For some reason, no one seems to be running Bonanza, even though it was (along with Gunsmoke) the premiere western of the age of television. That has changed. Now you can watch Gunsmoke on TVS Western.Com, one of the 48 IPTV channels on the TV4U.Com video portal.
The programmers at the TVS Television Network have looked far and wide to find as many quality TV westerns as they could for the TVS Western.Com channel. They've found some good ones. The Texan, The Gunslinger, Trackdown, Sugarfoot, Annie Oakley, Shotgun Slade, The Deputy, Wagon Train, MacKenzies Raiders, Tombstone Territory, The Rifleman, Wild Bill Hickok, Wyatt Earp, and 26 Men all grace the TVS Western.Com network. In all there are more than 50 different classic wqestern TV series on TVS Western.Com.
When you add Western Theater, Spaghetti Western THeater, John Wayne Theater, Johnny Mack Brown Theater, and Tom Mix Theater, you have a treasure trove for Western TV fans.
Monday, August 31, 2009
Saturday, August 15, 2009
Watch Shotgun Slade on TVS Western.Com
Shotgun Slade Was The Right Show at the Wrong Time!
Scott Brady was a well known movie cowboy. Never a star, he played countless roles in the TV and movie fields prior to his starring role in Shotgun Slade. By the time Shotgun Slade came to be the concepts for the countless westerns were beginning to wear thin. The Rifleman (also on TVS Western.Com) was a mega hit with Chuck Connors, so there became several knock offs of the 'custom shot gun' concept. With Shotgun Slade, the gambit was a double barrelled shotgun... with each of the barrells being a different calibre. No one cared. Then, they placed the show in Denver...good idea. Then they decided to take another popular TV form...the jazz nusical score that was working for Peter Gunn and others... and tried it with a Western. It didn't work. Shotgun Slade also had to overcome the fact that it was a syndicated show and didn't have network backing or promotion. All in all, it's a good standard variety western that you probably missed the first time around. If you give it a chance, you'll enjoy it....jazz score and all.
Scott Brady was a well known movie cowboy. Never a star, he played countless roles in the TV and movie fields prior to his starring role in Shotgun Slade. By the time Shotgun Slade came to be the concepts for the countless westerns were beginning to wear thin. The Rifleman (also on TVS Western.Com) was a mega hit with Chuck Connors, so there became several knock offs of the 'custom shot gun' concept. With Shotgun Slade, the gambit was a double barrelled shotgun... with each of the barrells being a different calibre. No one cared. Then, they placed the show in Denver...good idea. Then they decided to take another popular TV form...the jazz nusical score that was working for Peter Gunn and others... and tried it with a Western. It didn't work. Shotgun Slade also had to overcome the fact that it was a syndicated show and didn't have network backing or promotion. All in all, it's a good standard variety western that you probably missed the first time around. If you give it a chance, you'll enjoy it....jazz score and all.
Saturday, July 25, 2009
Watch Tate, the 'Lost' Western Classic, on TVS Western.Com
Tate, the 'Lost Western' Starring 'The Marlboro Man'
The year was 1960. Westerns were all the rage on television. Could there possibly be something new to portray? Legendary TV producer Alvin Cooperman thought so. He had been retained by Perry Como's Ronco production company to produce a Summer series to fill in for the 13 weeks that Como wasn't going to host the Kraft Music Hall. Cooperman came up with a title character who was disabled, perhaps the first portrayal of a disabled person in a starring role on TV. He went and got the most famous cowboy you ever saw but didn't know. David McLean was the Marlboro Man and was ubiquitous on TV thanks to the advertising largesse of the Marlboro cigarette folks. Then, Cooperman decided to make the show on the new fangled 2" Quad video tape. This was quite a bold move for 1960, as the format was in it's infancy. All hoped that this eclectic collection of circumstances would produce a hit, but the show ran it's 13 week course and was never seen again. At least until now, where you can watch it at TVS Western.Com!
The year was 1960. Westerns were all the rage on television. Could there possibly be something new to portray? Legendary TV producer Alvin Cooperman thought so. He had been retained by Perry Como's Ronco production company to produce a Summer series to fill in for the 13 weeks that Como wasn't going to host the Kraft Music Hall. Cooperman came up with a title character who was disabled, perhaps the first portrayal of a disabled person in a starring role on TV. He went and got the most famous cowboy you ever saw but didn't know. David McLean was the Marlboro Man and was ubiquitous on TV thanks to the advertising largesse of the Marlboro cigarette folks. Then, Cooperman decided to make the show on the new fangled 2" Quad video tape. This was quite a bold move for 1960, as the format was in it's infancy. All hoped that this eclectic collection of circumstances would produce a hit, but the show ran it's 13 week course and was never seen again. At least until now, where you can watch it at TVS Western.Com!
Saturday, July 4, 2009
Watch Action in the Afternoon on TVS Western.Com
This is a real find, and may be the only copy that still exists. Wm. Paley owned his CBS affiliate in Philadelphia, then WCAU-TV 10. Someone came up with the idea of shooting a live Western from their facilities on City Line Avenue in Bala Cynwyd, just over the Philadelphia border. While now an urban hub, in 1953 this was open land. Many stories are told of how they would be in the middle of a live show when an airplane would fly overhead or a delivery truck would meander to the back lot. It must have been a lot of fun. Of course the show is terrible, but we'd love to hear more stories about the life and times of Action in the Afternoon!
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