Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre is an American Western anthology television series that aired on CBS from October 5, 1956, to May 18, 1961.

Synopsis Many episodes were based on novels by Zane Grey, to all of which Four Star Films held exclusive rights. Dick Powell was the host and the star of some episodes. Many of the guest stars made their TV debuts on the program.

Powell said that working with Grey's stories proved to be both a benefit and a challenge. While he spoke of "the vast output of wonderful action stories from Zane Grey's pen", he acknowledged the challenge of "trying to compress a novel into half an hour of storytelling on television." Some stories could be adapted relatively easily, while others had to be skipped or only parts of them could be used for scripts. Over time, script writers used up the supply of adaptable material from Grey and began to adapt other authors' stories.

Guest stars Guest stars on the series included:

Lyle BettgerBuscombe, Edward; Brookeman, Christopher (1988). [ The BFI Companion to the Western ]. :. pp.314– Scott Brady Neville Brand Walter Brennan Lloyd Bridges Rory Calhoun Sunset Carson Peggie Castle Lee J. Cobb James Coburn Chuck Connors Joseph Cotten John Dehner Richard Dix Brian Donlevy Dan Duryea Paul Fix Skip Homeier Dennis Hopper John Hoyt Clair Huffaker John Ireland Dean Jagger Brian Keith Cloris Leachman Stephen McNally Guy Madison Virginia Mayo Vera Miles Edmond O'Brien Jack Palance Michael Pate John Payne Ronald Reagan Robert Ryan Barbara Stanwyck Barry Sullivan

Episodes

Production

Development The Zane Grey Radio Show had run for one season beginning in 1947 and had little in common with the stories of Zane Grey. The television series, however, began as an attempt to dramatize Zane Grey's short stories and novels. Four Star Films acquired the rights to at least 40 Zane Grey works before filming began. However, it soon became evident that Grey's stories were too complex to fit into a 30-minute episode, and so with few exceptions, the scripts were all original.

Four Star Films was the producing company, with Powell as executive producer. Producers included Helen Ainsworth, Hal Hudson, and Aaron Spelling. Directors included Felix Feist, William D. Faralla, James Sheldon, and Budd Boetticher. Writers included John McGreevey and Marion Hargrove.

Sponsors included Johnson Wax.

Preview A preview of the show in the trade publication Billboard indicated that it would appeal to women viewers as well as to men. It noted that among the stories adapted from Grey's work "There will usually be strong love interests."

Release

Broadcast Season Time 1 (1956–57)Fridays at 8:30–9:00 PM 2 (1957–58) 3 (1958–59)Thursdays at 9:00–9:30 PM 4 (1959–60) 5 (1960–61) Thursdays at 8:30–9:00 PM Note: All times Eastern

Zane Grey Theatre first aired on Fridays when it replaced Our Miss Brooks in the fall of 1956. It then moved to Thursdays during its third season.

In the summer of 1959, episodes of the program were repeated on a "rerun subsidiary" titled Frontier Justice, with Melvyn Douglas as host, on Mondays from 9 to 9:30 P.M. ET.

In August 1961, Zane Grey Theatre was one of four programs whose episodes were sold to Procter & Gamble to be broadcast in Canada.

Zane Grey Theatre ended when Powell moved to NBC's, The Dick Powell Show.

There was then an additional 1962 summer run which consisted of reruns of previous episodes.

Home media DVD nameEp#Release dateThe Complete First Season 29 June 9, 2009The Complete Second Season 29 September 30, 2014The Complete Third Season 29 December 2, 2014The Complete Fourth Season N/AThe Complete Fifth Season N/A

Reception In early February 1957, Billboard evaluated Zane Grey Theatre as "one of the strong contenders for the title of most important new show, according to many of its ratings."

TV Guide called the show "an educated 20th century view of the Old West".

After five seasons, CBS ran a sixth season composed of reruns of the best episodes.

Spin-offs Five television Westerns began as episodes of Zane Grey Theatre: Trackdown, starring Robert Culp ("Badge of Honor"), The Rifleman, starring Chuck Connors ("Sharpshooter"), Johnny Ringo, starring Don Durrant ("The Loner"), The Westerner, starring Brian Keith ("Trouble at Tres Cruces"), and Black Saddle, starring Chris Alcaide ("A Threat of Violence"). Alcaide was replaced by Peter Breck in the principal role when Black Saddle was sold as a series. The "lineage" of Zane Grey Theatre also includes the NBC series, Law of the Plainsman, which originated from a February 17, 1959 episode of The Rifleman starring Michael Ansara as Marshal Sam Buckhart (The Indian).

References

External links