WHAT WAS THE BEST EARLY WESTERN TV SHOW

[wbhist]

"Stories Of The Century" (1953-56), a very early syndicated Western, won the first Emmys given to a Western series. One of the recurring characters was Matt Clark, a railroad detective played by Jim Davis, later known as John Ross "Jock" Ewing Sr. on "Dallas".

Stories of the Century was also briefly aired in New York on WCBS-TV during the 1955-56 season, after The Late Late Show but before sign-off time. WCBS originally planned to air the series under an umbrella called . . . The Late Late Late Show. Alas the station put paid to that prior to its intended airdate.

 

[Prais]

wbhist said, " Alas the station put paid to that prior to its intended airdate."

Sir, Whazzat mean??

 

[wbhist]

wbhist said, " Alas the station put paid to that prior to its intended airdate."

Sir, Whazzat mean??

The New York Times had an article in the TV-Radio section of its Nov. 8, 1955 issue which indicated that WCBS would start a Late Late Late Show. But in the Nov. 12 issue, The Times wrote that the station was "quick, quick, quick to change its name." You can check for these articles in whichever library has old Times microfilms. But apparently, their airings of Stories of the Century were confined to late Friday night/early Saturday morning and late Saturday night/early Sunday morning before sign-off. The Times did mention in the follow-up article that Stories of the Century consisted of western films.

WCBS didn't expand its broadcast day past 3 A.M. for another 7-8 years, when on Feb. 26-27, 1963 they added a Late Late Show II after the first Late Late Show of the overnight hours. But that's for another thread.