The Young Pioneers was a trial-run American Broadcasting Company Western television series about young newlyweds who settle in the Dakota Territory during the 1870s. If the first three episodes had received good ratings the series may have found a place on the network's fall lineup.
The series was based on the plot of Rose Wilder Lane's 1933 novel Let the Hurricane Roar, which was reissued as Young PioneersRose Wilder Lane, Young Pioneers, Bantam Book, 1976 though the main characters names came from her novel Free Land.Rose Wilder Lane, Free Land, pages 1, 13, The World Publishing Company, 1945
In March 1975, the television film Young Pioneers was watched by 40 million viewers, so in December 1975 a second film Young Pioneers' Christmas continued the story of homesteaders Molly and David Beaton, and served as a pilot for a planned ABC series. The Young Pioneers series aired on Sundays at 7 p.m. The first episode was a two-hour movie, followed by two sixty-minute episodes.
Cast Linda Purl as Molly Beaton, newly married homesteader Roger Kern as David Beaton, newly married homesteader Robert Hays as Dan Gray, neighboring homesteader Robert Donner as Mr. Peters, neighboring homesteader Mare Winningham as Nettie Peters, daughter of Mr. Peters Michelle Stacy as Flora Peters, daughter of Mr. Peters Jeff Cotler as Charlie Peters, son of Mr. Peters[Terry Rowan, The American Western A Complete Film Guide, page 453, Lulu, 2013]
Production The series' exterior scenes were filmed on the Empire Ranch, near Sonoita, Arizona, with interior shots filmed at the 20th Century-Fox studios in Hollywood. Four sod structures were built for the series, with a house and a barn in both Arizona and California.Grass Houses, The Herald-Sun (Durham, NC), January 9, 1977, page 68
Ed Friendly, who had earlier produced the two-hour pilot film for NBCs Little House on the Prairie, was The Young Pioneers producer. Earl Hamner, creator of The Waltons, was brought in to help with the project. He wanted the series to progress like a novel, with each episode to be a single chapter, and the audience seeing the progression of the nearest town of Wildrose.Earl Hamner's new series, The Salt Lake Tribune, April 2, 1978, page 48
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