Thursday, July 28, 2016

Forgotten TV: Empire (1962)

Not to be confused with the current Fox series of the same name, Empire was an odd duck in the 60's.

A modern day Western, if you will, Empire was built around ranch foreman Jim Redigo (Richard Egan) and his employers, the Garrett family. However, NBC wasn't satisfied with the ratings, airing as it did opposite Red Skelton's self-titled CBS show, and cancelled Empire.

Screen Gems wasn't done yet, though. The series was repackaged, trimmed to a half hour, and retitled, Redigo, the following season. ABC took a chance, and lost. The series was finally laid to rest after a truncated 13 episode season.

Screen Gems had envisioned this to be similar in format to Route 66 and Naked City, with Redigo & the Garretts the only regular players meeting various folks on a week-to-week basis. Setting the show in the West may have actually been a viewer deterrent.

Let's take a look at "A Stopover on the Way to the Moon", with guest star Keir Dullea.



No rating.

No comments: