Wednesday, November 1, 2017

THE LONER 1965-66 (SHOUT FACTORY)

One of the best western TV shows ever and it came from the mind of Rod Serling.

Lloyd bridges stars as William Coltan, a former Civil War soldier who is traveling the country after the war and trying to find himself and a life after the war.

Along the way he meets many people he tries to help and that is what makes all 26 episodes above the average western. Most of the episodes are written by Rod Serling.

This was Serling's idea for a TV show after his famous Twilight Zone ended it's five year run. Bridges brings a real humanity to his role of Coltan and he shines in every episode.

The show only ran one year as the TV landscape was changing. Black and White shows were being replaced with color and western shows were running 90 minutes as compared to this one which is 30 minutes each. The time slot this show was in also wasn't too good.

Finally this great show has been brought to DVD thanks to Shout Factory and I can't think of any reason why a western fan wouldn't have this show in their home. Some of the many guests to appear include James Whitmore, Beau Bridges, Jeff Bridges, Leslie Nielsen, Jeanne Cooper, Barry Sullivan, Burgess Meredith, Robert Lansing and Deanna Lund just to name a few.

If you haven't seen this show, I recommend you do if for nothing else than to see Serling write great westerns that weren't just "shoot em ups" as so many were.

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