If you like Westerns, and I've got to admit I do since my late Dad introduced me to them starting when I was about 4 years old, you'll love Sgt. Preston of the Yukon... although, since there's really nowhere else to put it, it's often classified as a Western when it's really more of a "Northern".
If you're in the business of creating programs for a living, you know how lucky you are if you get ONE show on the air in your entire career. Sergeant Preston was the THIRD show created for Radio back in the day by George W. Trendle, and in this case, Fran Striker (his first name is short for Francis, and for whatever reason, he didn't want to be called Frank, in the way that one Francis Albert Sinatra was) at WXYZ Detroit... an independent station at the time, where Trendle created "The Lone Ranger" (and Striker became what is now called the "show runner" and one of its writers). Trendle then created "The Green Hornet" for WXYZ, and again Striker was his right hand man, WHILE "The Lone Ranger" was still on the air!
Some time during this period, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), formerly the Federal Radio Commission (FRC), decided "No one company should be able to own TWO (or more) separate and distinct Radio Networks", so they ordered NBC (owners of the NBC Red and the NBC Blue Networks) to divest itself of one of them. I could be wrong here, but I believe NBC unloaded their Red Network, and it became The American Broadcasting Company (ABC). Both Sgt. Preston and WXYZ Detroit became affiliated with this new ABC Network. And as if that weren't enough, G.W. Trendle created "Sgt. Preston" for ABC Radio (but at the time, it was entitled "The Challenge Of The Yukon").
Given all the other reviews of the TV version of the show listed here, there isn't a lot left I can add that hasn't already been discussed... except maybe to say that I wholeheartedly DISagree with the reviewer who calls himself "old geezer", just a couple of reviews above this one.
The "geezer" throws derogatory terms at this show, such as "cheap" and "cheesy". He quite wrongly says the Exterior cabin sets are "all the same wall with a door in it", which, if you actually have enough brain cells still functioning to pay attention to what's actually on the screen, it's VERY obvious there are several more than THREE sets (more like five or six). And there are some very clever creative touches - such as this one: unlike every other show of the period and 99% of them ever since, between scenes Sgt. Preston DOES NOT FADE TO BLACK! It fades TO WHITE (like the snow - get it?) except where the ORIGINAL commercial breaks went. Of course, it's been a very long time since Quaker Oats sponsored the show on ABC-TV, and if you don't know this, I'm gonna tell you: whoever is running the show NOW has ADDED SOME EXTRA COMMERCIAL BREAKS. When they show these extra breaks, they tend to just CUT to commercial, rather than taking ANY time to fade, so there's simply no time for ANY fade, whether to black, white or chartreuse.
Suffice it to say that if you enjoy outdoor adventure series, Sgt. Preston of the Yukon is one show that's right up your alley. As of the time of this writing, you can see the Sarge on FETV, most evenings of the week.
If you're in the business of creating programs for a living, you know how lucky you are if you get ONE show on the air in your entire career. Sergeant Preston was the THIRD show created for Radio back in the day by George W. Trendle, and in this case, Fran Striker (his first name is short for Francis, and for whatever reason, he didn't want to be called Frank, in the way that one Francis Albert Sinatra was) at WXYZ Detroit... an independent station at the time, where Trendle created "The Lone Ranger" (and Striker became what is now called the "show runner" and one of its writers). Trendle then created "The Green Hornet" for WXYZ, and again Striker was his right hand man, WHILE "The Lone Ranger" was still on the air!
Some time during this period, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), formerly the Federal Radio Commission (FRC), decided "No one company should be able to own TWO (or more) separate and distinct Radio Networks", so they ordered NBC (owners of the NBC Red and the NBC Blue Networks) to divest itself of one of them. I could be wrong here, but I believe NBC unloaded their Red Network, and it became The American Broadcasting Company (ABC). Both Sgt. Preston and WXYZ Detroit became affiliated with this new ABC Network. And as if that weren't enough, G.W. Trendle created "Sgt. Preston" for ABC Radio (but at the time, it was entitled "The Challenge Of The Yukon").
Given all the other reviews of the TV version of the show listed here, there isn't a lot left I can add that hasn't already been discussed... except maybe to say that I wholeheartedly DISagree with the reviewer who calls himself "old geezer", just a couple of reviews above this one.
The "geezer" throws derogatory terms at this show, such as "cheap" and "cheesy". He quite wrongly says the Exterior cabin sets are "all the same wall with a door in it", which, if you actually have enough brain cells still functioning to pay attention to what's actually on the screen, it's VERY obvious there are several more than THREE sets (more like five or six). And there are some very clever creative touches - such as this one: unlike every other show of the period and 99% of them ever since, between scenes Sgt. Preston DOES NOT FADE TO BLACK! It fades TO WHITE (like the snow - get it?) except where the ORIGINAL commercial breaks went. Of course, it's been a very long time since Quaker Oats sponsored the show on ABC-TV, and if you don't know this, I'm gonna tell you: whoever is running the show NOW has ADDED SOME EXTRA COMMERCIAL BREAKS. When they show these extra breaks, they tend to just CUT to commercial, rather than taking ANY time to fade, so there's simply no time for ANY fade, whether to black, white or chartreuse.
Suffice it to say that if you enjoy outdoor adventure series, Sgt. Preston of the Yukon is one show that's right up your alley. As of the time of this writing, you can see the Sarge on FETV, most evenings of the week.