A MAN CALLED SHENANDOAH: The Complete Series
MGM TV (1965-66)
Blu-ray: Warner Archive $34.99
Hot on the boot heels of two other rather obscure TV western complete sets, the pretty good Colt .45 and the, um, interesting in its way The Alaskans, the Warner Archive gives us, not other Warner Bros. offering, but a short-lived (one season, 34 episodes) but fondly remembered show that turns out to be thoughtful, well-written, and in the conversation for best TV western of its time, A Man Called Shenandoah.
Robert Horton, late of the TV classic Wagon Train, is attacked for unknown reasons by Richard “The Undead” Devon and left for dead on the prairie, where he’s found and brought to town by a couple of prospectors and nursed back to health by saloon gal Beverly “Not of this Earth” Garland, so Horton really has Roger Corman to thank for his survival, when you think of it. In any case, his head wound (which doesn’t show, and probably thankfully, he’d look like Glenn Strange in Abbott & Costello meet Frankenstein) has given him total amnesia, causing him to adopt the name Shenandoah and spend the rest of the series roaming around in search of himself and along the way righting various wrongs, rescuing various damsels (and dudes) in distress, and digging up clues to his identity that never lead anywhere (and in fact, are a MacGuffin anyway; there’s no story arc, he just roams around and gathers about as much evidence as O.J. Simpson did when he vowed to find his wife’s killer).
Of course, this being a mid-1960s show with no regular co-stars with Horton, we’re treated to a bevy of highly-touted guests, including DeForrest Kelly AND James Doohan AND Leonard Nimoy, Ed Asner AND Cloris Leachman, plus the promotable Frank Gorshin, Martin Landau, and many others, although you know us: the hard-working character actors were most appealing, including Michael Ansara, Whit Bissell, L. Q. Jones, Nehemiah Persoff, and Vic Perrin, plus attractive guest stars including Susan Oliver and Fay Spain, among many others. Horton himself is a terrific leading man, seemingly always taut and on edge and ready for any surprises that might get thrown his way, probably a good way to live when you don’t know who you are or why you were beaten and left for dead.
ABC-TV thought they had a killer combo for Monday nights at 8:30, Fox’s The Legend of Jesse James with Christopher Jones and Shenandoah with Robert Horton. They got slaughtered in the ratings by CBS’s dynamic one-two comedic punch of The Lucy Show and The Andy Griffith Show, and were replaced in 1966-67 by two more successful new series, The Rat Patrol and Felony Squad. To be honest, A Man Called Shenandoah – while an earnest attempt to counterprogram against Andy, Barney, and Opie – is a rather bleak series, not helped by the theme song (written and sung by Horton himself) describing how the titular character is “doomed.” Miss Garland is so good and so beautiful in a nuanced role in the series pilot, one wishes she had gone with him on his quest, it would’ve have livened things considerably. And had more of an attempt been made to tie the episodes together rather than just “following a fruitless lead of the week,” the show may have drawn a larger cult audience. Still, we sampled episodes from across the brief run of the show, and found every one to be engrossing and exciting.
The best news is that the series – remastered in 4K from the original negatives – looks as good on Blu-ray as any vintage TV show we’ve ever seen, and continues the Warner Archive record for knocking them out of the park. Although many (but not all) of the episodes have been shown in syndication before, the series will be unfamiliar to most and so makes a terrific gift to add to weekly classic TV viewing (or to binge, if that’s your preference). We loved it.
