| 9 | "The Gold Dust Queen" | William Wiard | Richard Collins | UNAIRED | |
| Guest star: Susan Howard | |||||
| 10 | "Return of the Baby" | Alan J. Levi | Teleplay by: S.S. Schweitzer Story by: Lester William Berke & S.S. Schweitzer | UNAIRED | |
| Guest stars: Kim Darby and Gerald McRaney | |||||
| 11 | "Evan's Vendetta" | Paul Stanley | Nicholas J. Corea & John Austin Based on a novel by Burt & Budd Arthur | UNAIRED | |
| Guest star: William Smith | |||||
| 12 | "Suffer the Children" | John C. Champion | Teleplay by: Robert Hamilton Story by: Norman Jolley & Richard H. Bartlett & Robert Hamilton | UNAIRED | |
| Guest star: Robert Fuller | |||||
| 13 | "Wagon Race" | Lewis Allen | Elizabeth V. Wilson | UNAIRED | |
| Guest stars: Mariette Hartley and Andrew Prine | |||||
Production
The series followed another western-themed program, The Life and Times of Grizzly Adams on the NBC Wednesday schedule. The Oregon Trail aired at 9 p.m. Eastern opposite the CBS Wednesday Night Movie and ABC's detective series, Charlie's Angels. Michael Gleason was the executive producer; Richard Collins, the supervising producer; and Carl Vitale, the producer for NBC Universal Television. Bill Bixby directed two episodes. The series pilot aired on January 10, 1976.[1] Terry Wilson (Bill Hawks in Wagon Train) served as production supervisor on the series, and series stars Rod Taylor and Charles Napier co-wrote the theme song, "Oregon Bound", with singer Danny Darst.
The budget for the series was a reported $380,000 an episode.[3]
Home media
On April 13, 2010, Timeless Media Group (TMG) released the show on six DVDs, running 750 minutes. The set includes 14 original episodes, including the feature-length pilot and the six episodes that did not air on NBC.[4]
References
- Alex McNeil, Total Television, New York: Penguin Books, 1996, 4th ed., p. 629
- "The Oregon Trail". CBS Interactive. Retrieved January 11, 2013.
- Stephen Vagg, Rod Taylor: An Aussie in Hollywood (Bear Manor Media, 2010) p198
- Lambert, David (March 12, 2010). "The Oregon Trail - The '70s NBC Show Starring Rod Taylor Comes to DVD with Unaired Episodes". TV Shows on DVD. TV Guide Online. Archived from the original on April 27, 2015. Retrieved April 20, 2015.