My review of 52 TV WESTERNS edited by SCOTT HARRIS, PAUL BISHOP and ROB WORD

My 4 star review of 52 TV WESTERNS edited by SCOTT HARRIS, PAUL BISHOP and ROB WORD

Fun mix of the fondly-remembered, the quirky and the surprising

Acclaimed authors SCOTT HARRIS and PAUL BISHOP and TV writer/producer ROB WORD have put together reviews of 52 TV Western shows/ TV movies, drawing upon some other writers to help. I’m in here, reviewing one series.

Although the heyday of TV Westerns was 1955-1975 this compendium takes us from early shows like ‘The Range Rider’

Jock Mahoney was THE RANGE RIDER

through long-running staples like ‘Gunsmoke’

James Arness as Matt Dillon in GUNSMOKE

and ‘Bonanza,’ 

one-season wonders like ‘The Westerner’

Brian Keith as THE WESTERNER

right up to date with ‘Godless.’

Michelle Dockery in the woman-centric western series GODLESS

It isn’t intended to be a complete, exhaustive list which would run far beyond 52 series but a look at 52 examples of a form that has managed to be surprisingly diverse.

So there’s spy-western hybrids (‘The Wild Wild West’)

Robert Conrad and Ross Martin in THE WILD WILD WEST

 tongue-in-cheek westerns with anti-hero leads (‘Maverick’)

James Garner in MAVERICK

‘intellectual’ westerns like ‘The Loner’, 

Lloyd Bridges in THE LONER

family westerns (‘Little House on the Prairie’)

and series aiming for gritty authenticity (‘The High Chaparral.’)

What unites the articles is the love the authors have for these shows and their pleasure in describing what makes them different and memorable.

I was pleasantly surprised that this compendium doesn’t lean too much on the well-known but highlights a number of interesting and quirky series I wasn’t familiar with (‘Legend’ ‘The Adventures of Brisco County Jr.’ etc.,)

Richard Dean Anderson in LEGEND

Bruce Campbell portrayed Brisco County Jr. (a person not a place) in THE ADVENTURES OF...

setting me the task of checking them out.

If I have a criticism it’s whether the inclusion of ‘Dead Men’ and ‘Justified’ can be – pardon the pun – justified.

Overall though, in this anthology, the reader can visit fondly-remembered old favourites, shows too ahead of their time to flourish, and newer items helping to keep this form alive. And, most importantly, thanks to the enthusiasm of the contributors and editors, have fun doing it. Recommended. 

Other review of 52 TV WESTERNS:

5 Stars - ‘If you're a fan of TV westerns, I highly recommend this book!’

Find my review on Amazon.co.uk https://www.amazon.co.uk/52-Weeks-TV-Westerns-ebook/dp/B07V8RJJ3K/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr
and Goodreads  https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/46832785-52-weeks---52-tv-westerns

You can also find 52 TV WESTERNS here: https://www.amazon.com/52-Weeks-TV-Westerns/dp/1079314326/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=52+tv+westerns+scott+harris&qid=1564733832&s=books&sr=1-1

AUTHOR FAVOURITES: LAST STAND AT BITTER CREEK by THOMAS RIZZO

Thomas Rizzo has completed a three-volume non-fiction series about the American West, TALL TALES FROM THE HIGH PLAINS & BEYOND featuring dozens of stories about Old West lawmen, outlaws, etc. He also blogs about the historical west. See: http://tomrizzo.com/

Thomas tells me he discovered the thrill of creating a special world writing his first western novel LAST STAND AT BITTER CREEK. A God-like experience all of us novelists will understand. BITTER CREEK, loosely based on a true story, follows Grant Bonner, a Union Army Spy during the American Civil War. (I picture a real spy of the period – Allan Pinkerton, head of the Pinkerton Detective Agency, with President Abraham Lincoln.)

Bonner reluctantly agrees to undertake one final mission in the closing days of the war – which proves to be a big mistake. Bonner finds himself wrongly accused of theft and the gruesome murder of union troops. What happens next is a tangled web of intrigue, treachery, and betrayal where the real villain, Colonel Marcus Steele, flees west and begins to set up a frontier empire.

Bonner pursues; in turn he is relentlessly pursued by a former Pinkerton detective, as well as gunmen working for Steele. The result is a series of deadly encounters culminating in a climactic showdown in Bitter Creek, Wyoming.

The spy element made me think of TV’s ‘THE WILD WILD WEST’ which Thomas acknowledges as an early influence.

The idea of ex-Civil War veterans seeking to re-create empires of one kind or another out west features in movies from ‘HORIZONS WEST’ to ‘RIO CONCHOS.’ (It even turns up on TV, e.g. The HIGH CHAPARRAL episode ‘The Filibusteros.’)

Rio Conchos (1964)

Reviews for LAST STAND AT BITTER CREEK:  

‘A classic Western, with a twist… The author did a great job with plot and subplot development, character emotions, and allowing us to feel as though we were a part of his wonderfully descriptive scenes.’

‘Author Rizzo has a firm grasp of all the major elements that make a good novel: strong theme, original premise, clever plot, and fleshed out characters. A… departure from the traditional formulaic western into a story that is far more offbeat.’

‘Haunting Civil War epic excites and intrigues.’

‘I knew without a doubt that given Tom Rizzo’s superb research and journalistic skills, that any book of fiction he wrote would be excellent indeed… one of the outstanding writers of Western Historical Fiction.’

'A fascinating plot.'

'Excellent story... great character development, brilliantly written... would make a wonderful series.'

https://www.amazon.com/Last-Stand-at-Bitter-Creek/dp/0984797793